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April 15, 1999

CLA-2-44:RR:NC:SP:230 D89501

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4418.90.4050

Ms. Sheri G. Lawson
PBB USA Inc.
434 Delaware Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14202

RE: The tariff classification of unassembled wooden wall sections from Canada.

Dear Ms. Lawson:

In your letters dated March 10 and April 8, 1999, you requested a tariff classification ruling on behalf of your client, IBL Inc. (Industrie Bois Lamontagne Inc., St-Prime, PQ, Canada).

The items in question, known as “Idego Wall After Wall” kits, consist of precut structural wood members designed to be assembled into complete frameworks for walls. The wood pieces are made from kiln-dried, finger-jointed spruce and fir lumber. The kits will be sold mainly to large hardware stores and building-supply outlets in the U.S. for resale to consumers and contractors.

A brochure and samples previously submitted by your client indicate that each kit is a bundle of the aforementioned wood pieces, which have been worked on their faces and/or ends to permit proper assembly. Each piece exhibits at least one of the following features: tenons, end grooves, center tongues and/or grooves, center cutouts, center holes. Those pieces known as “top or bottom plates” are marked at regular intervals with codes to minimize the risk of placement errors. The center cutouts and center holes in the vertical studs will facilitate the passage of wiring and plumbing. The kits will be offered with either 8, 9 or 10-foot studs, thereby offering purchasers a choice of wall height. The kits will be imported in two ways. The first version will be a shrink-wrapped package containing the pieces needed to assemble four linear feet of wall: 1 top/bottom plate, 3 studs and 6 struts. (You explain that the top/bottom plate is eight feet long, and must be cut in half to obtain a four-foot top plate and an identical four-foot bottom plate. Alternatively, a user desiring an eight-foot-long wall would simply buy two kits.) This first version of the product
will be shipped in a “56 pack,” i.e., a large bundle containing 56 of the 10-piece shrink-wrapped kits. The retailer will in turn break down the “56 pack” and sell the kits individually.

The second version of the kit will consist of 1 top/bottom plate and 3 studs (no struts are included or intended to be used in this version). All of these pieces will again have worked faces and/or ends as described above. However, instead of being individually wrapped, 70 of these kits will be stacked and bundled together (with two metal straps). The retailers will keep these large “70 packs” intact for sale, complete, to do-it-yourselfers faced with large projects (e.g., building a garage or an addition to a home), or to contractors.

It should be noted that in all instances, each kit or pack will contain the proper quantity/combination of pieces to assemble a complete wall frame section of a given size.

The applicable subheading for the all of the above-described “Idego Wall After Wall” kits will be 4418.90.4050, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other (than certain enumerated) builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood...: prefabricated partitions and panels for buildings. The general rate of duty will be 3.2%.

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

In the event it is determined that the imported goods are not being manufactured and/or presented exactly as described in this ruling, the ruling will not necessarily be applicable to those goods. You should also be aware that the facts described in the foregoing ruling may be subject to periodic verification by the Customs Service.

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 Paul Garretto at 212-637-7009.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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