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HQ 955223



December 8, 1993
CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 955223 KCC

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 6805.10.00

Mr. William A. Phelps
W.A. Phelps & Co., Inc.
One World Trade Center
Suite 2109
New York, New York 10048

RE: Super Quick Disc; 6804.22.10; EN 68.04; EN 68.05; HRL 951607

Dear Mr. Phelps:

This is in response to your letter dated September 21, 1993, to Customs in New York, on behalf of Noritake Co., Inc, requesting the tariff classification of Noritake Skyhawk Super Quick Disc under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). A sample was submitted for examination.

FACTS:

The Super Quick Disc ("disc") is an abrasive product made of aluminum oxide (corundum) grit coated on woven textile strips that are arranged spherically around an aluminum hub. The abrasive is "sandpaper" or a sanding belt cut into small strips. Epoxy glue is used to bond the abrasive strips to the aluminum hub.

The disc is designed to fit hand-held angle grinders without any adaptor. Depending on grit size and speed, etc., the disc has wide application in various industries for heavy grinding to fine polishing of wood, metal and plastic products.

You contend that the disc is classified under heading 6805.10.00, HTSUS, as natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, on a base of woven textile fabric only. The competing subheadings are:

6804 Millstones, grindstones, grinding wheels and the like, without frameworks, for grinding, sharpening, polishing, trueing or cutting, hand sharpening or polishing stones, and parts thereof of natural stone, of agglomerated natural or artificial abrasives, or of ceramics, with or without parts of other materials...

6804.22.10 Other millstones, grindstones, grinding wheels and the like...Of other agglomerated abrasives or of ceramics...Bonded with synthetic resins.

6805 Natural or artificial abrasive powder or grains, on a base of textile material, of paper, of paperboard or of other materials, whether or not cut to shape or sewn or otherwise made up...

6805.10.00 On a base of woven textile fabric only.

ISSUE:

Is the Super Quick Disc classified under heading 6805.10.00, HTSUS, as natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, on a base of woven textile fabric only?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

The classification of merchandise under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1, HTSUS, states, in part, that "for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes...."

In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs), may be utilized. 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 68.04 (pgs. 899-900) states, in part, that:

(3) Grinding wheels, heads, discs, points, etc., as used on machine-tools, electro-mechanical or pneumatic hand tools, for the trimming, polishing, sharpening, trueing or sometimes for the cutting of metals, stone, glass, plastics, ceramics, rubber, leather, mother of pearl, ivory, etc....

The heading covers such tools not only when they are predominantly of abrasive materials, but also when they consist...of a centre or core of rigid material (metal, wood, plastics, cork, etc.) on to which compact layers of agglomerated abrasive have been permanently bonded....

Agglomerated grinding wheels, etc., are made by mixing ground abrasive or stone with binders such as ceramic materials (for example, powdered clay or kaolin, sometimes with added felspar), sodium silicate, cement (especially magnesian cement) or less rigid cementing materials (such as rubber, shellac or plastics). Textile fibres such as cotton, nylon or flax are sometimes incorporated in the mixtures. The mixtures are moulded to shape, dried, and then heated (if necessary to the stage of vitrification in the case of ceramic binders) or cured (in the case of the rubber, plastics, etc., binders). The articles are then trimmed to size and shape...

The heading does not include:...

(b) Natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain coated on to textile material, paper, paperboard or other materials (heading 68.05), whether or not the textile material, paper, etc., is subsequently glued on to supports such as discs or strips of wood (buff-sticks for use in the clock and watch industry, mechanical engineering, etc.).

EN 68.05 (pg. 901) for natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain states that:

This heading covers textile material, paper, paperboard, vulcanised fibre, leather or other materials, in rolls or cut to shape (sheets, bands, strips, discs, segments, etc.), or in threads or cords, on to which crushed natural or artificial abrasives have been coated, usually by means of glue or plastics. The heading also covers similar products of nonwovens, in which abrasives are uniformly dispersed throughout the mass and fixed on to textile fibres by the binding substance. The abrasives used include emery, corundum, silicon carbide, garnet, pumice, flint, quartz, sand and glass powder. The bands, discs, etc., may be sewn, stapled, glued or otherwise made up;....But the heading excludes grinding wheels composed of a rigid support (e.g., of paperboard, wood, metal) fitted with a compact agglomerated layer, rather than powder or grain, of abrasive, and similarly constituted hand tools (heading 68.04).

The goods of this heading are mainly used (by hand or mechanically) for smoothing or cleaning up metal, wood, cork, glass, leather, rubber (hardened or not) or plastics; also for smoothing or polishing varnished or lacquered surfaces, or for sharpening card clothing.

It is our opinion that the disc is provided for under heading 6805, HTSUS. EN 68.05 specifically describes the disc at issue. The disc consist of woven textile which is coated on one side with aluminum oxide (corundum). Inasmuch as the base for the abrasive powder or grain is the woven textile fabric, the disc is specifically provided for under subheading 6805.10.00, HTSUS, as natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, on a base of woven textile fabric only. Pursuant to EN 68.05, the base is not the aluminum hub, as strips of abrasive coated material "may be sewn, stapled, glued or otherwise made up...." See, Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 951607 dated July 13, 1992, in which similar abrasive wheels were classified under subheading 6805.30.10, HTSUS.

The disc is not provided for under heading 6804, HTSUS. EN 68.04 states that heading 6804, HTSUS, covers actual agglomerated material which has been molded to shape and heated or cured. As previously stated, the material at issue is woven textile strips which are coated with abrasives and allowed to dry; they are not molded to shape and heated or cured. Moreover, EN 68.04 states that abrasive powder or grain coated on to textile material which is subsequently glued on to supports such as a discs is excluded from classification under heading 6804, HTSUS, but is classifiable under heading 6805, HTSUS. The disc is not of the class or kind of grindstones classifiable under heading 6804, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

The Super Quick Disc is classified under subheading 6805.10.30, HTSUS, as natural or artificial abrasive powder or grain, on a base of woven textile fabric only, which is dutiable at the Column 1 rate of 2.5 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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