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NY K83387




March 19, 2004
CLA-2-72:RR:NC:1:117 K83387

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 7205.29.0000

Mr. Frederick P. Waite
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
1828 L Street NW
Eleventh Floor
Washington, D.C. 20036-5109

RE: The tariff classification of chopped steel fibers from China.

Dear Mr. Waite:

In your letter dated February 17, 2004, on behalf of Global Material Technologies, Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The merchandise to be imported is chopped steel fibers which are produced by shaving a nonalloy low carbon steel wire with serrated knives resulting in individual strands of steel wool. These strands are gathered and formed into a web which is then fed into a hammer mill. In the mill, this web of steel wool is said to be pulverized by a total of 44 knives. The individual fibers are then forced onto a screen on the bottom of the hammer mill. After passing through the initial screen, the fibers then flow onto a series of vibrating screens causing the fibers, which meet desired dimensions, to fall through all of the screens, and into a collection bag. This high speed operation produces chopped steel fibers that are used in automotive friction applications such as brake pads.

In Section XV Note 8 (b) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) powders are defined as “Products of which 90 percent or more by weight passes through a sieve having a mesh aperture of 1 mm”. The Explanatory Notes to Heading 7205 of the HTS further define a powder as being produced by “pulverizing iron or steel”.

You state in your submission that 100 percent by weight of the fibers pass through a #14 sieve having a mesh aperture of 1.4 mm. When the fibers pass through a #20 sieve, which has a mesh aperture of less than 1.0 mm, at least 99.5 percent of the fibers by weight pass through. Therefore, based on the described method of manufacture, and size of the fibers, it appears that the subject fibers meet the definition of powder and are classifiable as such in Heading 7205.

The applicable subheading for the chopped steel fibers will be 7205.29.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for granules and powders, of pig iron, speigeleisen, iron or steel, powders, other. The rate of duty will be free.

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 Paula Ilardi at 646-733-3020.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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