CLA-2-94:OT:RR:E:NC:N4:433
Susan W. Brannock
Compliance Manager
Hooker Furniture Corporation
PO Box 4708
440 Commonwealth Boulevard
Martinsville, VA 24112
RE: The tariff classification of a media box from China.
Dear Ms. Brannock::
In your letter dated June 11, 2009, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
Item number 1000-91112 is a wooden media box designed to sit on top of item number 1000-91113, an armoire base. The box measures 44 ¼ inches wide by 18 ½ inches deep by 7 ¼ inches high. It includes a shelf upon which to rest a television and two separated sections underneath the shelf to store audio/video components. The armoire and media box are sold as part of a bedroom suite. It is stated that these media boxes could be shipped alone or in unequal numbers from the armoire bases.
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs) to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), although not dispositive, should be looked to for the proper interpretation of the HTSUS. General (EN) (4) (B) (i) to Chapter 94, HTSUS, reads as follows:
For the purposes of this Chapter, the term "furniture" means:
(B) The following:
(i) Cupboards, bookcases, other shelved furniture and unit furniture, designed to be hung, to be fixed to the wall or to stand one on the other or side by side, for holding various objects or articles (books, crockery, kitchen utensils, glassware, linen, medicaments, toilet articles, radio or television receivers, ornaments, etc.) and separately presented elements of unit furniture.
The legal notes and heading texts, as well as the ENs, for Chapter 94, and heading 9403, HTSUS, do not provide a definition of the term "unit furniture." In the absence of such guidance, tariff terms may be construed in accordance with their common and commercial meanings. Common and commercial meaning may be determined by consulting dictionaries, lexicons, scientific authorities and other reliable resource materials.
A search of relevant sources indicates that the term "unit furniture" is similar in meaning to the term "modular furniture," in which different elements of furniture are designed and intended to be used to create one unit. For example, one unit could consist of a base floor cabinet with a hutch designed to rest on the top. Such furniture is clearly designed to be used together. Noting the above cited EN, it is our opinion that the subject media box is a separately presented element of unit furniture which is designed to sit on the top of the armoire base. Consequently, classification of the media box is wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom.
The applicable subheading for the media box, imported separately or with its armoire, will be 9403.50.9080, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom: Other, Other, Other”. The rate of duty will be Free.
A list of AD/CVD proceedings at the Department of Commerce (DOC) and their product coverage can be obtained from the DOC website at: http://ia.ita.doc.gov, or you may write to them at the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of Antidumping Compliance, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20230. Written decisions regarding the scope of AD/CVD orders are issued by the Import Administration in the Department of Commerce and are separate from tariff classification and origin rulings issued by Customs and Border Protection.
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 Neil H. Levy at (646) 733-3036.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division