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April 1, 1999

CLA-2-56:RR:NC:TA:350 D89747

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 5603.92.0090

Ms. Alice Wagner
Tower Group International
128 Dearborn Street
Buffalo, NY 14207-3198

RE: The tariff classification and status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), of one inch wide tapes of nonwoven fabric, from Canada; Article 509.

Dear Ms. Wagner:

In your letter dated March 5, 1999, which was forwarded to us from the U.S. Customs office in Washington, DC and received March 25th, 1999, you requested a ruling on the status of narrow widths of nonwoven fabric from Canada under the NAFTA. Your client is EC Walkers, Toronto, Canada.

You submitted a representative sample of a plain orange dyed nonwoven fabric of Mexican origin along with a sample of a blue and white striped piece of the finished one-inch wide fabric strip slit from like fabric in Canada. The material may be dyed in various colors or plain. The end use of this product is for use as identification tapes which will be tied to trees in the forestry industries.

Specifically, fabric in rolls measuring 50 inches wide and, according to a recent telephone conversation with your client, measures 1,500 yards long, are produced in Mexico. They are shipped to Canada where they are cut to length and slit widths of 125 feet and 1 inch, respectively. The fabric, itself, according to your correspondence, is produced in Mexico from 100% rayon man-made fibers (staple) in a dry-laid process whereby the fibers are held together by an acrylic binder. The fabric weighs 36 grams per square meter. Although your correspondence did not state where the rayon fibers originated, we will assume that they were wholly obtained or produced in the territory of Mexico.

You indicate that the vast majority of finished tapes imported into the United States from Canada will be unprinted, but on some occasions will be printed with some kind of advice, information or alert, etc. As such, they may be considered printed matter and will not be considered as part of this classification ruling letter. Such printed tapes should be the subject of another request with examples of some typical printing.

The applicable tariff provision for the product will be 5603.92.0090, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for nonwovens, whether or not impregnated, coated, covered or laminated, of other than man-made filaments, weighing more than 25 g/m² but not more than 70 g/m². The general rate of duty will be Free.

NAFTA ELIGIBILITY

For the purposes of NAFTA, goods imported into the customs territory of the United States are eligible for the tariff treatment and quantitative limitations set forth in the tariff schedule as "goods originating in the territory of a NAFTA party" if??

(i) they are goods wholly obtained or produced entirely in the territory of Canada, Mexico and/or the United States.

The subject merchandise qualifies for NAFTA treatment because the provisions of General; Note 12(b)(i) are met, i.e., this product is wholly produced in the territory of Mexico.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN - LAW AND ANALYSIS

On December 8, 1994, the President signed into law the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. Section 334 of that Act (codified at 19 U.S.C. 3592) provides new rules of origin for textiles and apparel entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on and after July 1, 1996. On September 5, 1995, Customs published Section 102.21, Customs Regulations, in the Federal Register, implementing Section 334 (60 FR 46188). Thus, effective July 1, 1996, the country of origin of a textile or apparel product shall be determined by sequential application of the general rules set forth in paragraphs (c)(1) through (5) of Section 102.21.

Paragraph (c)(1) states that "The country of origin of a textile or apparel product is the single country, territory, or insular possession in which the good was wholly obtained or produced." This criteria is not met because processing occurred in more than one country.

Paragraph (c)(2) states that "Where the country of origin of a textile or apparel product cannot be determined under paragraph (c)(1) of this section, the country of origin of the good is the single country, territory, or insular possession in which each of the foreign materials incorporated in that good underwent an applicable change in tariff classification, and/or met any other requirement, specified for the good in paragraph (e) of this section:"

Paragraph (e) in pertinent part states that “the following rules shall apply for the purposes of determining the country of origin of a textile or apparel product under paragraph (c)(2) of this section”:

HTSUS Tariff shift and/or other requirements

5602-5603 A change to heading 5602-5603 from any other heading outside that group, provided that the change is the result of a fabric making process.

This tariff shift requirement is not met as there was no change in the tariff subheading from that which was applicable to the nonwoven fabric which left Mexico to the slit material which left Canada for the United States. Also, the fabric making took place in Mexico.

Section 102.21(c)(3) states that, "Where the country of origin of a textile or apparel product cannot be determined under paragraph (c)(1) or (2) of this section":

(I) If the good was knit to shape, the country of origin of the good is the single country, territory, or insular possession in which the good was knit; or

(ii) Except for goods of heading 5609, 5807, 5811, 6213, 6214, 6301 through 6306, and 6308, and subheadings 6209.20.5040, 6307.10, 6307.90, and 9404.90, if the good was not knit to shape and the good was wholly assembled in a single country, territory, or insular possession, the country of origin of the good is the country, territory, or insular possession in which the good was wholly assembled.

As the subject merchandise is neither knit, nor is any assembly involved, Section 102.21 (c)(3) is inapplicable.

We, therefore, turn to Section 102.21 (c)(4) which states, “Where the country of origin of a textile or apparel product cannot be determined under paragraph (c)(1), (2) or (3) of this section, the country of origin of the good is the single country, territory or insular possession in which the most important assembly or manufacturing process occurred.”

We deem the manufacture of the nonwoven fabric in Mexico to be the most important manufacturing operation. Therefore, Mexico would be the country of origin.

HOLDING:

The country of origin of the nonwoven tapes is Mexico. The product in its imported condition would have to be so marked to indicate this.

This product falls within textile category designation 223, however, there are currently no textile restraints for this merchandise.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 181 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 181).

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 George Barth at 212-637-7085

Should you wish to request an administrative review of this ruling, submit a copy of this ruling and all relevant facts and arguments within 30 days of the date of this letter, to the Director, Commercial Rulings Division, Headquarters, U.S. Customs Service, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20229.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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