The following proposed revocations or modifications of U.S. Customs and Border Protection classification rulings are included in the Dec. 13, 2023, Customs Bulletin and Decisions. Comments on these proposed changes are due by Jan. 12, 2024.
For more information on how to seek or utilize classification and other rulings, please contact attorney Deb Stern at (305) 894-1007 or via email.
Textile Fabrics
CBP is proposing to reclassify coated or laminated woven textile fabrics of strip of an apparent width not exceeding 5 mm as other textile fabrics impregnated, coated, covered, or laminated with plastics under HTSUS 5903.90.30 (2.7 percent duty) rather than as textile fabrics of manmade fiber impregnated, coated, covered, or laminated with plastics under HTSUS 5903.90.2500 (7.5 percent duty).
Rulings NY N325833, NY N250680, and NY N250876 would be revoked, and ruling HQ H310928 would be modified, to reflect this change. CBP is also proposing to revoke or modify by operation of law 16 other rulings issued prior to 2007 concerning similar products.
The fabric at issue is tubular laminated fabric constructed wholly of woven polypropylene strip. The purpose of this product is to provide rigidity when placed over corrugated cardboard boxes at food packaging plants.
CBP states that this fabric is not classifiable under the provisions for “of manmade fibers” because it consists of strips of heading 5404, and Note 1 to Chapter 54, which defines the term “manmade fibers” for the entirety of the tariff schedule, states that “[s]trip and the like of heading 5404 or 5405 are not considered to be manmade fibers.” The fabric is therefore classified in the basket provision that provides for fabrics of other fibers.
Human Tissue Samples
CBP is proposing to reclassify various human tissue samples, human fecal specimens, extracted human teeth, human urine specimens, and other human bodily specimens not prepared for therapeutic or prophylactic uses as animal products not elsewhere specified or included under HTSUS 0511.99.4070 (1.1 percent duty) rather than as collectors’ pieces of anatomical interest under HTSUS 9705.00.0090 (duty-free), other wastes under HTSUS 3825.90.0000 (duty-free), or human substances prepared for therapeutic or prophylactic uses under HTSUS 3001.90.0000 (duty-free).
Rulings NY R03338, NY C80101, NY B80750, NY B82258, and NY N283432 would be revoked, and rulings NY 870664 and NY R03056 would be modified, to reflect these changes.
Among other things, CBP states that “human” is not defined in HTSUS Chapter 5 or elsewhere in the nomenclature or the Explanatory Notes, that nowhere in the EN is there a reference to products derived from human tissue, and that there is “clear precedence” in past rulings for classifying products like those at issue within heading 0511.
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