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NY 810798




June 14, 1995

CLA-2-64:S:N:N8:346 810798

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 6406.10.6500 ; 5609.00.3000

Mr. Paul Leitner
Continental Agency Inc.
135 Brea Canyon Rd.
Walnut, CA 91748

RE: The tariff classification of a leather shoe upper with laces, from China.

Dear Mr. Leitner:

In your letter dated May 24, 1995, on behalf of Amtrail Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The submitted sample is a shoe upper (no style number indicated) approximately 7 inches in height, which has an external surface predominately of suede leather, with a padded plastic ankle collar, a textile faced foamed plastic lining, a sewn-in leather tongue and a laceable closure consisting of paired metal eyelets, D-rings and speed-lacing hooks. The upper has not been lasted, it has a completely open bottom and it also has a polyester shoelace of the tubular braided cord type laced into a pair of its eyelets.

You have asked for a determination in this ruling of whether the shoe laces imported together with individual uppers, or separately packed but imported in the same shipment with the uppers, will be considered classifiable under the same subheading as the uppers.

Standard shoe laces like these are regularly imported separately in large quantities for use in many types of footwear and unlasted shoe uppers such as this sample are most often imported without laces inserted. The lace can be easily removed from the upper or replaced, and its presence is clearly optional at this stage in the manufacturing process of the finished shoe. The most natural description for this import is "an upper with a shoelace in it".

We do not consider shoe laces, whether laced in or not, imported together with unformed shoe uppers to constitute "composite goods" because they are not specially adapted to each other. They also cannot be considered a "set" because they are not packaged for retail sale. The shoelace and the upper in the instant case will therefore be classified separately.

The applicable subheading for the shoe upper will be 6404.10.6500, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for footwear uppers or the parts thereof, which are less than formed uppers with insoles which would cover all or most of the bottom of the wearer's foot, and in which the upper's external surface is predominately leather. The rate of duty will be 3 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the shoelace inserted into eyelets on the submitted shoe upper will be 5609.00.3000, HTS, which provides for articles of yarn, strip or the like of heading 5604 or 5605, twine, cordage, rope or cables, not elsewhere specified or included, of man-made fibers. The rate of duty will be 8.6 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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