CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 084953 JGH
Mr. Richard Schroeter
Acting Assistant Administrator, ITP
Foreign Agricultural Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250
RE: Classification of Prosciutto, (Parma Ham) from Italy.
Dear Mr. Schroeter:
This is in reference to your memorandum of June 23, 1989,
concerning the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of Prosciutto or Parma
Ham from Italy.
FACTS:
Prosciutto or Parma Ham is a cured, dried ham considered
less salty and milder than other hams. It is regularly eaten
without being cooked, although in the United States it is often
heated. The imported ham is required to be aged for a period
of 400 days, and the curing process produces a product of 35
percent less weight and considerably less size; in fact, a ham
with a thickness of 2 inches is often desired. In the
processing, the hams are rubbed with a curing mixture.
Prosciutti hams are produced either with the bone in or
removed.
ISSUE:
Classification of Prosciutto under the HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Classification under the HTSUS is governed by the General
Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1 provides that
classification is first determined in accordance with the
- 2 -
headings and any relative Section and Chapter notes. Heading
0210 covers meat and edible meat offal, salted, in brine, dried
or smoked. Subheading 0210.11 applies to the meat of swine:
Hams, shoulders, and cuts thereof, with bone in. Subheading
0210.19.000 applies to hams with the bone removed. Chapter 16,
HTSUS, covers hams which have been prepared or preserved. The
Explanatory Notes to Chapter 16 state that the prepared or
preserved meats covered in that chapter are those which have
been boiled, steamed, grilled, fried, roasted or otherwise
cooked --in other words, meat prepared in ways other than the
methods prescribed in Chapter 2.
The Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of
European Communities states that subheading 0210.11 covers hams
and shoulders, with the bone in, of domestic swine, preserved
by a drying or smoking process, even if these methods of
preservation are combined with a prior salting or pickling
treatment. This is particularly so in the case of hams which
have been salted before being partially dehydrated, whether in
the open air (hams of Parma or Bayonne types) or by smoking
(hams of the Ardennes type).
Presidential Proclamation No. 5759, dated December 29,
1987, assessed a duty of 100 percent ad valorem on certain
products of the European Community, including pork hams.
However, effective July 28, 1989, the increased duty on these
hams was suspended. Federal Register, Vol 34, No. 144, dated
Friday, July 28, 1989.
HOLDING:
Hams which have been processed in the manner described
above, with the bone in, are classifiable under the provision
for meat, salted in brine, dried or smoked: meat of swine:
Hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, with bone in, in subheading
0210.11.0000, HTSUS. The rate of duty is 2.2 cents per kg.
Hams processed in the manner described above, with the
bone removed, are classifiable under the provision for other
meat of swine in subheading 0210.19.0000, HTSUS. The rate of
duty is 2.2 cents per kg.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division