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HQ 950983


June 15, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 950983 CRS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4202.32.1000

Joel K. Simon, Esq.
Serko & Simon
One World Trade Center
Suite 3371
New York, NY 10048

RE: Wallet; cigarette case; credit card case; articles of a kind normally carried in the pocket or in the handbag; reinforced or laminated plastics; HRL 950048; HRL 950567; Headnote 2, Subpart A, Part 12, Schedule 7, TSUSA.

Dear Mr. Simon:

This is in reply to your letter of December 11, 1991, to our New York office, on behalf of Fashion Accessories Shippers Association, Inc., in which you requested a tariff classification ruling under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). Samples of the merchandise in question were submitted with your ruling request and are described below.

FACTS:

The merchandise at issue consists of three wallets (styles FN1047, FN1056 and S/7014-00), a credit card case (style CB1310F) and a cigarette case (no style number). The wallets and cases will be manufactured in Thailand or China.

Style FN1047 is made from an outer layer of non-cellular plastics, a middle layer of cellular plastics and an inner layer of textile material. The exterior simulates glove leather. The wallet measures approximately six inches by four inches and contains a change purse and compartments for credit cards and bills. The importer will be RGA Accessories, New York.

Style FN1056 is an organizer wallet measuring approximately seven inches by four inches. The exterior of the wallet is made from compact plastics with a fabric backing. The wallet has an outside change purse and compartments for bills, a check book and a credit card. The cover resembles patent leather. The importer will be RGA Accessories.

Style S/7014-00 is an organizer wallet measuring roughly eight inches by four inches. The cover is composed of an outer layer of compact plastics, a middle layer of cellular plastics and an inner layer of textile fabric. The inside of the article contains compartments for coin, currency, credit cards and a check book. The cover simulates a printed full grain leather. The importer will be Bag Bazaar, New York.

Style CB1310F is a credit card case measuring approximately four inches by three inches. The cover is made from cellular plastics with a brushed pile backing. The importer will be Holiday Fair, North Bergen, New Jersey.

The cigarette case (no style number) measures approximately five inches by four inches. The cover is made from an outer layer of compact plastics, a middle layer of cellular plastics and an inner layer of textile fabric. The cover simulates a full grain leather. The importer will be Bagland, New York.

ISSUE:

The issue presented is whether an article of a kind normally carried in the pocket or handbag of subheading 4202.32, HTSUSA, made up from piece goods of heading 5903, is considered to be "of reinforced or laminated plastics" such that it is classifiable in subheading 4202.32.1000, HTSUSA.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Heading 4202, HTSUSA, provides for, inter alia, cigarette cases, wallets and similar articles. Four of the articles in question are specifically provided for; the fifth, a credit card case, is similar to a wallet. Accordingly, these articles are classifiable in heading 4202. Within heading 4202 at the six digit international level, subheading 4202.32, HTSUSA, provides for articles carried in the pocket or in the handbag with an outer surface of plastic sheeting. The articles in question, wallets, credit card cases and cigarette cases, are carried in the pocket or handbag, have an outer surface of plastic sheeting, and are therefore classifiable accordingly. Through the six digit level, there is no dispute as to the classification of the instant merchandise.

Within subheading 4202.32, at the eight digit U.S. level, you contend that the instant merchandise is classifiable under the provision for articles of reinforced or laminated plastics of subheading 4202.32.1000, HTSUSA.

The classification of articles of subheading 4202.32 with an outer surface of plastic sheeting is governed by Additional U.S. Note 2, Chapter 42, HTSUSA, which provides that:

For the purposes of classifying articles under subheadings 4202.12, 4202.22, 4202.32, and 4202.92, articles of textile fabric impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with plastics (whether compact or cellular) shall be regarded as having an outer surface of textile material or of plastic sheeting, depending on whether and the extent to which the textile constituent or the plastic constituent makes up the exterior surface of the article.

The articles in question are made from textile fabric laminated with plastics, of which plastics comprise the exterior surface. Consequently, the wallets, cases, etc. at issue are covered by Additional U.S. Note 2. However, in order to be classified in subheading 4202.32.1000 they must be "of reinforced or laminated plastics."

Under the Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated (TSUSA) (predecessor to the HTSUSA) the provision for reinforced or laminated plastics was governed by headnote 2, Subpart A, Part 12, Schedule 7, which defined the term "reinforced or laminated." Under this definition, the meaning of the term "reinforced or laminated plastics" was confined to rigid plastics. However, no such definition appears in the HTSUSA.

It has been argued that Congress knowingly refrained from providing a definition for the phrase "of reinforced or laminated plastics," intending that the TSUSA definition be carried forward to the HTSUSA. Alternatively, it has been suggested that Congress purposely did not carry forward the TSUSA definition, intending that a new definition be used. See HRL 950048 at 3-4. We have found no evidence relating to Congressional intent that supports either position.

All of these arguments, however, require that we speculate as to Congressional intent. It is well established that where the language of a statute is transparent and its meaning clear, there is no room for the office of construction. Lewis, Trustee v. United States, 92 U.S. 618, L.Ed. 513 (1876). As a matter of law, Customs is therefore of the opinion that the meaning of the subheading 4202.32.1000 provision for "reinforced or laminated plastics" is clear and can be found within the HTSUSA.

