HQ 0950667 - Further Clarification of PC 860144; Medicine Cabinets with built-in mirrors; Over the Cabinet Lights; GRI 3(b) ["sets"] - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 950667

January 17, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 950667 LTO

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: Not Applicable

Mr. Randy Willette
A. N. Deringer, Inc.
30 West Service Road
Champlain, New York 12919-9703

RE: Further Clarification of PC 860144; Medicine Cabinets with built-in mirrors; Over the Cabinet Lights; GRI 3(b) ["sets"]

Dear Mr. Willette:

This is in response to your letter of November 5, 1991, requesting further clarification of PC 860144, dated February 11, 1991, which considered the classification of mirrored medicine cabinets and over the cabinet lights under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). You stated that your sole question is whether the medicine cabinets with built-in mirrors and over the cabinet lights are "goods put up in sets for retail sale" under the HTSUS.

FACTS:

The articles in question are medicine cabinets with built-in mirrors and over the cabinet lights. The lights and the mirrored cabinets are packed separately for importation. You claim that packing the lights with the cabinets and transporting them in this manner would subject the units to severe travel breakage, and that to just band them together would make it impractical to load the trailer due to the various box sizes.

You stated that the lights were developed as coordinates for the cabinets but that many of the importer's customers prefer to "mix and match." For example, a black cabinet is sometimes sold with a white light--no particular light was made to match any single cabinet. You further stated that each article--the cabinet or the light--can be purchased separately, as each will
likely have its own price.

ISSUE:

Whether the medicine cabinets with built-in mirrors and the over the cabinet lights are "goods put up in sets for retail sale" under the HTSUS.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

In PC 860114, the mirrored cabinets and over the cabinet lights were said to be classifiable both individually and as "sets," depending on how the products were entered. You have asked for a clarification of the following language used in PC 860114 regarding the "set" classification: "Where these products are packed and invoiced in sets of a light fixture and cabinet." More specifically, you have asked if there is any way, besides packing the goods in the same box or banding the separate boxes together, that the cabinets and lights can be classified as "sets."

GRI 3(b) provides "[w]hen, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:

Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable. [emphasis added]."

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes constitute the Customs Co-operation Council's official interpretation of the Harmonized System. While not legally binding, they provide a commentary on the scope of each note and heading of the Harmonized System, and are thus useful in ascertaining classification under the System. The Explanatory Notes (EN) to GRI 3(b), pg. 4, state that "[f]or the purposes of this Rule, the term 'goods put up in sets for retail sale' shall be taken to mean goods which:

(a) consist of at least two different articles which are, prima facie, classifiable in different headings . . .;

(b) consist of products or articles put up together to meet a particular need or carry out a specific activity; and
(c) are put up in a manner suitable for sale directly to users without repacking (e.g., in boxes or cases or on boards)."

The articles in question meet part (a) of the above stated test for "goods put up in sets for retail sale," as the cabinets and the lights are classifiable in separate headings, but the articles plainly fail the next two parts of the test. Part (b) requires that the articles be "put up together." While the merchandise may be put together to meet a particular need or carry out a specific activity after importation, as imported, the lights and the cabinets, which arrive in separate boxes, are not "put up together." Similarly, the merchandise fails part (c), as the lights and cabinets are not put up in a manner suitable for sale directly to users without repacking. That the goods may be sold as "sets" after importation is of no importance where those same goods are not "packaged as sets" upon importation.

HOLDING:

The mirrored medicine cabinets and over the cabinet lights must be articles put up together to meet a particular need, and must be put up in a manner suitable for sale directly to users without repacking to be classified as "sets" under the HTSUS.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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