CLA-2-04:S:N:N7:229-892374
Mr. Fred East
Swissrose International, Inc.
14 Empire Boulevard
Moonachie, NJ 07074
RE: The tariff classification of Skim Milk Cheese powder from various countries.
Dear Mr. East:
In your letter dated November 5, 1993, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The product in question, described as a Skim Milk Cheese powder, will be made by grinding and drying Skim Milk Cheese, with less than 0.5 percent butterfat, into a white to light yellow powder. This Skim Milk Cheese in powder form will contain a maximum of 10 percent moisture, 0.42 to 0.7 percent butterfat (0.8 to 1.5 percent fat on a dry basis) and 86 percent protein. The acidity of the product may be adjusted, at the customer's request, down to a pH of 4.6 by the addition of one percent citric acid or raised to a pH of from 6.5 to 6.8 by the addition of one and one-half percent of sodium citrate. With no adjustment, the pH of the product will range between 5.4 and 5.6. The Customs Laboratory at New York reported that the sample cheese powder, submitted with this inquiry, was made from a cheese containing cow's milk and contained 11.7 percent moisture, 2.1 percent fat (2.4 percent on a dry basis), 3.2 percent salt, no lactose and 73.5 percent protein, with a pH of 5.6. This product will be imported in bags holding 25 kilograms, net, or more, of cheese powder.
You state in your letter that this cheese powder will be produced using Skim Milk Cheese from various countries,--namely, from Australia, Austria, Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine. In determining the country of origin, for import licensing purposes (7 CFR 6.21) and for country of origin marking purposes (19 USC 1304), the country of origin for Skim Milk Cheese dried and ground into a powder in the Netherlands would be the original country in which the natural cheese was produced.
Section 6.27, Code of Federal Regulations, (7 CFR 6.27), which governs the use of license requires that
"(a) The article entered must be a product of the country of
origin specified in the license under which it is entered.
...
(c) ... The article entered under license must be accompanied by:
(1) An invoice from a seller in the country of origin to
a purchaser in the United States and a through bill
of lading from the country of origin to the United
States; or
(2) If the seller is not located in the country of origin,
a through bill of lading from the country of origin to
the United States and a certificate of origin issued in the country of origin which shall indicate the United
States as the destination of the merchandise and state
the quantity and description of the merchandise in the
shipment."
The regulations governing the issuance and use of import cheese licenses in Title 6 of the Federal Code of Regulations, specifically, in Section 6.21 (Definitions), defines the European Community, as follows:
"(m) EC means the twelve European Community countries, viz.,
Belgium, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain and the United Kingdom, which for the purposes of this
regulation shall be deemed as one country of origin."
Accordingly, Skim Milk Cheese produced in Denmark, Germany and Ireland, which is subsequently processed in the Netherlands into a Skim Milk Cheese powder, would be considered a product of the European Community for purposes of import cheese licensing,--that is, considered as the product of one country of origin, and may be imported to the United States with the documentation required in Section 6.27(c)(1), above.
Skim Milk Cheese powder produced from Skim Milk Cheese produced in Australia, Austria, and other countries not enumerated in Sec. 621(m), cited above, would be subject to the "direct shipment" documentation requirements of Section 6.27(c)(2), also cited. Additionally, under Sec. 627(b), these cheeses would not be permitted to be commingled during processing in the Netherlands.
The applicable subheading for Skim Milk Cheese powder will be 0406.20.6060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for Cheese and curd:...Grated or powdered cheese, of all kinds:...Other, including mixtures of the above:... Other...Other:...Other:...Containing cow's milk. The rate of duty will be 10 percent ad valorem.
Articles classifiable in HTS subheading 0406.20.6060 are subject to quota quantity restrictions listed in subchapter IV of Chapter 99 in HTS subheading 9904.10.54, which limits the amount of such cheese which may be imported from the European Economic Community to an annual quota quantity of 20,456,000 kilograms (of which 353,000 are reserved for Portugal). Additionally, an import license, issued to the importer by the United States Department of Agriculture, will be required at the time such merchandise is entered for consumption into the United States.
In your letter, you mention several cheeses, other than Skim Milk Cheese, which might be used in manufacturing various cheese powders. However, your inquiry does not provide enough information for us to give a classification ruling on these products. Your request for a classification ruling should include only five items per each request, along with a flow chart showing the manufacturing steps involved in the processing, the fat and protein content of the natural cheeses used in processing, and specifications for the different types of cheese powders you intend to manufacture.
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