H330432

HQ H330432 March 12, 2024 OT:RR:CTF:CPMMA H330432 NAH CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 4409.29.61 Center Director Industrial & Manufacturing Materials, Center of Excellence and Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service Port of Buffalo, NY 726 Exchange Street Suite 400 Buffalo, NY 14210 ATTN.: Ms. Brenda Ferris, Import Specialist RE: Internal Advice; Tariff Classification of Wood Articles Dear Center Director: This is in response to the request for Internal Advice (IA), dated October 13, 2022, initiated by the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP, on behalf of their client, H. Arnold Wood Turning Inc. (hereinafter “submitter” or “Requestor”), regarding the tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) of certain wood articles (the “merchandise”). The Requestor alleges that the merchandise is classifiable under heading 4417, HTSUS, as “Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood,” or more specifically in subheading 4417.00.40, HTSUS, as “Paint brush and paint roller handles.” Information and arguments provided by Requestor’s counsel over the course of 2022 and 2023, as well as information and argument provided in a meeting on February 29, 2024, were considered. Our decision follows. The IA Requestor has requested that certain information submitted in connection with this Internal Advice be treated as confidential. Inasmuch as this request conforms to the requirements of 19 C.F.R. § 177.2(b)(7), the request for confidentiality is approved. The confidential commercial information identified within the October 13, 2022, IA request and attachments and the May 16, 2023, letter and attachments submitted to our office will not be published or released. FACTS: According to the internal advice request, the articles of wood are 3/8” diameter x 5-1/4” long or 1/2” diameter x 5-1/4” long. The Requestor further asserts that the articles are designed to be gripped easily, and are about the length of a person’s hand, in order to facilitate their use as a paint brush handle. For this purpose, the ends of the articles are sized to fit a large foam brush that can be purchased separately and attached to the wood article. After importation, the wood articles must be further worked to be used as paint brushes. ISSUE: Whether the wood articles, as described above, are properly classified under heading 4409, HTSUS, which provides for “Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed:” or under heading 4417, HTSUS, which provides for “Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood; boot or shoe lasts and trees, of wood.” LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”) and, in the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation (“ARI”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be “determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes.” Amcor Flexibles Singen GmbH v. United States, 425 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 1298 (C.I.T. 2020). In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, GRIs 2 through 6 may be applied in order. The instant determination is made pursuant to GRI 1. The following headings and subheadings of the HTSUS are under consideration in this case: 4409 Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed: Nonconiferous 4409.29 Other: Other: Wood Dowel Rods: 4409.29.61 Plain * * * 4417 Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood; boot or shoe lasts and trees, of wood: 4417.00.40 Paint Brush and paint roller handles… 4417.00.80 Other 4417.00.80.10 Tool handles * * * * * The Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings at the international level. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989). The ENs to HTSUS 4409 state, in relevant part, the following: 44.09 - Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, v?jointed, beaded, moulded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end?jointed. . . . (5) Rounded woods such as drawn woods, which are very thin rods, generally of round section, of a kind used in the manufacture of certain types of match splints, pegs for footwear, certain types of wooden sun?blinds (pinoleum blinds), toothpicks, cheese?making screens, etc. Dowelling in the length, being round wooden rods or poles of a uniform cross?section, generally ranging in diameter from 2 mm to 75 mm and in length from 45 cm to 250 cm, of a kind used, e.g., for joining parts of wooden furniture, is also classified in this heading. The ENs to HTSUS 4717 state, in relevant part, the following: 44.17 - Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood; boot or shoe lasts and trees, of wood. This heading covers: . . . (3) Wooden handles, whether or not turned, for tools or implements of all kinds (e.g., handles for spades, shovels, rakes, hammers, screwdrivers, saws, files, knives, smoothing irons, date or similar stamps). . . . (5) Brush or broom handles of wood, whether or not turned, and whether of a kind for fitting with fibres or bristles at one end (such as paint brushes) or for fixing to bodies (e.g., broom handles). We must first determine whether the merchandise may prima facie be classified under headings 4409 or 4417, HTSUS. GRI 1 commands that “classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes . . . .” When terms are not defined in the HTSUS, as is the case here, they are construed in accordance with their common and commercial meaning. Nippon Kogasku (USA), Inc. v. United States, 69 CCPA 89, 92–93; 673 F.2d 380, 382 (C.C.P.A. 1982). Common and commercial meaning may be determined by consulting dictionaries, scientific authorities, and other reliable sources. C.J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 69 CCPA 128, 133–34; 673 F.2d 1268, 1271 (C.C.P.A. 1982). This plain meaning is also guided by the history and structure of Chapter 44. Chapter 44 is structured so that less processed wood appears at the beginning of the chapter followed by more advanced processed wood in later headings within the chapter. Thus, for example, heading 4409, HTSUS, is a general provision for wood that has merely been shaped along its edges, whereas heading 4417, HTSUS, provides for wood further processed into specific and more complex articles of wood. See e.g., Headquarters Ruling Letter (“HQ”) 960312, dated February 5, 1998. The Requestor claims that the merchandise falls within the provision for “brush bodies, and handles, of wood” of heading 4417, HTSUS.” The word “handle” may be broadly defined as “a part that is designed especially to be grasped by the hand,” Merriam Webster Dictionary, last visited November 20, 2023, as “a part of an object designed for holding, moving, or carrying the object easily,” Cambridge Dictionary, last visited November 20, 2023, and “a part of a thing made specifically to be grasped or 

Classification under the HTSUS is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”) and, in the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires, by the Additional U.S. Rules of Interpretation (“ARI”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be “determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes.” Amcor Flexibles Singen GmbH v. United States, 425 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 1298 (C.I.T. 2020). In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not otherwise require, GRIs 2 through 6 may be applied in order. The instant determination is made pursuant to GRI 1. The following headings and subheadings of the HTSUS are under consideration in this case:4409 Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed: Nonconiferous4409.29 Other: Other: Wood Dowel Rods: 4409.29.61 Plain* * *4417 Tools, tool bodies, tool handles, broom or brush bodies and handles, of wood; boot or shoe lasts and trees, of wood: 4417.00.40 Paint Brush and paint roller handles…4417.00.80 Other4417.00.80.10 Tool handles * * * * *The Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System represent the official interpretation of the tariff at the international level. While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of these headings at the international level. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127 (August 23, 1989). The ENs to HTSUS 4409 state, in relevant part, the following:44.09 - Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebate