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NY I84489




August 2, 2002

CLA-2-39:RR:NC:TA:350 I84489

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 3921.90.1950

Ms. Jennifer Scott
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. 21318 64th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032

RE: The tariff classification of PVC tarp material for use in the manufacture of banners or flags, from Germany.

Dear Ms. Scott:

In your letter dated July 23, 2002, on behalf of Seattle Industrial Textile Company, Seattle, WA, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The instant sample, identified as Art. No. 5519, consists of a plain woven fabric of 1100 dtex multifilament polyester yarns with an 8/9 count in the warp and fill directions. The weight of this fabric is given at 200 g/m². The textile material is coated or laminated with a compact PVC plastic, which completely encases or covers both sides of the fabric. The total weight of the finished material is given at 650 g/m² (69.5% PVC/ 30.5% Polyester). The material will be imported and sold in rolls or bolts.

You ask for consideration under tariff subheading 5903.10.1500 which covers textile fabrics coated or laminated with PVC of man-made fibers: Fabrics specified in note 9 to section XI. That note simple states that the woven fabrics of chapters 50 to 55 include fabrics consisting of layers of parallel textile yarns superimposed on each other at acute or right angles. In other words, one layer of yarns or a yarn system lies over a similar yarn system. The yarns do not interlace, they are not woven.

Such is not the case of in the subject material. The base fabric is of an actual woven construction classifiable on its own in chapter 54. Subheading 5903.10.1500 does not apply to your fabric.

Further, chapter 59, legal note 2(a)(3) is very specific. It reads in part “heading 5903 applies to textile fabrics, impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with plastics, other than: products in which the textile fabric is either completely embedded in plastics or entirely coated or covered on both sides with such material, provided that such coating or covering can be seen with the naked eye with no account being taken of any resulting change of color (chapter 39)”.“

Since your materials are coated/covered on both sides, no further consideration can be given to heading 5903. The subject material is directed to chapter 39, specifically, heading 3921, which covers plates and sheet of plastic combined with textile material.

Additionally, with the implementation of the Semperit Belting Case (Slip 94-100) in 1994, a material of a single textile fiber type that may have been properly classifiable in tariff subheading 3921.90.1500 will now default to tariff subheading 3921.90.1950. Specifically, Slip-Op 94-100, in essence, ruled that the words in the tariff subheading "predominate by weight over any other single textile fiber" presupposed the existence of two or more classes of textile fibers. Since the material which is the subject of this inquiry is composed of only one man-made textile fiber (polyester), final classification is as indicated in the paragraph that follows.

The applicable subheading for the material will be 3921.90.1950, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other plates, sheets, film, foil and strip, of plastics, other than cellular, combined with a single textile material, other, weighing not more than 1.492 kg/m². The rate of duty will be 5.3 percent ad valorem.

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 George Barth at 646-733-3044.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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