CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 084868 HP
Ms. Justine Makarevich
Import Administration Manager
Airway Industries
Airway Park
Ellwood City, PA 16117
RE: Classification of a children's pencil case carried on the
body
Dear Ms. Makarevich:
This is in reply to your letter of May 30, 1989, to our
Baltimore office, concerning
the tariff classification of children's pencil pouches, produced
in Mexico, under the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA
). Other articles
referenced in your letter have been covered in NYRL 841844.
Reference exporter
Productos Para Viaje, S.A.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue consists of a children's pencil
pouch case of nylon, designed
to be worn around the waist. The item will be constructed of an
outer surface of
plastic sheeting of reinforced, laminated plastic. It has a
zipper across the front, and
an elastic band sewn to a tab on each side. The pouch is slipped
over the head of the
child and pulled down to the waist area.
ISSUE:
Whether the pencil pouch is an article normally carried in
the pocket or handbag?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Subheadings 4202.31 through 4202.39, HTSUSA, provide for
articles of a kind normally
carried in the pocket or in the handbag. These subheadings are a
carryover from the
Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) provision for flat
goods, Schedule 7, Part
1, Subpart D, TSUS. Flat goods were defined as "small flatwares
designed to be carried
on a person." Id. We subsequently interpreted this provision as
goods "designed to be
carried on a person, either in the pocket or in a handbag," HRL
072002 of February
15, 1983, attached (emphasis added), thus further conforming the
earlier definition with
the present HTSUSA subheading. Indeed, we have previously
classified soft zippered
pencil pouches under the provision for flat goods. HRL 066390 of
October 20, 1980.
Were the instant merchandise constructed without the elastic
band designed to fit
around the waist, it is our opinion that the pencil pouch would
be classifiable as an
article normally carried in the pocket or handbag. With the
strap, however, we feel
that such classification would be inappropriate. The instant
article is obviously not
intended to be carried as such, but to be worn on the body while
the child is in school.
Therefore, the pencil pouches are not classifiable as articles
normally carried in the
pocket or handbag. See HRL 072002, supra, stating that belt-type
cassette carriers,
constructed to attach to the belt of the user, are "precluded
from being classified under
the provision for flat goods because they are not designed to be
carried on a person,
either in the pocket or in a handbag."
Subheading 4202.92, HTSUSA, provides for travel, sports and
similar bags, with an
outer surface of plastic sheeting or of textile materials. The
General Rules of Inter
pretation (GRI's) to the HTSUSA govern the classification of
goods in the tariff
schedule. GRI 1 states, in pertinent part:
... classification shall be determined according to the
terms of the headings and
any relative section or chapter notes ....
Goods which cannot be classified in accordance with GRI 1 are to
be classified in
accordance with subsequent GRI's, taken in order.
Additional U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 42, HTSUSA, states:
For the purposes of heading 4202, the expression "
travel, sports and similar bags"
means goods, other than those falling in subheadings
4202.11 through 4202.39, of
a kind designed for carrying clothing and other
personal effects during travel,
including backpacks and shopping bags of this heading,
but does not include
binocular cases, camera cases, musical instrument cases
, bottle cases and similar
containers.
We note that the exemplars above include backpacks.
Backpacks are worn on the
body through the use of attaching straps. It is a well accepted
function of backpacks
to transport, while on college campuses, books and other
educational essentials. The
instant pencil pouches perform a similar function; i.e., the
transportation of school
supplies and other personal effects in a device worn on the body.
Therefore, the
pouches are a similar container to travel and sports bags, as
defined in Additional U.S.
Note 1, supra.
HOLDING:
As a result of the foregoing, the instant merchandise is
classified under subheading
4202.92.4500, HTSUSA, as articles similar to those enumerated in
heading 4202 and not
covered by any other heading of Chapter 42, with outer surface of
plastic sheeting or
of textile materials, travel, sports and similar bags, other.
The applicable rate of duty
is 20 percent ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division