CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H130596 GA
Shaketha Miles
Import Compliance Specialist
Pier 1 Import (USA), Inc.
Trade Compliance
100 Pier 1 Place
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
RE: Subheading 4602.11.45, HTSUS; Tariff classification of bamboo rugs from China
Dear Ms. Miles:
This is in response to your October 28, 2010 request for reconsideration of New York Ruling (NY) N088380, dated January 13, 2010. In that ruling, the National Commodity Specialist Division (NCSD) determined that bamboo rugs, identified by style numbers SKU 2453904 and SKU 2256710 imported from China by Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (“Pier 1”), were classified under subheading 4602.11.45, of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), which provides for “Basketwork, wickerwork and other articles, made directly to shape from plaiting materials or made up from articles of heading 4601; articles of loofah: Of vegetable materials: Of bamboo: Other: Other.” We affirm N088380 because we agree that the bamboo rugs are articles made directly to shape from plaiting materials as described in heading 4602, HTSUS.
In your request for reconsideration of N088380, you argue that the merchandise is classifiable under heading 4601, HTSUS, as a finished product of plaiting materials, specifically, as a mat. You cite the Explanatory Notes (ENs) to headings 4601 and 4602, HTSUS, and dictionary definitions of “mats” in support of your position.
We agree that the bamboo strips that form the bamboo rugs are plaiting materials of Chapter 46, HTSUS. The bamboo rugs are then obtained directly from plaiting materials. Heading 4601, HTSUS, provides, in relevant part, for plaiting materials bound together in parallel strands or woven, in sheet form, whether or not being finished articles (for example, mats, matting, screens). The ENs to heading 4601, HTSUS, describe the construction of articles to be included in the heading:
“Those obtained directly from plaiting materials are either formed of strands woven together, generally in the manner of warp and weft fabrics, or made of parallel strands placed side by side and maintained in position in the form of sheets by transverse binding threads or strands holding the successive parallel strands.”
An examination of the construction of the bamboo rugs confirms that they were not constructed of plaiting materials that are woven together or maintained in position by transverse binding threads or strands holding the successive parallels strands. Instead, the bamboo strips are held in place side by side by gluing to a woven, textile mesh base, and it is the textile mesh base that binds the bamboo strips into a rug form. The bamboo rugs do not acquire the character of finished articles of heading 4601, HTSUS, by being bound together in parallel strands or woven. Instead, the bamboo strips are glued to a base, are digitally printed in multiple colors and glazed, have a non-skid backing attached, and are finished with a decorative textile band that is machine-stitched around the rug’s edges. Finally, in HQ 956101, dated July 18, 1994, regarding heading 4601, HTSUS, CBP stated that “the ENs indicate that although certain additional materials, other than plaiting materials, may be present in the covered products – for example, spun textile yarn, reinforcement, backing, or lining made of woven textile fabric or of paper – these other materials must serve primarily for assembly or reinforcement purposes.” The textile band, printing, glaze, and non-skid backing do not serve these purposes.
Therefore, the bamboo rugs at issue do not qualify as mats of heading 4601, HTSUS, because their construction differs from the mats of that heading, and the non-plaiting present do not serve an assembly or reinforcement function.
Accordingly, we find that the bamboo rugs are articles of heading 4602, HTSUS, and affirm N088380.
Sincerely,
Ieva O’Rourke, Chief
Commercial Trade Facilitation Division