CLA-2: OT:RR:CTF:TCM H259011 CkG
Pam Reeder
Vice President, Imports
Evans and Wood & Co., Inc.
900 Town and Country, Ste. 150
Houston, TX 77024
Re: Tariff classification of decorative wall hooks
Dear Ms. Reeder:
This is in reference to your request of August 6, 2012, for a prospective ruling to determine the correct classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) of five decorative wall hooks. We have also taken into account your revised request of October 28, 2014, in which you provided additional information on the subject articles and advised that Hobby Lobby is no longer importing item # 777482. We will therefore not be addressing the classification of item # 777482 in this ruling.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue consists of various decorative wall hooks, used for hanging clothing or jewelry within the home.
Item 189423 consists of a double steel hook screwed to a fiberboard plaque which is painted pink and trimmed with clear acrylic imitation gemstones. There is a keyhole plate in the back for mounting on a wall or door. The material breakdown by weight of this item is 50% fiberboard, 30% acrylic, and 20% steel.
Item 384404 consists of a steel wire hook attached to a pink, white and green fiberboard plaque in the shape of a flower, trimmed with a clear acrylic imitation gemstone. There is a keyhole plate in the back for mounting on a wall or door. The weight breakdown of this item is 68% fiberboard, 30% steel wire, 1% wood and 1% acrylic. The value breakdown is 49% metal, 44% fiberboard, 4% wood and 3% acrylic.
Item 777474 consists of a steel wire hook attached to a white fiberboard plaque. There is a decorative piece of clear glass attached to the plaque featuring a drawing of the Eiffel Tower. There is a keyhole plate in the back for mounting on a wall or door. The weight breakdown of this item is 80% glass, 15% fiberboard and 5% steel. The value breakdown is 62% glass, 22% fiberboard, and 16% steel.
Item 947309 consists of a clear acrylic knob attached to a cast-iron plate in the shape of an antique keyhole cover plate. There is a keyhole plate in the back for mounting on a wall or door. The weight breakdown of this item is 90% cast iron and 10% acrylic. The value breakdown is 80% iron, and 20% acrylic.
ISSUE:
Whether the subject articles are classified in heading 8302, HTSUS, as hat racks or similar articles of base metal, in heading 8306, HTSUS, as other ornaments, of base metal, or in Chapters 39, 44, 70, or 73, as articles of plastic, wood, glass, or cast iron.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Merchandise is classifiable under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes and, provided such headings or notes do not otherwise require, according to the remaining GRIs 2 through 6.
GRI 3 provides, in pertinent part, that:
When by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:
The heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more specific description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.
Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components … which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
The HTSUS headings under consideration are as follows:
3926: Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings 39.01 to 39.14
4414: Wooden frames for paintings, photographs, mirrors or similar objects
7013: Glassware of a kind used for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar
purposes (other than that of heading 70.10 or 70.18)
8302: Base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for furniture, doors,
staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests, caskets or the like; base metal hat racks, hat-pegs, brackets and similar fixtures; castors with mountings of base metal; automatic door closers of base metal; and base metal parts thereof
8306: Bells, gongs and the like, non electric, of base metal; statuettes and other ornaments, of base metal; photograph, picture or similar frames, of base metal; mirrors of base metal.
* * * * *
The Explanatory Notes (EN) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989).
EN 83.06 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
(B) STATUETTES AND OTHER ORNAMENTS
This group comprises a wide range of ornaments of base metal (whether or not incorporating subsidiary non metallic parts) of a kind designed essentially for decoration, e.g., in homes, offices, assembly rooms, places of religious worship, gardens.
The group covers articles which have no utility value but are wholly ornamental, and articles whose only usefulness is to contain or support other decorative articles or to add to their decorative effect, for example :
…wall ornaments incorporating fittings for hanging (plaques, trays, plates,
medallions other than those for personal adornment);
* * * * *
The instant articles are composite goods made of several components and materials covered by multiple headings. They are not fully described in any single heading. As a result, they cannot be classified on the basis of GRI 1. The classification of the instant articles thus falls to GRI 3.
The HTSUS provisions covering the articles refer only to part of their component materials. Therefore, under GRI 3(a), the headings must be regarded as equally specific in relation to the article, and the article must be classified as if it consisted of the material or component which gives it its essential character, pursuant to GRI 3(b).
