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HQ 960778




August 8, 1997

CLA-2 RR:TC:FC 960778 ALS

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4823.90.6500

Ms. Michele R. Markowitz
Attorney at Law
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz & Silverman LLP 245 Park Ave., 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10167-3397

RE: Color Cards

Dear Ms. Markowitz:

This is in reference to your requests for a binding ruling regarding the tariff classification of color cards. Your requests, addressed to our New York office have been referred to this office for reply.

FACTS:

The articles under consideration are paperboard cards on which lacquer paint chips, in a variety of shades and finishes, have been mechanically mounted. These color cards are intended to be used as a visual display of exterior paint colors available for 2 brands of automobiles manufactured by a U.S. company. Each card identifies the year and make of automobile for which the paints on a particular card are intended, including the fact that they are exterior paints. With few exceptions, the only other printed information on the cards is the name and numerical designation of each color. We understand that the color cards, which are manufactured in England, were the subject of one Customs entry approximately one year ago, that there are no current entries, and that the color cards will be regularly imported commencing in 1998.

ISSUE:

What is the classification of the color cards? - 2 -

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) taken in order. GRI 1 provides that the classification is determined first in accordance with the terms of the headings and any relative section and chapter notes. If GRI 1 fails to classify the goods and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRI's are applied, taken in order.

In examining samples of the product to be imported we noted that they are composed of paperboard on which lacquer chips have been mechanically mounted. We note that they are used as a visual display of colors, shades or finishes, available on certain automobiles, to a potential purchaser in order to permit such purchaser in making a selection.

In reviewing the possible headings under which the goods could be classified, we noted that classification is dependent on whether or not the cards are considered printed matter. In this regard we note that Legal Note 11 to the HTSUSA provides:

11. Except for the articles of heading 4814 and 4821, paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and articles thereof, printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods, fall in chapter 49. (emphasis added).

We further note that the General Explanatory Notes (EN) to chapter 49, which represents that opinion of the international classification experts, provides:

...this Chapter covers all printed matter of which the essential nature and use is determined by the fact of its being printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations.

It goes on to state:

...the term "printed" includes not only reproduction by the several methods of ordinary hand printed...mechanical printing.... but also reproduction by duplicating machines, production under the control of a computer, embossing, photograph, photocopying ..., irrespective of the form of the characters in which the printing is executed...

While the EN broaden the meaning of the term "printed" beyond normal types of printing processes, they note that the essential nature and use of the printed matter classifiable in chapter 49, HTSUSA, is that it is printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations. Further, Legal Note 11 to chapter 48, as previously noted, provides that, other than as to certain exceptions not hereto relevant, paperboard articles printed with motifs, characters or pictorial - 3 -
representations, which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods, falls in chapter 49, HTSUSA. (Emphasis added). In addition, the General EN to chapter 49 specifically provides that the term printed "...does not, however, include coloration or decorative or repetitive-design printing." (Emphasis added).

We have concluded that the primary purpose of the cards lies in the colors deposited on them, not in the printed text providing names and number of the color or other minimal information printed thereon. Accordingly, we have concluded that the merchandise is properly classifiable under the provisions for paperboard and other paper items.

HOLDING:

Color cards composed of paperboard on which lacquer paint chips, in a variety of shades and finishes, have been mechanically mounted, which are intended to provide a visual display of exterior colors available for certain automobiles and where the printed matter is merely incidental to the primary use of the goods, are classifiable in subheading 4823.90.6500, HTSUSA. That provision covers Other paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and...cut to size or shape; other articles of ...paperboard...Other. Merchandise so classified is subject to a general rate of duty of 3.9 percent ad valorem.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification Appeals

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