CLA-2:CO:R:C:G 085831 JAS
Horst F. Biernath
Bimex, Incorporated
3617 Shallowford Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30340-1073
RE: Rotary Cutting Blade
Dear Mr. Biernath:
In your letter of August 28, 1989, on behalf of Salem
Industries, Inc., you inquire as to the tariff classification
of blades from Taiwan for rotary cutting knives. Descriptive
literature was submitted.
FACTS:
The article in question is a circular steel cutting blade.
It is the rotary cutting portion of a hand-held device used in
quilting and sewing applications to cut fabric. After
importation, Salem will assemble the steel blade in a plastic
housing with handle, and package it together with a plastic
two-piece adjustable guide arm and steel wing nut in a
cardboard backed blister pack.
Your broker tentatively advised you that the blades are
classifiable under the provision for circular saw blades with
working part of steel, in subheading 8202.31.0000, Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).
ISSUE:
Is the steel blade classifiable as a saw blade or under a
provision(s) for knives with cutting blades?
- 2 -
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
In accordance with General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 1,
for legal purposes, classification shall be determined
according to the terms of the headings and any relative section
or chapter notes. GRI 3(a) states that when goods are, prima
facie, classifiable under two or more headings, the heading
which provides the most specific description shall be preferred
to headings providing a more general description.
Heading 8208 provides for knives and cutting blades, for
machines or for mechanical appliances, and base metal parts
thereof, while heading 8211 provides for knives with cutting
blades, serrated or not, other than knives of heading 8208, and
blades and other base metal parts thereof. Hand-held cutting
devices of the type in issue here are not machines or
mechanical appliances of the type covered by heading 8208.
Under the authority of GRI 3(a), heading 8211 provides the most
specific description for the cutting blades from among the
headings under consideration.
HOLDING:
The circular cutting blades in question are provided for
in heading 8211. They are classifiable under the provision for
blades for knives having other than fixed blades, in subheading
8211.94.5000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 1 cent each plus
5.4 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division