CLA-2-114:S:N:N1:114 856872
TARIFF NOS.: 9001.40.0000, 9802.00.4040, 9802.00.5040
Ms. Ruth Kroboth
Associated Customhouse Brokers, Inc.
One Airport Way
P.O. Box 22670
Rochester, New York 14692
RE: The tariff classification of lens blanks from China
Dear Ms. Kroboth:
In your letter dated September 27, 1990, on behalf of Bausch
& Lomb, Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling.
Bausch & Lomb plans to send lens pressings, previously
imported from Brazil, to China for surfacing and polishing. The
product will be returned to the United States for further
polishing, edging and impact-hardening. Samples of the lens
pressing, the lens blank, and the finished lens were provided
with your letter.
Optical elements of glass, optically worked, not permanently
mounted, fall within Heading 9001, HTS, if the elements have been
ground and polished or if the elements have been polished after
molding.
Based on your description of the processing which will occur
in China, and on the samples furnished to this office, it appears
that the lenses will have the whole or part of one or more of
their surfaces polished to produce the required optical
properties, at the time of importation from China. The lenses
are intended for use in sunglasses.
The applicable subheading for the lenses, as imported from
China, will be 9001.40.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTS), which provides for lenses, of any material,
unmounted, other than such elements of glass not optically
worked; spectacle lenses of glass. The rate of duty will be 5.6
percent ad valorem.
In your letter, you requested that we consider the
applicability of subheading 9802.00.4040, HTS, which provides for
articles returned to the United States after having been exported
to be advanced in value or improved in condition by any process
of manufacture or other means; articles exported for repairs or
alterations made pursuant to a warranty. This subheading is not
applicable to the lenses. Subheading 9802.00.5040, HTS, which
provides for articles exported for repairs or alterations, other,
is not applicable because the processing which occurs in China is
part of the manufacturing process, not a repair or alteration.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section
177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry
documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the
documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be
brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the
transaction.
Sincerely,
Jean F. Maguire
Area Director
New York Seaport