CLA-2-CO:R:C:F 952578K
TARIFF No.: 4911.91.4040
District Director of Customs
U.S. Customs Service
Champlain, New York 12919
RE: Application For Further Review of Protest No. 0712-92-100881;
Collages
Dear Sir:
The following is in response to the referral dated September
10, 1992, from the Acting Assistant District Director, Commercial
Operations Division, of the request for further review of the
above-referenced protest. Samples or photos were not submitted.
A catalogue was submitted and it is returned with our decision.
FACTS:
The consumption entry was liquidated on May 15, 1992, under
a dutiable provision of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS) and a timely protest was filed on August 6,
1992, under 19 U.S.C 1514 claiming that the articles in question
should have been liquidated free of duty as collages under
subheading 9701.90.00, HTSUS.
Detailed descriptions of the articles were not given.
However, a catalogue representing the works of the creator was
submitted with the protest. A copy of a shipping invoice was also
submitted with the page numbers of the catalogue inserted by hand
to the left of the listed articles claimed to be collages free of
duty. Based upon this information, our descriptions of the
articles follow.
Pages 36, 53, and 32, depict photographs of various subjects
such as male and female body parts framed for wall hanging. Page
27 depicts what appears to be painted miniature photographs hung
en masse to the ceiling by the use of strings. Page 33, depicts
eleven wall hangings containing wearing apparel and a framed
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photograph hung within the wall hangings by a string, (and in the
corner floor of the room below the hangings is a display of toys
such as animals and dolls). Page 39 depicts a woman's dress with
miniature framed photographs pinned to the dress. Page 35 depicts
two enclosed wall hangings, one containing a garment and a framed
cartoon and the other contains a woman's dress with miniature
photographs pinned thereto. Page 31 is similar to the article
described for page 35. Many of the photographs include some hand-
painting.
ISSUE:
The issue is whether the works described above are
classifiable as collages and similar decorative plaques, under
subheading 9710.90.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS), free of duty.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The Explanatory Notes (EN's) to the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System, which represent the official
interpretation of the tariff at the international level, states
that collages and similar decorative plaques provided for under
subheading 9701.90.00, HTSUS, consist of:
[B]its and pieces of various animal, vegetable or other
materials, assembled so as to form a picture or decorative
design or motif and glued or otherwise mounted on a backing,
e.g., of wood, paper or textile material. The backing may be
plain or it may be hand-painted or imprinted with decorative
or pictorial elements which form part of the overall design.
Collages range in quality from articles cheaply produced in
quantity for sale as souvenirs up to products which require
a high degree of craftsmanship and which may be genuine works
of art.
For purposes of this group, the term "similar decorative
plaques" does not include articles consisting of a single
piece of material, even if mounted or glued on a backing,
which are more specifically covered by other headings of the
Nomenclature such as "ornaments" of plastics, of wood, of base
metal, etc. Such articles are classified in their appropriate
Headings (headings 44.20, 83.06, etc.). (Emphasis in
original.)
Webster's New World Dictionary of American English (Third
College Edition) 1988, at page 273, defines the term "collage" as
an "art form in which bits of objects such as newspaper, cloth,
pressed flowers, etc., are pasted together on a surface in
incongruous relationship for their symbolic or suggestive effect."
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The articles do not consist of bits and pieces of various
animal, vegetable or other materials, glued or otherwise mounted
on a backing as stated by EN but rather consist of either
individual framed photographs (which may have been partially hand-
painted) or a collection of individual framed photographs hanging
by strings to a wall or ceiling or to a piece of wearing material.
The En, as noted, excludes from classification of collages articles
consisting of a single piece of material (such as a photograph
within a frame), even if mounted or glued on a backing.
HOLDING:
The articles as described above are not classifiable as
collages under subheading 9701.90.00, HTSUS.
You are instructed to deny the protest in full.
In accordance with Section 3A(11)(b) of the Customs Directive
099 3550-065, Revised Protest Directive, dated August 4, 1993, a
copy of this decision attached to Customs Form 19, Notice of
Action, should be provided by your office to the protestant no
later than 60 days from the date of this decision and any
reliquidations of entries in accordance with this decision must be
accomplished prior thereto. Sixty days from the date of this
decision the Office of Regulations and Rulings will take steps to
make this decision available to Customs personnel via the Customs
Rulings Module in ACS and the public via the Diskette Subscription
Service, Freedom of Information Act and other public access
channels.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division