CLA-2 CO:R:C:F 952277 EAB
District Director
U.S. Customs Service
P.O. Box 37260
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53237-0260
Re: Application for Further Review of Protest No. 3701-92-
100033, dated May 11, 1992, concerning 4-nitrophenyl-beta-
D-glucopyranoside; CAS 2492-87-7 not listed; heading 2911;
heading 2940; Note 3, Chapter 29
Dear Sir:
This is a decision on a protest filed May 11, 1992, against
your decision in the classification of merchandise liquidated on
March 3, 1992 and entered in 1991.
FACTS:
The protestant entered all goods in subheading 2940.00.0000,
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated
(HTSUSA), a provision for, inter alia, sugar esters other than
products of heading 2937, 2938 or 2939, dutiable at the column 1
general rate of 5.8 percent ad valorem.
Customs reclassified the merchandise under subheading
2932.90.4100: heterocyclic compounds with oxygen hetero-atom(s)
only, other, other products described in additional U.S. note 3
to section VI of the Schedule, dutiable at the column 1 general
rate of 13.5 percent ad valorem.
Protestant seeks reclassification of the goods to subheading
2940.00.0000, claiming that the chemical is a sugar ester.
The compound is assigned CAS# 2492-87-7, a number not listed
in the Chemical Appendix. The chemical structure shows a glucose
moiety joined to a nitrophenol moiety by means of a -C-O-C- bond.
ISSUE:
What is the proper classification under the HTSUSA of 4-
nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside, CAS 2492-87-7, a number not
listed in the Chemical Appendix?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise imported into the U.S. is classified under the
HTSUSA. 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 which otherwise requires,
by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation. The GRIs and the
Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation are part of the HTSUSA
and are to be considered statutory provisions of law for all
purposes.
GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first
according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and
any relative section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise
required, according to the remaining GRI's taken in order.
Heading 2940 describes sugars, chemically pure, other than
those set out and sugar ethers and esters, together with their
salts other than products of heading 2937, 2938 or 2939.
The subject compound does not possess the classic ester
structure of -C:O-O-C- and is not, therefore, a sugar ester of
heading 2940.
While the compound does have the basic -C-O-C- structure of
ethers, it is more specifically an acetal (-C-O-C-O-C-) which
could be classified under heading 2911. Note 3, Chapter 29,
mandates that goods which could be included in two or more of the
headings of the chapter are to be classified in that heading
which occurs last in numerical order.
We find that 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside, CAS 2492-
87-7, a number not listed in the Chemical Appendix to the Tariff
Schedule, is properly classified under heading 2932.
HOLDING:
The protest should be denied.
The compound 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside, CAS 2492-
87-7, a number not listed in the Chemical Appendix to the Tariff
Schedule, is properly classified under subheading 2932.90.4100, a
provision for heterocyclic compounds with oxygen hetero-atom(s)
only; other; aromatic; other products described in additional
U.S. note 3 to section VI, HTSUSA.
Merchandise entered in 1991 under the foregoing subheading
was subject to the column 1 general rate of duty of 13.5 percent
ad valorem.
A copy of this decision should be attached to the Customs
Form 19 and provided to the protestant as part of the notice of
action on the protest.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director