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NY 855521


October 19, 1990

CLA-2-04:S:N:N1:229

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 0406.10.0020 (9904.10.33)

Mr. Maurice J. Deslauriers
John V. Carr & Son, Inc.
One Emery Drive
Norton, VT 05907

RE: The tariff classification of FIRM UNRIPENED CHEESE CURD from Canada.

Dear Mr. Deslauriers:

In your letter dated August 8, 1990, you requested a tariff classification ruling on behalf of Laiterie Coaticook Ltee. of Coaticook, Quebec.

FIRM UNRIPENED CHEESE CURD consists of milled pieces of salted but unripened cheese curd which have been put up in retail plastic bags of one kilogram each for sale as a snack or "finger" food. These pieces are not symmetrical, ranging in sizes of approximately one inch to one and one-half inches in length and in thicknesses, generally, of from one-half inch to one inch. This cheese is pale yellow in color and is said to have a fat content of 27 percent and a moisture content of 42 percent. A sample of this product was analyzed by the Customs Laboratory at New York. The Laboratory reported that the sample contained, by weight, 41.2 percent moisture, 30.6 percent fat (52.1 percent on a dry basis), 22.4 percent protein, and 2.0 percent salt. The sample had a pH of 5.6, and was found to be made from cow's milk. A supplemental Laboratory Report states that "(t)he sample, an unripened cheese, shows evidence of granular and stirred curd type seams." This cheese appears to have been produced using a stirred curd process. Instead of salting and hooping the curds, however, they apparently are permitted to mat so that they can be milled into larger pieces for sale as salted, unripened curd.

The applicable subheading for this FIRM UNRIPENED CHEESE CURD will be 0406.10.0020, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for Fresh cheese (including whey cheese), not fermented, and curd. The rate of duty will be 10 percent ad valorem.

Articles classifiable in HTS subheading 0406.10.0020 are subject to quota quantity restrictions listed in subchapter IV of Chapter 99 in HTS subheading 9904.10.33, which limits the amount of such cheese which may be imported from countries (including Canada) with no specific quota allocation to an annual quota quantity of 168,556 kilograms. Additionally, an import license, issued to the importer by the United States Department of Agriculture, will be required at the time such merchandise is entered for consumption into the United States.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

Sincerely,

Jean F. Maguire
Area Director

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