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NY 891193




October 26, 1993

CLA-2-64:S:N:N8:347-JG

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 6402.99.30; 6404.19.35

Siu Fung Tse
Real Evergreen Int'l Inc.
24 West 28th Street
New York, NY 10001

RE: The tariff classification of footwear from Taiwan - Textile Materials

Dear Ms. Tse:

In your letter dated October 4, 1993 you requested a tariff classification ruling.

Style 672014A is a woman's thong sandal with a wedge heel and a rubber/plastic sole. The upper is a "Y" shaped strap that consists of plastic and multi colored textile strips on a plastic base that is not visible on the surface. Plastic is the predominate material on the external surface area of the upper.

Regarding styles 92101, 92046 and 8669, all three have rubber and-or plastics (R-P) outsoles and wedges, with uppers which consist only of strap(s) across the front of the foot.

Style 92046 has an "X" strap upper with a plastic "butterfly" ornament, which is an "accessory". The straps are about 1.2 inches wide, their central area, a little more than .6 inch wide, is entirely covered with an interlaced melange of "synthetic strip" as described in Harmonized System (HS) heading 54.04, "metalized yarn" in HS 56.05 and "synthetic filament yarn" in HS 54.02. 92101's upper is similar except it is a "Y" thong and the straps are .6 inch wide with a central area that is a little over .3 inch wide. Style 8669's upper consists of eight padded straps whose external surfaces are a woven fabric printed with a floral design.

We note that you claim on item 3 of the "Worksheet" we provided that all three styles have uppers in which the external surface area of the upper, excluding accessories and reinforcements, is 100 percent R-P. You also enclosed a laboratory report by U.S. Testing Company, Inc., (USTCI) dated 6-7-93, which claims that the "exterior" surface area of the upper is 100% R-P. We assume that USTCI meant "external" not "exterior". We note that all of these statements are quite untrue.

The applicable subheading for style 672014A will be 6402.99.30, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics, not covering the ankle, having uppers of which not over 90 percent of the external surface area is rubber or plastics, having open toes or open heels and is of the slip-on type. The rate of duty will be 37.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for styles 92101, 92046 and 8669 will be 6404.19.35, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other footwear in which the upper's external surface is predominately textile materials (note that accessory or reinforcement on top of another material is not part of the upper,s external surface but the material hidden underneath is); in which the outer sole's external surface is predominately rubber and/or plastics; which is not "athletic" footwear; which is not designed to be a protection against water, oil, or cold or inclement weather; in which the upper's external surface is still 50% or less leather even after every leather accessory and reinforcement present is included as part of the upper's external surface; which has open toes, open heels and is of the slip-on type; which lacks a foxing-like band, almost wholly of rubber or plastics; and which is 10% or more by weight of rubber and/or plastics. The rate of duty will be 37.5 percent ad valorem.

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

A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.

Sincerely,

Jean F. Maguire
Area Director

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