CLA-2-98:OT:RR:NC:SP:233
Mr. Steve S. Ahn
Steve S. Ahn Custom House Broker
167-16 146 Avenue 2nd Floor
Jamaica, NY 11434
RE: The tariff classification of rice straw floor mats from Japan.
Dear Mr. Ahn:
In your recent undated letter, on behalf of The Zen Studies Society, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The ruling was requested on "tatami" rice straw floor mats which were previously classified in ruling letter N023587. The mats are designed to be used indoors for sitting, laying or kneeling. They are composed of the following: an outer covering of Japanese rush grass strips, layers of insecticide treated papers, layers of coarse rice straw and one layer of Styrofoam.
In N023587 the mats were classified under heading 4602.19.8000. You have submitted additional information that your client is a non-profit charity and will use the mats for religious purposes. Subheading 9810.00.2500, HTSUS, provides for “articles imported for the use of an institution organized and operated for religious purposes, including cemeteries, schools, hospitals, orphanages and similar nonprofit activities staffed and controlled by such institution: altars, pulpits, communion tables, baptismal fonts, shrines, mosaics, iconostases, or parts, appurtenances or adjuncts of any of the foregoing, whether to be physically joined thereto or not, and statuary (except granite or marble cemetery headstones, granite or marble grave markers and granite or marble feature memorials, and except casts of plaster of Paris, or of compositions of paper or papier-mache).”
These mats do not meet the requirements of heading 9810. While the mats would fit into the broader category of articles imported for the use of an institution organized and operated for religious purposes, they are not included among the articles specified in the subheading.
The applicable subheading for the "tatami" floor mats described above will be 4602.19.8000, HTSUS, which provides for “basketwork, wickerwork and other articles, made directly to shape from plaiting materials or made up from articles of heading 4601: of vegetable materials (other than bamboo or rattan): other (than baskets, bags, luggage, handbags or flat goods): other (than of willow or wood): other (than wickerwork).” The rate of duty will be 2.3 percent ad valorem.
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 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 Lawrence Mushinske at 646-733-3036.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division