CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 089465 NLP
Ms. Mona Webster
Target Stores
33 South Sixth Street
P.O Box 1392
Minneapolis, MN 55440-1392
RE: House decorated with ghosts and pumpkins; Festive articles;
Heading 9505; Ornamental ceramic articles; Decorative
articles; Heading 6809
Dear Ms. Webster:
This is in response to your letter of April 25, 1991,
requesting a tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for a gypsum
lighted house imported from Taiwan. A sample was submitted for
our examination.
FACTS:
The article at issue is a gypsum house decorated with
ghosts, pumpkins and a skull with cross bones. The house lights
up from within and produces a scary sound when turned on. The
light and the sound are battery operated.
ISSUE:
Whether the gypsum house is classifiable as a festive
article in Heading 9505, HTSUSA, or in Heading 6809, HTSUSA,
which provides for articles of plaster or of compositions based
on plaster.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) set forth the
manner in which merchandise is to be classified under the
HTSUSA. GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first
according to the terms of the headings of the tariff and any
relative section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required,
according to the remaining GRI's, taken in order.
Heading 9505, HTSUSA, provides for festive, carnival, and
other entertainment articles. The Explanatory Notes for the
HTS, although not dispositive, are to be looked to for the proper
interpretation of the HTS. The Explanatory Note to Heading 9505,
HTSUSA, indicates that the heading covers:
(A) Festive, carnival or other entertainment articles
which in view of their intended use are generally made
of non-durable material. They include:
(1) Decorations such as festoons, garlands,
Chinese lanterns, etc., as well as various
decorative articles made of paper, metal foil,
glass fibre, etc., for Christmas trees (e.g.,
tinsel, stars, icicles), artificial snow, coloured
balls, bells, lanterns, etc. Cake and other
decorations (e.g., animals, flags) which are
traditionally associated with a particular holiday
are also classified here.
Articles classifiable in Heading 9505, HTSUSA, tend to have
no other function than decoration. Heading 9505, HTSUSA, is
generally regarded as a use provision. Hence, Additional U.S.
Rule of Interpretation 1(a) must be considered.
Additional U.S. Rule of Interpretation 1(a) indicates that:
In the absence of special language or context
which otherwise requires--
(a) a tariff classification controlled by use
(other than actual use) is to be determined in
accordance with the use in the United States at,
or immediately prior to the date of importation,
of goods of that class or kind to which the
imported goods belong, and the controlling use is
the principal use.
While the subject item is decorative, gypsum houses as a
class or kind of merchandise are not specifically holiday
related; they are used all year round and come in a wide variety
of motifs. Accordingly, the instant gypsum house is not
classified as a festive article in Heading 9505, HTSUSA. The
classification must be found elsewhere.
Heading 6809, HTSUSA, provides for articles of plaster or of
compositions based on plaster. The Explanatory Notes to Heading
6809, HTSUSA, provide that this heading includes "moulded
articles such as casts, statues, statuettes rosettes, columns,
bowls, vases, ornamental goods, industrial moulds." The gypsum
house is ornamental and decorative. Heading 6809, HTSUSA, is the
appropriate heading for the instant article.
HOLDING:
The gypsum house is classifiable in subheading 6809.90.00,
HTSUSA, which provides for articles of plaster or compositions
based on plaster, other articles. The rate of duty is 5 percent
ad valorem.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division