CLA-2-70:OT:RR:NC:4:426
Mr. Richard Somers
Oceanair, Inc.
186A Lee Burbank Highway
Revere, MA 02151
RE: The tariff classification of glass spice jars and plastic lids from China
Dear Mr. Somers:
In your letter dated May 19, 2009, on behalf of Lifetime Brands, you requested a tariff classification ruling regarding the classification of glass spice jars.
Samples were submitted with your ruling request.
Each jar has a plastic twist-off lid. However, beneath each twist-off lid, there is a second plastic lid with perforations designed to dispense spices.
You stated that the unit value of each spice jar is not over three dollars.
In your letter you indicated your opinion that these articles should be classified as glass containers in subheading 7010.90.50, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). However, containers classifiable in heading 7010 are generally disposable. Glass containers provided for in heading 7010 are limited to items with forms which indicate that they will be principally used simply to convey and pack goods that will be sold commercially. An article will not generally be regarded as a container if it will be retained in the home and continually used to store and dispense food material.
The spice jars at issue in this ruling request will not be discarded. Each of these jars is a household storage article. Each of these jars has a form which indicates that it will be kept in the home, refilled repeatedly, and used to store and dispense spices. Photographs submitted with your ruling request indicate that the jars will be packaged with a revolving rack when marketed to consumers. The fact that these jars will be marketed with a rack is a further indication that they are intended to be retained as storage articles for continued use in the home; they are not simply disposable containers.
Household storage articles of glass - such as the spice jars at issue in this ruling request - are classifiable as table and kitchen glassware in subheading 7013.49, HTSUS, not as containers in heading 7010. Therefore subheading 7010.90.50 is not applicable to this merchandise.
The applicable subheading for the glass spice jars will be 7013.49.2000, HTSUS, which provides for glassware of a kind used for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar purposes…glassware of a kind used for table (other than drinking glasses) or kitchen purposes other than that of glass-ceramics: other: other: valued not over three dollars each. The rate of duty will be 22.5 percent ad valorem.
In your letter you also inquired regarding the classification of the plastic lids for these jars. When the lids are imported with the glass jars in the same quantities, the lids and jars are classifiable together in subheading 7013.49.2000, HTSUS. However, when extra plastic lids are imported – i.e., more lids than the number of imported jars, these additional lids will be classified separately from the glass jars. The applicable subheading for the additional plastic lids will be 3923.50.0000, HTSUS, which provides for stoppers, lids, caps and other closures of plastic. The rate of duty will be 5.3 percent ad valorem. In addition, when the plastic lids are imported separately from the glass jars, the applicable subheading for the plastic lids will be 3923.50.0000, HTSUS.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Jacob Bunin at 646-733-3027.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division