CLA-2-24:RR:NC:2:231 K85852
Mr. George Keller
Customs Advisory Services, Inc.
1003 Virginia Avenue, Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30354
RE: The tariff classification of threshed, flue-cured tobacco from China.
Dear Mr. Keller:
In your letter, dated May 4, 2004, on behalf of your client, Premium Tobacco, Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The merchandise is described, as follows:
Threshed, flue-cured tobacco. The end use is stated to be as cut filler tobacco for cigarettes.
Threshed, flue-cured, strip tobacco. The end use is stated to be in products such as chewing tobacco, snuff, cigar filler tobacco or cut rag tobacco. (It is noted that the Tobacco Dictionary, edited by Raymond Jahn, Philosophical Library, New York (1954), defines the term “rag” as “cut filler used for cigarettes.”)
The applicable subheading for threshed, flue-cured tobacco to be used in cigarettes, if imported in quantities that fall within the limits described in additional U.S. note 5 to chapter 24, will be 2401.20.8510, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for unmanufactured tobacco (whether or not threshed or similarly processed); tobacco refuse, tobacco, partly or wholly stemmed/stripped, threshed or similarly processed, other, other, other, described in additional U.S. note 5 to chapter 24 and entered pursuant to its provisions. The rate of duty will be 37.5 cents per kilogram. If the quantitative limits of additional U.S. note 5 to chapter 24 have been reached, the product will be classified in subheading 2401.20.8710, HTS, and will be dutiable at 350 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for threshed, flue-cured tobacco to be used in products other than cigarettes will be 2401.20.8310, HTS, which provides for unmanufactured tobacco (whether or not threshed or similarly processed); tobacco refuse, tobacco, partly or wholly stemmed/stripped, threshed or similarly processed, other, other, to be used in products other than cigarettes, flue-cured. The rate of duty will be 37.5 cents per kilogram.
Tobacco entered in subheading 240120.8310, HTS, is to be used, after importation, in the product ion tobacco products other than cigarettes. Accordingly, tobacco shipments, so entered, are subject to the actual use requirements set forth in sections 10.131 through 10.139 in Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations, (19 CFR 10.131-139). In particular, sections 10.137 and 10.138 describe, respectively, the records of use that are required to be maintained and the proof of use that must be furnished to Customs within 3 years of the date of entry or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR 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 Thomas Brady at (646) 733-3030.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director
National Commodity
Specialist Division