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HQ W967917




November 7, 2006

CLA-2 RR:CTF:TCM W967917ptl

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9403.80.6040

Port Director
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
4477 Woodson Road
Suite 200
St. Louis, MO 63134

RE: Protest 4503-05-100021; Timeliness of Protest; Classification of Glass Quilt Chest Cabinet

Dear Port Director:

The following is our decision regarding the protest and application for further review of your classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), of a product identified as a “Glass Quilt Chest Cabinet” in subheading 9403.50.9080, HTSUSA, which provides for wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom other other. At the time the merchandise was entered, wooden bedroom furniture from the People’s Republic of China, where the merchandise was made, was subject to a Department of Commerce antidumping duty order.

FACTS:

The protest covers four entries, 279-xxx8845, 279-xxx9737, 279-xxxx5248, and 279-xxxx1121, that were entered between September and October 2004. At entry, the goods under consideration were identified as “other wooden furniture” and classified in subheading 9403.60.8080, HTSUSA. On June 8, 2005, a Notice of Proposed Action was sent to the importer on each entry, informing him that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intended to reclassify the goods in subheading 9403.50.9080, HTSUSA, which provides for wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom. Goods classified in that subheading are subject to an antidumping duty order issued by the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce, and importers are required to deposit estimated duties equal to the estimated weighted-average antidumping duty margin listed in the order. In this instance, the rate is 198 percent. On June 28, 2005, counsel for the importer filed a CBP Form 19 with CBP which protested the reclassification of the goods and the imposition of the antidumping duties. Your office denied the protest, approved the Application for Further Review sought by counsel, and forwarded the file to our office for resolution.

The goods under consideration are described as being a rectangular display cabinet on wooden legs, with a base, side and back of wood and a glass front and top. The dimensions of the cabinet are 21½” high, 29½’’ long, and 14½’’ deep. The slightly domed glass top is hinged to permit access into the interior compartment that has two slats running lengthwise along the top of the compartment. These slats are intended to hold a quilt in such a manner as to display its pattern through the glass front and top.

ISSUES:

Is a protest filed upon receipt of a proposed notice that CBP intends to reclassify goods and impose antidumping duties, but before liquidation of the entry, timely?

Are quilt chests that have wooden sides, backs and bases but glass tops and fronts classified as wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom, or furniture of other materials?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Merchandise is classifiable under the HTSUS in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). The systematic detail of the HTSUS is such that most goods are classified by application of GRI 1, that is, according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs may then be applied in order.

In understanding the language of the HTSUS, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes may be utilized. The Explanatory Notes (ENs), although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS, and are the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).

The HTSUS subheadings under consideration are as follows:

9403 Other furniture and parts thereof:

Wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom: Other:
Other
9403.50.9080 Other.

Furniture of other materials, including cane, osier, bamboo or similar materials:

Other

Household

Timeliness of protest.

According to Section 1514(c)(3), Title 19, United States Code (19 U.S.C.1514(c)(3)), a protest of a decision, order, or finding of CBP with respect to such actions as the classification and rate and amount of duties chargeable and all charges or exactions of whatever character within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be filed with the CBP within 180 days after but not before (A) the date of liquidation or reliquidation. [Emphasis added]

On June 8,2005, the port issued a Notice of Action to the importer in which CBP proposed reclassification of the merchandise and the imposition of antidumping duties. Upon receipt of that Notice, counsel filed the instant protest and Application for Further Review. However, the entries that served as the basis for both the Notice of Action and protest have not been liquidated. Accordingly, the protest is untimely. It should not have been considered by the port, and further review should not have been granted.

Classification of the Merchandise.

Notwithstanding the above, we provide the following analysis for your consideration in deciding this matter. The merchandise at issue are glass fronted and topped chests marketed as “Quilt Chests.” Counsel argues that these articles do not possess the attributes commonly found in wooden bedroom furniture. Counsel notes that these articles do not have “companion” pieces of furniture with which they share styles and/or materials or finishes.

Subheading 9403.50, HTSUS, covers wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom. Wooden bedroom furniture is generally, but not exclusively, designed, manufactured, and offered for sale in coordinated groups for bedrooms in which all of the individual pieces are of approximately the same style and approximately the same material and/or finish. Among the types of articles included as bedroom furniture within the scope of the order are several types of chests. They are often enumerated as being chests-on-chests, highboys, lowboys, chests of drawers, chests, door chests, chiffoniers, hutches, and armoires. The descriptions of the various chests considered to be used as bedroom furniture refer to them as being cases for storing clothing or other types of articles either within drawers on shelves behind doors. An exception is the hutch that has the shelves without the doors. When these articles of furniture are to be used to hold something to be viewed or used (such as televisions or entertainment devices), those devices are to be placed on shelves.

The quilt chests we are considering are basically made of wood. However, so that the chests can function for the purpose they have been designed and for which they are sold, at critical places, the wood has been replaced by glass, i.e., the top and front. It is these glass components that distinguish the instant chests from those normally considered to be bedroom furniture. Thus, it is the glass that imparts the essential character to the chests. These quilt chests are not designed to merely store quilts, but rather to display them. The glass permits them to fulfill their display function. Further, as counsel indicates, quilts intended to be displayed in a chest of this type are not the type or quality of quilt one would normally use on a bed to provide warmth, but would most probably be an antique quilt or one with particularly elaborate designs. The glass will permit the display of the quilt and, at the same time, protect it from dust and other possibly damaging conditions in the home. While these quilt chests could be placed in a bedroom environment, they are principally intended for use in more public areas of one’s house. It is this display function that distinguishes the instant quilt chests from the class or kind of chests reserved for storage use in a bedroom. Accordingly, they are not classified in subheading 9403.50, HTSUS, that provides for wooden furniture of a kind used in a bedroom. The quilt chests made of glass and wood are classified in subheading 9403.80.6040, HTSUSA, as other household furniture of other materials.

HOLDING:

Protest 4503-05-100021 is returned to your office with instructions that it be denied as being untimely filed because the entries being protested have not been liquidated.

The glass quilt chests are classified in subheading 9403.80.6040, HTSUSA, which provides for: “Furniture of other materials, including cane, osier, bamboo or similar materials: Other. Household.” The 2005 duty rate was “free.”

Sincerely,

Myles B. Harmon, Director

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