GRI 3(b) provides that composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character. The “essential character” of an article is “that which is indispensable to the structure, core or condition of the article, i.e., what it is.” Structural Industries v. United States, 360 F. Supp. 2d 1330, 1336 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2005). EN VIII to GRI 3(b) explains that "[t]he factor which determines essential character will vary as between different kinds of goods. It may, for example, be determined by the nature of the material or component, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by the role of the constituent material in relation to the use of the goods." Recent court decisions on the essential character for GRI 3(b) purposes have looked primarily to the role of the each material or component in relation to the use of the goods. See Structural Industries, 360 F. Supp. 2d 1330; Conair Corp. v. United States, 29 C.I.T. 888 (2005); Home Depot USA, Inc. v. United States, 427 F. Supp. 2d 1278 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2006), aff’d 491 F.3d 1334 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
The subject wall hangers are designed to hold clothing and jewelry, which will be hung on the steel hooks and glass or acrylic knobs. The steel hooks and glass or acrylic knobs are therefore the components that play the most important role in relation to the use of the instant goods. Although the plaques provide the mechanism to secure the wall hooks to the wall, their role is more decorative than functional. Thus, in most cases, the hooks or knobs will impart the essential character to the whole. However, the utility of the acrylic knob is outweighed in the case of item 947309 by the significantly greater bulk, weight and cost of the cast iron plaque. In the case of item 947309, the cast iron plaque constitutes 90% of the weight and a significantly greater share of the bulk, weight and cost of the product as a whole, while also contributing some utility to the product by providing the means to attach the item to the wall. The visual impact of the cast iron plaque is also likely to play the greatest role in the customer’s decision to purchase the product. Thus, the cast iron plaque is the component that imparts the essential character to the wall hanger, because it satisfies all but one of the GRI 3(b) criteria, and does so by a large margin. Because the cast iron plaque is wholly ornamental and incorporates fittings for hanging to a wall, it falls within the scope of heading 8306, HTSUS, which provides for ornamental articles of base metal.
In contrast, while the fiberboard plaques in items 189423, 384405, 384405, and 777474 outweigh the steel hooks and the glass knob, they do so by a lesser margin, and the other GRI 3(b) essential character criteria do not appear to particularly weigh in favor of the fiberboard plaques imparting the essential character to the whole product. While the decorative glass piece (featuring a drawing of the Eiffel tower) contributes most of the weight and visual impact to item 777474, the glass piece does not add any functionality to the product. Hence, the steel hooks impart the essential character to items 189423, 384405, and 777474, which are classified in heading 8302, HTSUS.
You also cite various rulings which you believe indicate inconsistent treatment of substantially similar merchandise. These include New York Ruling (NY) N030485, dated July 3, 2008; NY N035961, dated September 9, 2008; NY L84915, dated May 24, 2005; NY K85689, dated May 14, 2005; NY L86839, dated August 18, 2005; NY H80872, dated June 1, 2001; NY K81324, dated December 2, 2003; and NY N088925, dated January 20, 2012.
NY N030485, NY N035961 and NY K85689 all classified metal hooks attached to decorative plaques in heading 8302, HTSUS, as hat racks and similar fixtures of base metal. The wall hooks in NY N030485, NY N035961 and NY K85689 closely resemble the articles at issue. In contrast, the articles at issue in NY H80872, NY K81324, and NY L86839 were not simple wall plaques with hooks. In NY H80872, CBP classified a wood framed bulletin board and a wood storage compartment shelf with metal hooks in heading 4420, HTSUS, as an “other” wooden article of furniture. In NY K81324, CBP classified a wood photo shelf with glass inserts, 3 antique brass hooks and a plate groove in the shelf in heading 4420, HTSUS, pursuant to GRI 3(c), because none of the individual components were deemed to impart the essential character to the whole article. Similarly, NY L86839 classified a wooden letter box with a shelf projecting from the box and three aluminum-alloy hooks attached to a board below the shelf in heading 4420, HTSUS. Finally, at issue in NY N088925 was a composite good consisting of a wooden picture frame with hooks for hanging jewelry, keys, etc. In this case, both the frame and the hooks had a utilitarian purpose; to display pictures and to provide a place to hand small items. In such cases, we must determine which is the primary purpose of the good. CBP determined that the primary purpose of the good was to display pictures, and it was thus classified in heading 4414, HTSUS, as a wooden picture frame.
These cases do not indicate inconsistent treatment of this merchandise. A GRI 3(b) essential character analysis is made on a case-by-case basis, by weighing all of the factors listed in the Explanatory Notes, such as the relative weight, value, volume or role of the various components. While the metal hooks in each of these cases were essential to the ultimate use of the goods, in NY H80872 and NY K81324, the wood constituted the greater weight, bulk and value of the product, and also contributed equally to the use of the product—i.e., to store small personal items and articles of clothing. The wood was thus deemed to impart the essential character to the goods at issue. In other cases, such as with item 947309, the significantly greater weight and cost of the cast iron plaque as well as the visual impact outweigh the utility of the acrylic knob.
HOLDING:
By application of GRIs 1 and 3, items 189423, 384405, and 777474 are
classified in heading 8302, HTSUS, specifically subheading 8302.50.00, HTSUS, which provides for “Base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for furniture, doors, staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests, caskets or the like; base metal hat racks, hat-pegs, brackets and similar fixtures.” The 2015 column one, general rate of duty is Free.
By application of GRIs 1 and 3, item 947309 is classified in heading 8306, specifically subheading 8306.29.00, which provides for “Bells, gongs and the like, non electric, of base metal; statuettes and other ornaments, of base metal; photograph, picture or similar frames, of base metal; mirrors of base metal: Statuettes and other ornaments, and parts thereof: Other.” The 2015 column one, general rate of duty is Free.
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed
at the time the goods are entered. If the documents have been filed without a
copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the CBP officer handling the
transaction.
Sincerely,
Ieva O’Rourke, Chief
Tariff Classification and Marking Branch