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HQ 956134





July 26, 1994

CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 956134 BC

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4601.91.2000

H. Max Lanning
Lexington Furniture Industries
P.O. Box 1008
411 S. Salisbury Street
Lexington, NC 27293

RE: Revocation of PC 887470; classification of rattan webbing

Dear Mr. Lanning:

This is in further reference to a letter you received from the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport, notifying you that Customs is reconsidering Preclassification Ruling (PC) 887470. The ruling classified rattan webbing. The area director informed you that a decision would be made by Headquarters Office of Regulations and Rulings. We have reviewed the matter, and our decision to revoke PC 887470 follows.

FACTS:

Preclassification Ruling 887470, issued on June 25, 1993, by the District Director of Customs, Charlotte, NC, classified rattan webbing imported in continuous lengths under subheading 4601.20.2000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for products of plaiting materials, bound together in parallel strands or woven, in sheet form, whether or not being finished articles: mats, matting and screens of vegetable materials: rattan webbing.

After review of the ruling by the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport, it was decided that it may have been issued in error. It was recommended that consideration be given to classification in subheading 4601.91.2000, HTSUSA, which provides for products of plaiting materials, bound together in parallel strands or woven, in sheet form, whether or not being finished articles: other: of vegetable materials: of one or more of the materials bamboo, rattan, willow, or wood. The merchandise at issue are rolls of rattan webbing, stated to be in sheets 300 feet long and 14 to 40 inches wide. We understand the rattan webbing to be used in the making of furniture.

ISSUE:

What is the proper classification for the rolled sheets of rattan webbing at issue?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is accomplished in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). The systematic detail of the Harmonized System is such that virtually all goods are classified by application of GRI 1, that is, according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes. In the event that goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI's will then be applied in numerical order. Further, the Explanatory Notes (EN's) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HCDCS), which represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level, facilitate classification under the HTSUS by offering guidance in understanding the scope of the headings and GRI's. Accordingly, the GRI's and EN's are utilized as the basis for the classification determination discussed below. (See Treasury Decision 89-80, endorsing use of the EN's in the classification of goods. 23 Cust. Bull. 379 (1989), 54 Fed. Reg. 35,127 (August 23, 1989).) The classification of sheets of rattan webbing has been decided previously. In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 088638, dated May 7, 1991, we classified rattan webbing in sheets measuring at least 22 inches wide by at least 50 feet long. We held that it was classifiable in subheading 4601.91.2000, HTSUSA.

In that ruling, we decided that the rattan webbing did not fit the descriptions for either mats, matting, or screens (or panels) as set forth in the EN's. The EN's for heading 4601, HTSUSA, describe as follows certain finished articles that are classified in the heading as plaits and similar products of woven plaiting materials (see HCDCS, Vol. 2, p. 653):

(B) Plaiting materials, plaits and similar products of plaiting materials, bound together in parallel strands or woven, in sheet form, whether or not being finished articles (for example, mats, matting, screens).

(2) Certain finished articles, for example:

(a) Mats and matting (floor coverings, etc.), including in particular the so-called Chinese (or Indian) mats and matting (whether rectangular or in other shapes), made by weaving or binding parallel strands of plaiting materials with other plaiting materials, twine, cord, etc.

(b) Coarse matting such as the straw mats used for horticultural purposes.

(c) Screens or panels such as those of willow or osier; building panels of plaiting materials (straw, reeds, etc.) laid parallel, compressed and bound together at regular intervals with base metal wire. These building panels or slabs may be covered on all surfaces and edges with kraft paperboard.

In the ruling, we stated the following: "The instant rattan webbing sheets do not fit within the above-given definitions of mats, matting and screens. As indicated above, mats and matting are floor coverings or horticultural coverings. Screens are room dividers, building panels or (as defined in most dictionaries) devices to close off windows or doors." Thus, the sheets of rattan webbing there considered were classified in subheading 4601.91.2000, HTSUSA. The ruling was reconsidered and affirmed in HRL 951632, dated August 12, 1992.

It is problematic that the tariff explicitly provides for "rattan webbing" in subheading 4601.20.2000, HTSUSA. We are of the view that rattan webbing is not an article included among the "mats, matting and screens" explicitly provided for at the six- digit level: 4601.20, HTSUSA. It is fundamental in the hierarchical scheme of the Harmonized Tariff System that a tariff provision cannot expand the scope of its superior provision. That is, for example, an eight-digit tariff provision cannot be interpreted to expand the scope of its superior six-digit provision. Therefore, we cannot classify at the eight or ten- digit level an article that does not fall within the six-digit level description. Here, we cannot classify rolls of rattan webbing in subheading 4601.20.2000, HTSUSA, if they do not properly fall within the scope of subheading 4601.20, HTSUSA. Consequently, rattan webbing imported in continuous lengths cannot be classified as mats, matting, or screens under subheading 4601.20, HTSUSA; it must be classified under the "other" provision of subheading 4601.91, HTSUSA.

HOLDING:

The rolled sheets of rattan webbing at issue are classifiable in subheading 4601.91.2000, HTSUSA, which provides for products of woven plaiting materials, whether or not being finished articles: other: of vegetable materials: of rattan. The applicable duty rate is 6.6% ad valorem. Accordingly, pursuant to 19 CFR 177.9(d), PC 887470 is hereby revoked.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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