CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 965030 AM
Ms. Patricia Reihing, Traffic Manager
Gallard-Schlesinger Industries, Inc.
777 Zeckendorf Blvd.
Garden City, NY 11530
Re: Request for Binding Ruling on Quercetin
Dear Ms. Reihing:
This is in regard to your letter to the Commodities Specialist Division, dated April 6, 2001, requesting a ruling on the classification of Quercetin, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Your request has been forwarded to this office for reply. We regret the delay.
You believe Quercetin should be classified in subheading 1302.19.40, HTSUS, the provision for “Vegetable saps and extracts; pectic substances, pectinates and pectates; agar-agar and other mucilages and thickeners, whether or not modified, derived from vegetable products: Other: Ginseng; substances having anesthetic, prophylactic or therapeutic properties: Other: Other.”
FACTS:
Quercetin has the chemical name 2-(3,4-Dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxy-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one; 3,3',4',5,7-pentahydroxyflavone and the chemical formula C15H10O7. Merck Index, 12th Edition (Merck & Co., Inc.). The CAS registry number for Quercetin is 117-39-5. Quercetin is the chemical formed from the acid hydrolysis of Rutin, a glycoside commonly found in vegetable raw materials. When Rutin undergoes a hydrolysis reaction with sulphuric acid, the resultant hydrolytic chemical products are a sugar, comprised of glucose and rhamnose, and a non-sugar “aglycone” which is quercetin. Quercetin is imported in bulk as a yellow powder.
You submitted a manufacturer's flow chart which describes the extraction process of quercetin thus: Rutin, extracted from the Dimophandra Gardeniaria legume, is dissolved in hot water, boiled, neutralized and filtered. The solution is then concentrated, crystallized, filtered and purified. The solution is concentrated again, crystallized, filtered, dried and packaged in fiber drums.
ISSUE:
What is the correct classification of Quercetin?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise imported into the U.S. is classified under the HTSUS. Tariff classification is governed by the principles set forth in the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs) and, in the absence of special language or context that requires otherwise, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation. The GRIs and the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation are part of the HTSUS and are to be considered statutory provisions of law.
GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any related section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required, according to the remaining GRIs taken in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings, any related subheading notes and mutatis mutandis, to the GRIs. In interpreting the HTSUS, the Explanatory Notes (ENs) of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System may be utilized. The ENs, although not dispositive or legally binding, provide a commentary on the scope of each heading, and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989).
The HTSUS provisions under consideration are as follows:
1302: Vegetable saps and extracts; pectic substances, pectinates and pectates; agar-agar and other mucilages and thickeners, whether or not modified, derived from vegetable products:
* * * * * * * *
2932 Heterocyclic compounds with oxygen hetero-atom(s) only: Compounds containing an unfused furan ring (whether or not hydrogenated) in the structure:
EN 13.02 states, in pertinent part, the following:
(A)Vegetable saps and extracts.
The heading covers saps and extracts (vegetable products usually obtained by natural exudation or by incision, or extracted by solvents), provided that they are not specified or included in more specific headings of the Nomenclature (see list of exclusions at the end of Part (A) of this Explanatory Note).
As for consideration of classification as a vegetable extract in heading 1302, HTSUS, traditional extracts are obtained by decoction, percolation, maceration, and digestion, or infusion. See United States Pharmacopeia, Twenty First Revision, p.1334 and Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, Eighteenth Edition, p 1543. The ENs to Chapter 13, HTSUS, list the processes by which extracts are usually obtained. Here, the rutin extract is further purified to rid the substance of plant material creating a product specified in Chapter 29 as a chemical substance. Hence, Quercetin is not classifiable in heading 1302, HTSUS.
Enclosed please find a copy of HQ 964370, dated October 22, 2001, which provides for classification of Quercetin in subheading 2932.99.60, HTSUS, the provision for "[H]eterocyclic compounds with oxygen hetero-atom(s) only: [C]ompounds containing an unfused furan ring (whether or not hydrogenated) in the structure: [O]ther: [O]ther: [than Aromatic]: [P]roducts described in additional U.S. note 3 to section VI." The 2002 HTSUS assigns this subheading 2932.99.61, HTSUS.
HOLDING:
Quercetin is classified in subheading 2932.99.61, HTSUS, the provision for "[H]eterocyclic compounds with oxygen hetero-atom(s) only: [C]ompounds containing an unfused furan ring (whether or not hydrogenated) in the structure: [O]ther: [O]ther: [than Aromatic]: [P]roducts described in additional U.S. note 3 to section VI."
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
Enclosure