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HQ 956574





September 14, 1994

CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 956574 KCC

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 6802.91.15

District Director
U.S. Customs Service
4430 E. Adamo Drive
Room: Suite 301
Tampa, Florida 33605

RE: Protest 1801-93-100059; white carrara marble sills; Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68; processing necessary to facilitate installation; slabs; HRL 950125; HRL 951047; HRL 952678; beveling

Dear District Director:

This is in response to Protest 1801-93-100059, which pertains to the tariff classification of white carrara marble sills under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

FACTS:

The articles under consideration are white carrara marble sills. The entries of the marble sills were liquidated on September 3, 1993, under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUS, as other marble. In a protest timely filed on October 19, 1993, the protestant contends that the marble sills are properly classified as slabs under subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUS.

The competing subheadings are as follows:

6802.91 Worked monumental or building stone (except slate) and articles thereof, other than goods of heading 6801; mosaic cubes and the like, of natural stone (including slate), whether or not on a backing; artificially colored granules, chippings and powder, of natural stone (including slate)... Other...Marble, travertine and alabaster... Marble...

6802.91.05 Slabs.

6802.91.15 Other.

ISSUE:

Are the marble sills classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUS, as other marble, or under subheading 6802.91.05, as marble slabs?

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 terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes...."

The marble sills in this case are properly classified under Chapter 68, HTSUS, making the Chapter 68 notes applicable. Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS, states:

For purposes of heading 6802, the term "slabs" embraces flat stone pieces, not over 5.1 cm in thickness, having a facial area of 25.8 cm2 or more, the edges of which have not been beveled, rounded or otherwise processed except such processing as may be needed to facilitate installation as tiling or veneering in building construction.

Thus, edge working such as beveling would preclude classification of merchandise as "slabs" in subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUS, unless this processing is necessary to facilitate installation. Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS, does not provide a specific measurement for a process which would be acceptable to facilitate installation.

To determine the extent of the processing which would be acceptable for a slab, Customs in New York sought information from the marble and limestone industry. Based on this information, Customs determined that the edges, sides or corners of a piece of marble need only be cut or processed to 1/32 of an inch to facilitate installation. Customs further determined that any cut which is greater, either deeper or wider, than 1/32 of an inch is not made merely to facilitate installation, but rather is made in part for appearance or beauty. Therefore, Customs determined that the cut of 1/32 of an inch is a reasonable standard for distinguishing "slabs" from marble which is a product worked beyond the definition of "slabs" found in Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS. See, Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 950125 dated January 7, 1992, which held that the subject marble was classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUS, as other marble because the edges were cut more than 1/32 of an inch in spite of the protestant's contention that the edges were only "eased."

"Easing" is a minimal operation performed to remove rough cut edges from marble. The edge finishing operation is not a high precision process. Therefore, the amount of material removed from the edges is dependent upon the pressure applied and can vary from article to article or even along an edge. Therefore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to establish an exact figure, such as 1/32 of an inch, as a standard to determine the limit on the amount of processing which is needed to facilitate installation.

Simply examining whether more than 1/32 of an inch of edge is removed is too rigid and does not allow for the non-precision edge finishing operation found in the industry. However, to facilitate the proper classification of articles as slabs or other marble pursuant to Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS, it is necessary to have an established standard. After gathering further information from the marble and limestone industry, we conclude that certain types of marble may have to be eased as much as 3/32 of an inch in order to facilitate installations. This 3/32 of an inch standard will allow for varying degrees of hardness of different stones and will allow for the industry's non-precision edge finishing operation found in "easing" the articles for handling purposes. See, HRL 951047 dated September 17, 1992, and HRL 952678 dated December 30, 1992.

Therefore, if the edge is eased not wider or deeper than 3/32 of an inch, then the stone articles will be determined to have been processed to facilitate installation and classified as slabs under subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUS, pursuant to Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS.

Information before Customs indicates that the beveling found on many of the marble sills is greater than 3/32 of an inch. Therefore, the marble sills under consideration are classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUS, as other marble. We note that the protestant has submitted a letter from Carrara Granite Marble & Stone srl. in Italy stating that their "easing" machines are set at 1/16 of an inch and that the protestant states that any bevel beyond the 3/32 of an inch standard is due to varying degrees of stone hardness, or wear of the abrasive material on the "easing" machines. Protestant has also submitted a letter from the Marble Institute of America, Inc., which details the need for edge beveling, but states that a standard for edge treatment sizing has not been developed. In increasing the standard from 1/32 of an inch to 3/32 of an inch standard, Customs has already allowed for varying degrees of hardness of different stones and has allowed for the industry's non-precision edge finishing operation found in "easing" the articles for handling purposes. Therefore, any article beveled greater than 3/32 of an inch will be determined to have been processed beyond that necessary to facilitate installation.

We note that future entries of the protestant's marble sills may meet the standards set out above. The only method available to verify that the edges of the marble sills are processed to facilitate installation pursuant to Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 68, HTSUS, is through a consistent sampling and testing process. As long as the protestant maintains that its marble sills are classifiable as slabs under subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUS, and/or until you are satisfied that the marble sills are classifiable as slabs, sampling and testing of the protestant's articles should be conducted.

HOLDING:

The white carrara marble sills are classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUS, as other marble.

The protest should be DENIED. In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993, Subject: Revised Protest Directive, this decision should be mailed by your office to the protestant no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to mailing the decision. Sixty days from the date of the decision the Office of Regulations and Rulings will take steps to make the decision available to customs personnel via the Customs Rulings Module in ACS and the public via the Diskette Subscription Service, Freedom of Information Act and other public access channels.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division

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