In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 950048 dated March 2, 1992, we held that articles carried in the pocket or handbag, and having an outer surface of plastic sheeting would be considered "of reinforced or laminated plastics" as described in subheading 4202.32.1000, if the piece goods from which the articles were cut were considered a sheet of reinforced or laminated plastics of Chapter 39, HTSUSA. Citing the General Explanatory Note, Chapter 39, we stated:

(Note that...only cellular plastic sheets. etc, (sic) combined with textiles merely for reinforcing purposes, are included [in Chapter 39]. Noncellular plastic sheets combined with textile (sic) merely for reinforcing purposes, and all plastic sheets combined with textiles for purposes other than reinforcing, remain classified in Chapter 59, HTSUSA).

Four of the articles at issue, viz., FN1047, CB1310F, S/7014-00, and the cigarette case, are made from cellular plastic sheets combined with textiles, which pursuant to HRL 950048, would be considered "of reinforced or laminated plastics" of Chapter 39; but the fifth, style FN1056, has an outer surface of non-cellular plastics with a textile backing. With regard to style FN1056, therefore, we address the question of whether an article made from non-cellular plastics and textile material is "of reinforced or laminated plastics" such that it is within the scope of subheading 4202.32.1000.

The expression "plastics" is defined for the purposes of the HTSUSA by Note 1, Chapter 39, which provides that:

Throughout the tariff schedule the expression "plastics" means those materials of headings 3901 to 3914 which are or have been capable, either at the moment of polymerization or at some subsequent stage, of being formed under external influence (usually heat and pressure, if necessary with a solvent or plasticizer) by molding, casting, extruding, rolling or other process into shapes which are retained on the removal of the external influence.

Throughout the tariff schedule, any reference to "plastics" also includes vulcanized fiber. The expression, however, does not apply to materials regarded as textile materials of section XI.

However, for the purposes of the HTSUSA, the classification of plastics and textile combinations is governed by: Note 1(h), Section XI; Note 3, Chapter 56; Note 2, Chapter 59; and the General Explanatory Note, Chapter 39. The merchandise at issue is made up of piece goods consisting of a combination of plastics and woven textile fabric. Consequently, the third of the aforementioned notes is relevant for this discussion.

Heading 5903, HTSUSA, covers textile fabrics impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with plastics. Pursuant to Note 2, Chapter 59, HTSUSA, such fabrics are classifiable in heading 5903, whatever the weight per square meter and whatever the nature of the plastic material (compact or cellular), provided that the coating, covering or lamination can be seen with the naked eye. Style FN1056 is made up of textile fabric coated, covered or laminated with plastics that is visible to the naked eye. Accordingly, the piece goods used to make style FN1056 are classifiable as textiles of heading 5903 rather than as plastics material of Chapter 39.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of subheading 4202.32, an article made from such material would be deemed to have an outer surface of plastics pursuant to Additional U.S. Note 2, Chapter 42, since the plastic constituent would, as with the instant merchandise, make up the exterior of the article. Applying Note 1, Chapter 39, HTSUSA, without reference to Additional U.S. Note 2, Chapter 42, HTSUSA, the piece goods used in the manufacture of style FN1056 would not be considered "of reinforced or laminated plastics" since the piece goods themselves are textile materials of Section XI rather than of plastics material of Chapter 39. HRL 950048 dated March 2, 1992, at 6.

However, in this instance, Customs is of the view that Note 1, Chapter 39, should be read in conjunction with Additional U.S. Note 2 in order to determine whether an article of subheading 4202.32.1000 is "of reinforced or laminated plastics." Since an article of textile fabric impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with compact or cellular plastics is considered under Additional U.S. Note 2 to have an outer surface of plastic sheeting, provided that the plastic constituent makes up the outer surface of the article, we are of the opinion that the expression "of reinforced or laminated plastics" as used in subheading 4202.32.1000 refers to any article of subheading 4202.32 with an outer surface of plastic sheeting, so long as the article has been reinforced with or laminated to some other material, e.g., textiles. Thus an article "of reinforced or laminated plastics" is not restricted to products made up from piece goods classifiable in Chapter 39, but embraces articles with an outer shell of plastic sheeting, which have been, as here, directly, or in the case of the merchandise at issue in HRL 950048, indirectly, reinforced or laminated with plastics.

Although this view is somewhat more expansive than that set forth in HRL 950048, we consider it to be in harmony with the intent of that ruling in that the terms "reinforced or laminated" are construed with reference to the plastic sheet as a whole. HRL 950048 dated March 2, 1992, at 6. Moreover, HRL 950048 was never intended to restrict articles such as style FN1056 from classification in subheading 4202.32.1000, but to expand the definition of "reinforced or laminated" to include articles consisting of several layers of material where the exterior layer would not be directly reinforced by or laminated to the textile layer. Indeed, this rationale was implicit in HRL 950567 in which merchandise similar to style FN1056 was classified in subheading 4202.32.1000. Accordingly, since the plastic sheeting outer shell of style FN1056 has been combined with textile fabric so as to prevent the stretching, tearing or shrinking of the plastic outer surface, we find that it has been "reinforced or laminated" within the meaning of subheading 4202.32.1000.

HOLDING:

The articles in question are classifiable in subheading 4202.32.1000, HTSUSA, under the provision for articles of a kind normally carried in the pocket or in the handbag: with outer surface of plastic sheeting or of textile materials: with outer surface of plastic sheeting: of reinforced or laminated plastics. They are dutiable at the rate of 12.1 per kilogram plus 4.6 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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