CLA-2-70:OT:RR:NC:TA:352
Mr. Sheldon Peck
Diversified Brokerage Services, Inc.
5473 Jet Port Ind. Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33634
RE: The tariff classification of a 100% fiberglass plain woven fabric used as insect screening from China.
Dear Mr. Peck:
In your letter dated May14, 2008, on behalf of your client Aluminum Extrusion Supply Company, you requested a classification ruling.
The submitted sample, designated as “Bug Screening”, is a colored plain woven fabric composed of 100% glass fiber yarns which have been coated with dyed polyvinyl chloride plastic. The plastic coated yarns are woven into a fabric and heat stabilized creating a fabric with a stable open-work mesh. Your correspondence indicates that the plastic coating represents approximately 68% of the weight of this product while the glass fiber represents approximately 32% of the weight of the product. This fabric contains 7.1 single yarns per centimeter in the warp and 6.3 single yarns per centimeter in the filling. The plastic which coats each of the fiberglass yarns has been dyed a grey color. Weighing approximately 115 g/m2, this item will be imported in various widths ranging between 41 and 244 centimeters. Your letter indicates that this product will be used as insect screening on doors and windows.
The glass fiber yarns impart this product with its strength, rot resistance, mold resistance and fire resistance while the plastic coating allows the fabric to be heat stabilized and colored more easily. Based on our experience with similar products, the relative value of the fiberglass would represent approximately 60% of the total value of this item while the plastic portion would represent approximately 40% of the total value. Factoring in the relative value, quantity and function of the various materials that form this product, it is not possible to determine a single material that imparts this item with its essential character. Each of the materials imbues this article with unique characteristics that are essential for this item to function for its intended purpose as insect screening. Therefore, this fabric is classifiable in the heading which appears last in numerical order among those that equally merit consideration.
The applicable subheading for the fiberglass woven fabric designated as “Bug Screening” will be 7019.52.9010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for glass fibers (including glass wool) and articles thereof (for example, yarn, woven fabrics), other woven fabrics, of a width exceeding 30 centimeters, plain weave, weighing less than 250 g/m2, of filaments measuring per single yarn not more than 136 tex, colored, other, weighing 185 grams or less per square meter. The duty rate will be 7 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 product falls within textile category 622. With the exception of certain products of China, quota/visa requirements are no longer applicable for merchandise which is the product of World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries. At the present time goods produced in China that fall within textile category 622 are subject to both quota restraints and visa requirements. Quota and visa requirements are the result of international agreements that are subject to frequent renegotiations and changes. To obtain the most current information on quota and visa requirements applicable to this merchandise, we suggest you check, close to the time of shipment, the “Textile Status Report for Absolute Quotas” which is available on our web site at www.cbp.gov. For current information regarding possible textile safeguard actions on goods from China and related issues, we refer you to the web site of the Office of Textiles and Apparel of the Department of Commerce at otexa.ita.doc.gov.
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 Alan Tytelman at 646-733-3045.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division