CLA-2 CO:R:C:F 950301 ALS
District Director of Customs
P. O. Box 20876
Charleston, South Carolina 29413-0876
RE: Request for Further Review of Protest 1601-91-100233, dated
July 24, 1991, Concerning Plates Coated With Photosensitive
Material Which are Used as a Printing Plates After being
Photographically Imaged
Dear Ms. Pollock:
This ruling is on a protest that was filed against your
decisions of May 3, 1991, in the liquidation of 25 entries covering
the referenced item.
FACTS:
The articles under consideration are plates coated with
photosensitive material which are photographically imaged and then
used as printing plates. The plates are made of aluminum that has
been anodized and grained. They are coated with a mixture of
organic oligomers, sensitizers, surfactants, and dyes. The organic
oligomers constitute approximately 56.7 percent of the coating.
The other compounds in the coating include a Diazo compound. The
Diazo compound is a photo-reactive diazide dye which, upon exposure
of to U.V. light, forms the image utilized for printing.
ISSUE:
Are photosensitive plates used for printing classifiable as
printing plates or as photographic plates?
- 2 -
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) is governed by
the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) taken in order.
GRI 1 provides that the classification is determined first in
accordance with the terms of the heading and any relative section
and chapter notes. If GRI 1 fails to classify the goods and if
the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining
GRI's are applied, taken in order.
The articles under consideration were classified by Customs
as photographic plates under subheading 3701.30.0000, HTSUSA. The
Customs broker representing the importer believes that the plates
should be classified as printing plates under subheading
8442.50.10, HTSUSA. The broker states that in the arts industry
photographic plates are generally understood to mean plates coated
with silver halide emulsions and not organic solutions such as the
plates under consideration. The definitions for photographic
plates and emulsion in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977)
are referenced in support of that position as is a definition for
emulsion in the Lithographers Manual, sixth edition (1980).
In analyzing the broker's arguments that the subject plates
are not photographic plates because they do not contain a silver
halide emulsion, we have considered the above referenced sources.
We also considered the description of photographic plates contained
in the publication Pocket Pal~, A Graphic Production Handbook,
Fourteenth Edition - May 1989, referenced by the broker in a
narrative statement submitted subsequent to the request for further
review. We noted that the definition in the above-referenced
dictionary, as supplied by the broker, indicates that a
photographic plate is a sheet of material coated with a light-
sensitive photographic emulsion. According to the definition
contained in that dictionary, as supplied by the broker, the term
emulsion especially refers to a suspension of sensitive silver salt
or a mixture of silver halides in a viscous medium. The referenced
Manual, in one of the 3 definitions it gives for emulsion,
indicates that an emulsion is a gelatin or collodion solution
holding light-sensitive salts of silver in suspension. We also
noted that the Pocket Pal~, as referenced by the broker, indicates
that there are 2 types of photographic plates using silver halides.
We noted that silver halide may be considered a usual
component of a photographic emulsion. This is confirmed by The - 3 -
American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition (1982), which
states that an emulsion is "A light sensitive coating , usually of
silver halide,...." However, in referring to the introductory
material in the Pocket Pal~ regarding "Photomechanic's", we note
that the light sensitive coatings used in the photomechanical
process may incorporate other materials such as diazo compounds.
We also note, in considering the Explanatory Notes (EN's) to the
Harmonized System which represent the view of the tariff
classification experts at the international level, that silver
halides are the most common emulsions for photographic plates.
However, as stated in the General Note to Chapter 37 of the EN's,
other materials may be used, e.g., diazonium salts for diazo
emulsions. Based on these sources, we have concluded that the
emulsion which forms a photosensitive coating need not be composed
of silver halide, but may be composed of other materials such as
diazo compounds.
In considering the application of the exclusionary sentence
at the end of Part A of EN 84.42, we note that while the examples
listed therein do not specifically appear to cover the article
under consideration, the sentence states that sensitized plates
are excluded from Chapter 84 and that they should be placed under
heading 3701. We also note that Note 2 to Chapter 37, HTSUSA,
states "...the word ~photographic ~ relates to a process which
permits the formation of visible images directly or indirectly by
the action of light or other forms of radiation on sensitive
surfaces." We thus believe it is clear that photosensitive plates
need not contain silver halide and that diazo compounds may give
photographic plates their sensitivity. We specifically note that
the coating of the articles under considering are a mixture of
photosensitive diazo compounds, cellulose acetate butyrate plastic
and a urethane plastic material which sets upon UV exposure.
In summary, we have concluded that photosensitive plates need
not contain silver halide and that such plates, regardless of
whether their coating contains such halides or other photosensitive
compounds, is classifiable under the provision for photographic
plates in Chapter 37, HTSUSA.
HOLDING:
Plates coated with a photosensitive material composed of
diazo compounds which will be imaged photographically by a printer
and then used as a printing plates on a press are - 4 -
classifiable under subheading 3701.30.0000, HTSUSA. Such plates
are subject to a general rate of duty of 3.7 per cent ad valorem.
Since the rate of duty under the classification indicated
above is the same as the liquidated rate, you are instructed to
deny the protest in full. A copy of this ruling should be attached
to Customs Form 19 and provided to the protestant as part of the
notice of action on the protest.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division