CLA-2 RR:TC:FC 958591K
Robert E. Daidone, Esq.
Attorney at Law
One Washington Mall
15th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
RE: Request For Reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter
(NYRL)812050, Dated July 21, 1995; Lacquerware Art; Collages
and Similar Decorative Plaques
Dear Sir:
In response to your request of June 26, 1995, on behalf of
your client, Mr. Hung Tran, the Customs Service issued NYRL
812050, dated July 21, 1995, which held that certain seashell
pictorial plaques from Vietnam, were classified in subheading
9601.90.2000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) (1995), as worked shell and articles thereof, with duty
at the Column 2 rate of 35 percent ad valorem. In your letter of
September 20, 1995, you requested reconsideration of NYRL 812050
and suggested that the merchandise is classified as collages and
similar decorative plaques, in subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS,
with a Column 2 free rate of duty. Photographs of representative
examples of the lacquerware art were submitted and are returned
as requested. The sample submitted to our New York office was
retained by that office and should be returned by that office as
requested. This letter is to inform you that NYRL 812050 no
longer reflects the views of the Customs Service.
Pursuant to section 625, Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1625), as amended by section 623 of Title VI (Customs
Modernization) of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act, Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057, 2186 (1993),
hereinafter, section 625), notice of the proposed modification of
NYRL 812050 was published on February 28, 1996, in the Customs
Bulletin, Volume 30, No. 9. The following represents our
position.
FACTS:
The backing for the lacquerware art is composed of a piece
of plywood approximately « inch thick which portrays an image
taken from a scene or photograph. It is stated that the image,
and all else, is completely made by hand. A painting or drawing
is first made of the scene. Seashells are broken into pieces and
flattened and then are pasted or glued to form certain parts of
the scenes, such as the birds, the fish, and the buildings. The
artist then paints around the parts of the scene, usually the
part of the scene that the artists desires to draw specific
attention to. The whole scene is lacquered and each scene is
signed by the artist. The process for each lacquerware art takes
up to three months to produce.
Three photographs were submitted depicting three different
scenes, birds on grass and in flight with mountains in the
background, fish under sea, and a city in Vietnam with trees, a
house, the sky and other landscaping. Each lacquerware art
appears to contain four sections with one continuous scene. Each
section appears to be about 15 x 20 inches. There is no
indication that the lacquerware art articles are used as
utilitarian screens or room dividers. There is no indication
whether the articles contain hardware for wall hanging. The size
of the articles as depicted in the photographs suggest that they
are not screens or room dividers.
ISSUE:
The issue is whether the lacquerware art articles as
described above qualify for classification as collages or similar
decorative plaques, in subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS, covers collages and similar
decorative plaques, with a free rate of duty both at the general
rate and the Column 2 rates of duties. The HTSUS does not define
the term "collages".
The Explanatory Notes (EN) to the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System, which represent the official
interpretation of the tariff at the international level, states
that collages and similar decorative plaques provided for under
subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS, consist of:
[B]its and pieces of various animal, vegetable or other
materials, assembled so as to form a picture or decorative
design or motif and glued or otherwise mounted on a backing,
e.g., of wood, paper or textile material. The backing may
be plain or it may be hand-painted or imprinted with
decorative or pictorial elements which form part of the
overall design. Collages range in quality from articles
cheaply produced in quantity for sale as souvenirs up to
products which require a high degree of craftsmanship and
which may be genuine works of art.
For purposes of this group, the term "similar decorative
plaques" does not include articles consisting of a single
piece of material, even if mounted or glued on a backing,
which are more specifically covered by other headings of the
Nomenclature such as "ornaments" of plastics, of wood, of
base metal, etc. Such articles are classified in their
appropriate Headings (headings 44.20, 83.06, etc.).
(Emphasis in original.)
Webster's New World Dictionary of American English (Third
College Edition) 1988, at page 273, defines the term "collage" as
an "art form in which bits of objects such as newspaper, cloth,
pressed flowers, etc., are pasted together on a surface in
incongruous relationship for their symbolic or suggestive
effect."
The above sections of the EN and similar definitions for the
term "collages" were cited in Customs Headquarters Ruling Letters
(HRL) 952578, dated April 8, 1994, 957621, dated July 12, 1995,
and 958360, dated October 13, 1995, and are useful guidelines for
determining classification in subheading 9701.90.00, HTSUS.
In HRL 952578, it was determined that the articles did not
consist of bits and pieces of various animal, vegetable or other
materials, glued or otherwise mounted on a backing as stated by
EN but rather consisted of either individual framed photographs
(which may have been partially hand-painted) or a collection of
individual framed photographs hanging by strings to a wall or
ceiling or to a piece of wearing material and were not collages.
In HRL 957621, knotted nautical knots made of nylon on
display on a mounted backing for wall hanging were neither
collages or similar decorative plaques because the articles did
not consist of a collection of bits of pieces put together to
create a picture or decorative design or motif.
However, HRL 958360, held that a Skiing Memorabilia Shadow
Box designed for wall hanging and consisting of bits of pieces of
various materials glued on a backing of wood and paper to form a
decorative skiing design, was a decorative plaque similar to a
collage and classified in subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS.
In the current case, seashells are broken into pieces,
flattened, and glued to a wooden backing to form a design or
motif of various scenes of birds, fish, and a city, with a
painted background and heavily lacquered. We note that collages
and plaques are designed for wall hanging. Assuming that the
lacquerware art articles as described and as shown in the
photographs are designed for wall hanging and not used as screens
or room dividers, then they are classified as collages or similar
decorative plaques.
HOLDING:
Lacquerware art articles as described above and as depicted
in the submitted photographs, if designed for wall hanging, are
classified as collages or similar decorative plaques, in
subheading 9701.90.0000, HTSUS.
NYRL 812050, dated July 21, 1995, is modified in accordance
with section 177.9(d) of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR
177.9(d)).
In accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1625, this ruling will become
effective 60 days after its publication in the Customs Bulletin.
Publication of rulings or decisions pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1625
does not constitute a change of practice or position in
accordance with section 177.10(c)(1), of the Customs Regulations
(19 CFR 177.10(c)(1)).
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Tariff Classification
Appeals Division