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NY A86748




September 11, 1996

CLA-2-64:RR:NC:TP:346 A86748

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION MARKING

Mr. James W. Lawless
C. H. Powell Company
1 Intercontinental Way
Peabody, MA 01960

RE: The tariff classification and the country of origin of infant's bootie slippers from China.

Dear Mr. Lawless:

In your letter dated August 15, 1996, on behalf of your client, The First Years, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

Your inquiry does not provide enough information for us to give a classification ruling on this textile upper infant's bootie slipper with a plastic/rubber traction dotted, separately applied textile outer sole. Your request for a classification ruling should provide an accurate external surface area percentage measurement of the plastic/rubber(traction dots) and the textile materials that comprise this slipper's outer sole. This measurement will be used to determine the predominant constituent material of the outer sole in contact with the ground. When this information is available, you may wish to consider resubmission of your request.

You also requested us "to determine the country of origin based on the new Rules of Origin dated July 1, 1996." We believe your reference to the July 1 rules is a result of your misunderstanding of the scope of CR 102.21, concerning the Origin of "Textile and Apparel Products", which did go into effect on July 1, 1996. That phrase has never been applied to the Footwear of HTS 6401-6405, even those that are 100 percent of textile materials (excepting wool-felt footwear), and its definition via the listing of HTS's in CR 102.21-b-5, does not include any footwear except the wool-felt footwear of 6405.20.60. Since your item is not NAFTA eligible, its Origin determination continues to be based on the "substantial transformation" rules. As inter- preted by Customs, the cutting of the textile materials and their sewing together into footwear, as you describe, is always suffi- cient. Therefore, the Country of Origin of this item is China, regardless of the origin of any or all of the textile materials.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist James Sheridan at 212-466-5889.

Sincerely,

Roger J. Silvestri
Director

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