CLA-2-49:OT:RR:NC:2:234
Ms. Claire Worth
Dollar Tree
500 Volvo Parkway
Chesapeake, VA 23320
RE: The tariff classification of detective kits from China
Dear Ms. Worth:
In your letter dated June 1, 2012, you requested a tariff classification ruling.
The ruling was requested on SKU number 115322, “Detective Kits”. The kits are identified as the “Criminal Profiling Kit” and the “Color Code Message Kit”.
The “Criminal Profiling Kit” contains one 3.5 inch lead pencil, six sheets of tracing paper and facial feature cards. The facial feature cards are lithographically printed, paperboard cards which depict drawings which include four head cards, five nose cards, five lip cards, six eye cards, four hair/hat cards. The cards have perforated sections to tear off the needed facial feature to create criminal sketches. The drawer uses the facial feature cards and tracing paper to create a criminal profile or they can create a customized sketch by adding different features such as dimples, a mustache, etc.
The “Color Code Message Kit” contains one package of four color pencils (green, red, orange and purple), one message code pad, one decoder filter and one printed instruction sheet. The messages are written with the color pencils onto the message code pad which is printed with several short horizontal lines (dashes). Each sentence is written in multi-color letters that are placed on the dashes. The decoder filter sorts out the letters written in red, yellow, and orange colors and leaves any letters written with a green, purple or blue color pencil that form words once the messages are revealed.
General Rule of Interpretation ("GRI") 3 (b) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTSUS") states as follows: (b) Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
For tariff classification purposes, the “Detective Kits” will be considered “goods put up in sets for retail sale” whose essential character is imparted by the printed paper items.
The applicable subheading for the “Detective Kits” will be 4911.99.6000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other printed matter, including printed pictures and photographs: Other: Other: Other: Printed on paper in whole or in part by a lithographic process”. The rate of duty will be free.
The pencils may be subject to antidumping duties. 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. You can contact them at http://www.trade.gov/ia/ (click on "Contact Us") You may also write to them at the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of Antidumping Compliance, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230. For your information, you can view a list of current AD/CVD cases at the United States International Trade Commission website at http://www.usitc.gov (click on "Antidumping and Countervailing Duty" on the lower right hand side under "Investigations"), and you can search AD/CVD deposit and liquidation messages using the AD/CVD Search tool at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.
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 Albert Gamble at (646) 733-3037.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Russo
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division