CLA-2-15:OT:RR:NC:232
Mr. Rafael A. Alvarez
Mendez & Co., Inc.
Road #20 Km 2.4
Martinez Nadal Highway
Guaynabo PR 00966
RE: The tariff classification of “cooking oil products” from Argentina
Dear Mr. Alvarez:
In your letter dated January 23, 2008, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The products are described as “Nature’s Ideal Pure Sunflower Oil”, “Nature’s Ideal Pure Corn Oil” and “Nature’s Ideal Pure Vegetable Oil. The oils are stated to be cooking oils for household use. The vegetable oil is a mixture of 94 percent vegetable oil and 6 percent soybean oil. The corn oil and sunflower oil are both 100 percent pure. All three oils are transformed into edible oils through the removal of undesirable substances by acid degumming, neutralization, winterization, (the process of winterization does not occur in refining of the soybean oil), washing, drying, bleaching, and deodorization.
The applicable subheading for the Nature’s Ideal Pure Sunflower Oil will be 1512.19.0020, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for sunflower-seed, safflower or cottonseed oil, and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified: Other …Sunflower-seed oil. The rate of duty will be 1.7 percent per kilogram plus 3.4 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the Nature’s Ideal Pure Corn Oil will be 1515.29.0040, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Other fixed vegetable fats and oils (included jojoba oil) and their fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified: corn(maize) oil and its fractions: Other …Other (fully refined, washed, bleached or deodorized). The rate of duty will be 3.4 percent ad valorem.
The applicable subheading for the Nature’s Ideal Pure Vegetable Oil will be 1517.90.1020, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Margarine: edible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable fats or oils or of fractions of different fats or oils of this chapter, other than edible fats or oils or their fractions of heading 1516: Other: Artificial mixtures of two or more of the products provide for in headings 1501 to 151, inclusive: Containing 5 percent or more by weight of soybean oil or any fraction thereof…Salad and cooking oils. The rate of duty will be 18 percent.
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 merchandise is subject to The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (The Bioterrorism Act), which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Information on the Bioterrorism Act can be obtained by calling FDA at telephone number (301) 575-0156, or at the Web site www.fda.gov/oc/bioterrorism/bioact.html.
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 Frank Troise at 646-733-3031.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division