HQ 0951998 - Reconsideration of NYRL 871889; glasscloth adhesive tape; narrow woven fabric; false selvedges; subheading 7019.20.20; Additional U.S. Note 6 to Chapter 70; Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58; Explanatory Note 58.06(A)(2); HRL 950102 - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 951998

September 15, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 951998 NLP

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 7019.20.10

Ms. Judy Kearney
Network Brokers International, Inc.
Airport Industrial Office Park, Building A2-C 145th Avenue & Hook Creek Blvd.
Valley Stream, NY 11581

RE: Reconsideration of NYRL 871889; glasscloth adhesive tape; narrow woven fabric; false selvedges; subheading 7019.20.20; Additional U.S. Note 6 to Chapter 70; Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58; Explanatory Note 58.06(A)(2); HRL 950102

Dear Ms. Kearney:

This is in response to your request for reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NYRL) 871889, dated March 9, 1992, which dealt with the classification of adhesive glasscloth tape under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

The article at issue is glass cloth tape, style PPI 8611, a sample of which was enclosed. This tape is a plain woven glass fiber fabric which has been coated on both sides with a colorless synthetic rubber adhesive. The tape will be imported in one inch widths and was cut from wider fabric. The fabric contains 7.5 yarns per centimeter in warp and 7 yarns per centimeter in filling. It is constructed with 340 decitex yarns in both the warp and filling. The glass fiber fabric tape has been packed with a polyester release film applied to one side which facilitates handling the tape and is discarded when the tape is used. It weighs 56 grams per square meter. This product will be used to prevent television tube implosion by being wrapped around the metal frame of a television tube.

NYRL 871889 held the glasscloth tape to be classifiable in subheading 7019.20.20, HTSUS, which provides for "[g]lass fibers (including glass wool) and articles thereof (for example, yarn, woven fabrics): [w]oven fabrics, including narrow fabrics: [o]ther: [n]ot colored.

ISSUE:

Is the glasscloth tape classified as "other not colored woven fabric" in subheading 7019.20.20, HTSUS, or as "narrow fabric" in subheading 7019.20.10, HTSUS?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), taken in order. GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI's may be applied, taken in order.

Subheading 7019.20, HTSUS, provides for "[g]lass fibers (including glass wool) and articles thereof (for example, yarn, woven fabrics): [w]oven fabrics, including narrow fabrics." Additional U.S. Note 6 to Chapter 70, HTSUS, provides the following:

For the purposes of subheading 7019.20, the expression "narrow fabrics" covers fabrics which meet the definition of "narrow woven fabrics" in note 5 to Chapter 58.

Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58, HTSUS, provides the following, inter alia:

For the purposes of heading 5806, the expression "narrow woven fabrics" means:

(a) Woven fabrics of a width not exceeding 30 cm, whether woven as such or cut from wider pieces, provided with selvages (woven, gummed or otherwise made) on both edges;

NYRL 871889 held that while the glasscloth tape was imported in one inch widths, the edges had not been made fast. Therefore, although the fabric satisfied the width requirement of Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58, HTSUS, it was found not to have had a selvedge and the tape was classified as "other not colored woven fabric" in 7019.20.20, HTSUS, and not as "narrow fabric" in subheading 7019.20.10, HTSUS.

It is your argument that, based on Headquarters Ruling Letter 950102, dated February 10, 1992, the glasscloth tape should be classified as "narrow fabric" in subheading 7019.20.10, HTSUS, and NYRL 871889 should be revoked. HRL 950102 dealt with the classification of vertical blind fabric coated with plastics and cut into 3-1/5 inch wide strips. The coating acted primarily as a stiffener but it also prevented the edges of the fabric from unravelling.

In determining whether this coating was considered a "false" selvedge, Customs looked to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs). The ENs, although not dispositive, are to be used to determine the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). EN 58.06 (A)(2) states the following:

In accordance with Note 5 to this Chapter, this heading includes as narrow woven fabrics:

(2) Strips of a width not exceeding 30 cm, cut (or slit) from wider pieces of warp and weft fabric (whether cut (or slit) longitudinally or on the cross) and provided with false selvedges on both edges, or a normal woven selvedge on one edge and a false selvedge on the other. False selvedges are designed to prevent unravelling of a piece of cut (or slit) fabric and may, for example, consist of a row of gauze stitches woven into the wider fabric before cutting (or slitting), of a simple hem, or they may be produced by gumming the edges of strips, or by fusing the edges in the case of certain ribbons of man-made fibres. Strips cut (or slit) from fabric but not provided with a selvedge, either real or false, on each edge, are excluded from this heading and classified with ordinary woven fabrics....

Moreover, Customs stated that Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58, HTSUS, does not define selvedges apart from stating that, in addition to being woven or gummed, they may be "otherwise made". As the coating on the vertical blind fabric prevented the fabric from unravelling and it measured less than 30 cm, Customs held that the fabric had a false selvedge and was classifiable as narrow woven fabric in heading 5806, HTSUS.

Based on the guidelines in HRL 950102, we must look at this glasscloth tape to determine whether the adhesive coating, which appears to have been applied prior to cutting the tape to a narrow width, serves to prevent the edges of the fabric from unravelling. The synthetic rubber coating does prevent the fabric from unravelling and the tape has a false selvedge. Thus, because the tape meets the criteria for "narrow woven fabric" in Legal Note 5 to Chapter 58, HTSUS, it is classified as narrow fabric in subheading 7019.20.10, HTSUS.
HOLDING:

The glasscloth tape is classified in subheading 7019.20.10, HTSUS, which provides for "[g]lass fibers (including glass wool) and articles thereof (for example, yarn, woven fabrics): [w]oven fabrics, including narrow fabrics: [n]arrow fabrics. The rate of duty is 6 percent ad valorem.

This decision should be considered a revocation of NYRL 871889 pursuant to 19 CFR 177.9(d)(1).

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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