CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082138 JLJ, 827163
Mr. Jonathan R. Moore
Windels, Marx, Davis & Ives
1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
RE: Tariff classification of blueprint and copier papers
Dear Mr. Moore:
You requested tariff classifications under the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for three
papers manufactured in Belgium for your client, Intermills
Incorporated. You submitted samples of all three papers along
with your request.
FACTS:
The papers at issue are called Dyeline, Electrophotographic
(EPG) Offset Master Base and EPG Base Paper. All three are made
from bleached pulp. All three were analyzed by the New York
Customs Laboratory in Laboratory Report No. 2-88-10568-003 of
March 22, 1988.
Dyeline is used only for making blueprints. It weighs 77.1
grams per square meter. It is 0.091 millimeters thick. Dyeline
is made of 100 percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of
3.4 percent. It is coated with an optical brightener, but not
with any photosensitive coating. The optical brightener is an
organic dye.
EPG Base Paper is used in photocopiers as the plain white
copier paper which receives the copies. It weighs 66.4 grams per
square meter. It is 0.0635 millimeters thick. It consists of
100 percent chemical pulp. EPG Base Paper has an ash content of
7.4 percent. In its imported condition, it is not coated.
EPG Offset Master Base Paper functions as a master plate in
photocopiers. It weighs 110 grams per square meter. It is 0.117
millimeters thick. EPG Offset Master Base Paper is made of 100
percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of 7.5 percent. In
its imported condition, it is not coated.
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ISSUE:
What are the HTSUSA classifications of these papers?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
You argue that EPG Base Paper and EPG Offset Master Base
Paper are classified under the provision for paper and paperboard
of a kind used as a base for photo-sensitive, heat-sensitive or
electro-sensitive paper or paperboard, in subheading
4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. You cite St. Regis v. United States, Slip.
Op. 87-97 (decided September 23, 1987), in support of your
position. You claim that it makes no difference that the EPG
Base Paper is plain white copier paper used to make copies while
the EPG Offset Master Base Paper is used as a master plate to
transfer images to other sheets of paper.
We disagree. The paper at issue in St. Regis v. United
States was a zinc-oxide coated black calendered paper substrate
which was used within the machine as a type of negative. The
United States Customs Service has interpreted St. Regis v. United
States to mean that only similar papers are to be classified
accordingly. The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is to be used as a
master plate to transfer images to other sheets of paper, just as
the paper at issue in St. Regis v. United States was. The EPG
Offset Master Base Paper is therefore classifiable in subheading
4802.20.0000, HTSUSA, which is a duty-free provision.
The EPG Base Paper is not used as a master image in the
photocopier machine. It has been our experience previously that
copier paper is plain white paper capable of being written on.
The American Paper Institute, in its May 1984 Supplement to
the Dictionary of Paper, Fourth Edition (1980), stated that
"...there is now a need for additional definitional material
describing writing papers and printing papers." Page 1 of the
Supplement, in the "Description of Uncoated Writing and Related
Papers" portion, states that "Writing papers consist of a wide
variety of papers suitable for pen and ink writing or for use
with the typewriter, automatic accounting equipment, copiers,
computers, etc." It says that "They are usually used by an
individual, within a company for correspondence, copying,
computer output or on a direct basis--conducting business trans-
actions." The Supplement specifically notes that "End use
products include, but are not limited to, writings, letters,
notes, mimeographing, spirit duplicating, electrostatic
copying...." Based on the information above, we find that the
instant EPG Base Paper is a writing paper classifiable under the
provision for other paper and paperboard, not containing fibers
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obtained by a mechanical process...: weighing more than 40 grams
per square meter but not more than 150 grams per square meter:
writing paper, in subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA, dutiable at
the rate of 2.4 percent ad valorem.
The Dyeline paper is coated with an organic dye. As such,
it is classifiable under the provision for other coated paper:
other: other: other: weighing over 30 grams per square meter, in
subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 2
percent ad valorem.
HOLDING:
The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is classified in subheading
4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. The EPG Base Paper is classified in
subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA. The Dyeline paper is classified
in subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division
JLJohnson:tj:typed 07/26/89
Jones Library
name: 082138JLJ
6cc: A.D. N.Y. Seap. (NIS-234)
1cc: D.D., Baltimore, Md.