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NY N010700




May 10, 2007

CLA-2-38:RR:E:NC:2:238

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 3821.00.0000

Ms. Denise Sculley
Jagro Air Services, Inc.
Airport Industrial Office Park
145th Ave. & Hook Creek Blvd., Bldg. #C-5D Valley Stream, NY 11581

RE: The tariff classification of agar-based culture media HYCON® Contact Slides for detection of microbial contamination on any surface, from Germany

Dear Ms. Sculley:

In your letter dated May 2, 2007, on behalf of your client, Biotest Diagnostics Corporation, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The subject products, Biotest HYCON® (HYgiene CONtrol) Contact Slides, are used to determine the viable count of bacteria, yeasts and molds on surfaces in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries as well as in hospital hygiene. The plastic slides serve as flexible carriers for the prepared culture media formulations. All the media are based on various types of agar, including Tryptic Soy Agar, MacConkey agar, D/E Neutralizing Agar, Sabouraud Dextrose Agar, and Rose Bengal Agar. Each slide is individually wrapped and is designed to meet the standard contact area of 25 cm² as required by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and European Pharmacopoeia (EP) guidelines. The different media are formulated either for total count or for specific organisms such as yeast, mold, coliform bacteria, etc. The HYCON® Contact Slides are packed in a shockproof polystyrene box containing 20 or 100 slides per box.

The applicable subheading for the Hycon® Contact Slides will be 3821.00.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Prepared culture media for development or maintenance of micro-organisms (including viruses and the like) or of plant, human, or animal cells.” The rate of duty will be 5 percent ad valorem.

These products may be subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and/or The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (The Bioterrorism Act), which are administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Information on the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as well as The Bioterrorism Act, can be obtained by calling the FDA at 1-888-463-6332, or by visiting their website at www.fda.gov.

Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.

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 Harvey Kuperstein at 646-733-3033.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski

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