CLA-2-30:S:N:N1:238 864623
Ms. Dody Trombley
F.W. Myers & Co.
33 West Service, P.O. Box 188
Champlain, NY 12919
RE: The tariff classification of enterically coated prilosec
(omeprazole) pellets from Canada
Dear Ms. Trombley:
In your letter dated June 20, 1991, on behalf of Merck
Frosst Canada, Incorporated you requested a tariff classification
ruling.
Your request indicates that Merck Sharp and Dohme of West
Point, N.Y. will send United States produced omeprazole pellets
to your client in Canada. In Canada the pellets will be coated
with an enteric solution, dried, classified by size and blended.
The purpose of the enteric coating is to insure that the pellets
will remain intact in the stomach but dissolve in the intestine.
Once the coating process is completed the pellets will be
returned to the United States for encapsulation for use as a
gastric acid secretion inhibitor. You also inquire if the coated
pellets would be eligible for treatment under subheading
9802.00.50 which provides for articles exported for repairs or
alterations.
We are of the opinion that the enteric coating of the
pellets amounts to an operation which exceeds an alteration, as
it creates a new and different article and serves to finish a
manufacturing process begun in the United States.
The applicable subheading for the enterically coated
prilosec pellets will be 3003.90.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule
of the United States (HTS), which provides for medicaments
(excluding goods of heading 3002, 3005, or 3006) consisting of
two or more constituents which have been mixed together for
therapeutic or prophylactic uses, not put up in measured doses or
in forms or packings for retail sale. The duty rate will be 6
percent ad valorem.
Goods classifiable under subheading 3003.90.0000, HTS, which
have originated in the territory of Canada, will be entitled to a
4.2 percent rate of duty under the United States-Canada Free
Trade Agreement (FTA) upon compliance with all applicable
regulations.
This merchandise may be subject to the regulations of the
Food and Drug Administration. You may contact them at 5600
Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857, telephone number (202)
443-3380.
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