CLA-2-44:OT:RR:NC:2:230
Ms. Felicia Addison
International Freight Services, Inc
1610 Rollins Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
RE: The tariff classification of drilled oak planks from France
Dear Ms. Addison:
In your letter dated July 12, 2012, you requested a tariff classification ruling on behalf of your client, Seguin Moreau.
The ruling was requested on drilled oak planks to be manufactured into barrelheads after importation. Photographs of the product to be imported were submitted.
In the condition as imported, the merchandise consists of flat drilled oak boards measuring approximately 25 ½”long x 1”thick. Wooden reed dowels are inserted into the drilled holes. No further work is done to the boards prior to importation into the United States. After importation the drilled boards will be manufactured into oak wood barrelheads for cooperage purposes.
In your letter you refer to the instant product as “oak wood staves,” and suggest that it is classifiable in subheading 4416.00.6010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for casks, barrels, vats, tubs and other coopers’ products and parts thereof, of wood, including staves:…new staves. However, the items do not meet the terms of heading 4416 in their imported form; they are not recognizable as parts of coopers’ products. Furthermore the article does not constitute staves, which are shaped pieces of wood forming the sides of a barrel. You state that once the blanks are imported they are then cut, and shaped into their final form (a barrel head). Since the final processing is done after importation, the oak blanks are not identifiable as a barrel head of heading 4416.
In their imported condition, we found the “oak wood staves” were recognizable only as solid drilled planks imported threaded on wood dowels. Since the oak planks are worked beyond the limits of heading 4407 and do not meet the terms of any other heading in Chapter 44, they can only be classifiable in heading 4421.
The applicable subheading for the drilled oak planks will be 4421.90.9780, HTSUS, which provides for Other articles of wood: Other: Other: Other: Other. The rate of duty will be 3.3% 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 Laurel Duvall at (646) 733-3035.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Russo
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division