H316132

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20229 U.S. Customs and Border Protection HQ H316132 March 3, 2022 OT:RR:CTF:FTM H316132 MD CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 2005.99.20 Center Director Agriculture & Prepared Products Center of Excellence and Expertise U.S. Customs and Border Protection 5600 Pearl Street Rosemont, Illinois 60018 Attn: Alan McKnight, Supervisory Import Specialist RE: Internal Advice Request; Tariff Classification of Processed Onion Products from China Dear Center Director, This is in response to the internal advice request, dated December 31, 2020, initiated by BCFoods, Inc. (“BCFoods” or “Importer”), concerning the tariff classification of processed onion products from China. FACTS: BCFoods is an industrial food ingredients importer and producer based in the United States. Specifically, BCFoods imports “dehydrated and processed vegetables, herbs, and spiced from a variety of countries,” such as China, Peru, India, Germany, and Mexico. At-issue are shipments of processed onion products which entered the United States at the Port of Chicago between February 13, 2020, and December 31, 2020. After a review of their United States import operations, Importer determined that the tariff classification that they had been using to import the processed onion products was “incorrect.” Whereas Importer had previously imported the processed onion products under either subheading 0712.20.2000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (“HTSUSA”), or subheading 0712.20.4000, HTSUSA, it is now their belief that a more accurate classification would be subheading 2005.99.9700, HTSUSA. Within their request for internal advice, Importer describes the manufacturing process of the processed onion products as follows. Fresh onions are purchased from contracted farmers and are moved into storage for quality control testing. Once deemed suitable, the onions are pulled from storage, “washed using filtered water, then sorted to remove stones and dirt,” and “peeled to remove the skins and roots before a second washing step.” After the second washing, “[t]he onions are sliced or cut to a desired size,” depending on their intended end use, following which they are “spun [within a centrifuge] to remove surface water” before being “transferred to the oven drying process.” During this “[i]nitial [p]rocessing” of oven drying, the cut or sliced onions are “initially hot air dried in a multi-layer continuous drying machine. This process “takes 3 to 3.5 hours at a drying temperature between 80 to 90°C (176 to 194°F), after which the onions are cooled. Throughout the aforementioned processing, the “[m]oisture level[s] of the products [are] monitored and tested… with a target of approximately 7% moisture.” Once the cut or sliced onions are cooled, they are transferred into bags for storage and further processing. This further, or “[s]econdary [p]rocessing,” begins when the “semi-dried onion pieces” are removed from storage and “are sorted using air to separate any remaining skins, off color pieces or, foreign material, and passed through a magnet to remove any ferrous magnetic material” before being “transferred to the toasting oven for final moisture removal.” Within the “single layer oven,” the cut or sliced onions are “baked… at a temperature between 65 to 90°C (149 to 194°F).” As during the initial processing phase, the “[m]oisture level[s] of the products [are] monitored and tested,” this time, “with a target of 3.3% moisture.” Once cooled, cut or sliced onions are “transferred to final sorting steps including air cleaning and destoning systems to remove dense foreign material.” Additional processing includes the removal of “ferrous metal pieces,” “optical sorting,” “hand sorting,” overall “testing,” and a storage phase. After storage, the products are milled to specific sizes and “screened through sieves to ensure [these] specific sizes.” The products are then tested to “confirm size and microbiological limits as well as moisture levels” (below 5%) before being passed through “final magnets and metal detection” and final packaging for shipping. ISSUE: What is the tariff classification of the processed onion products? LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. 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, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings, any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to GRIs 1 through 5. The HTSUS provisions under review are as follows: 0712 Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced, broken or in powder, but not further prepared: 0712.20 Onions: 0712.20.2000 Powder or flour. 0712.20.4000 Other. * * * 2005 Other vegetables prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, not frozen, other than products of heading 2006: Other vegetables and mixtures of vegetables: 2005.99 Other: 2005.99.2000 Onions. 2005.99.9700 Other. * * * Note 1 to Chapter 20 provides, in relevant part, the following: This chapter does not cover: (a) Vegetables, fruit or nuts, prepared or preserved by the processes specified in chapter 7, 8 or 11 * * * Note 3 to Chapter 20 provides as follows: Heading 2001, 2004 and 2005 cover, as the case may be, only those products of chapter 7 or of heading 1105 or 1106 (other than flour, meal and powder of the products of chapter 8), which have been prepared or preserved by processes other than those referred to in note 1(a). * * * The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) constitute the “official interpretation of the Harmonized System” at the international level. See 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989). 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. See id. The ENs to heading 0712 state, in relevant part: 07.12 – Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced, broken or in powder, but not further prepared 0712.20 – Onions […] This heading covers vegetables of headings 07.01 to 07.11 which have been dried (including dehydrated, evaporated or freeze-dried) i.e., with their natural water content removed by various processes. The principal kinds of vegetables treated in this way are potatoes, onions, mushrooms, wood ears (Auricularia spp.), jelly fungi (Tremella spp.), truffles, carrots, cabbage and spinach. They are usually prepared in strips or slices, either of one variety or mixed (julienne). The heading also covers dried vegetables, broken or powdered, such as asparagus, cauliflower, parsley, chervil, onion, garlic, celery, generally used either as flavouring materials or in the preparation of soups. * * * The ENs for heading 2005 state, in pertinent part: 20.05 – Other vegetables prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, not frozen, other than products of heading 20.06 The term “vegetables” in this heading is limited to the products referred to in Note 3 to this Chapter. These products (other than vegetables prepared or preserved by vinegar or acetic acid of heading 20.01, frozen vegetables of heading 20.04 and vegetables preserved by sugar of heading 20.06) are classified in the heading when they are prepared or preserved by processes not provided for in Chapter 7 or 11. * * * Importer posits that their processed onion products are properly classified under subheading 2005.99.9700, HTSUSA, which provides for “Othe

Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) is determined in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRI”). GRI 1 provides that the classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes. 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, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. GRI 6 requires that the classification of goods in the subheadings of headings shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings, any related subheading notes and, mutatis mutandis, to GRIs 1 through 5. The HTSUS provisions under review are as follows:0712 Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced, broken or in powder, but not further prepared:0712.20 Onions:0712.20.2000 Powder or flour.0712.20.4000 Other. * * *2005 Other vegetables prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, not frozen, other than products of heading 2006: Other vegetables and mixtures of vegetables:2005.99 Other:2005.99.2000 Onions.2005.99.9700 Other. * * *Note 1 to Chapter 20 provides, in relevant part, the following:This chapter does not cover:(a) Vegetables, fruit or nuts, prepared or preserved by the processes specified in chapter 7, 8 or 11 * * *Note 3 to Chapter 20 provides as follows:Heading 2001, 2004 and 2005 cover, as the case may be, only those products of chapter 7 or of heading 1105 or 1106 (other than flour, meal and powder of the products of chapter 8), which have been prepared or preserved by processes other than those referred to in note 1(a).* * *The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes(“ENs”) constitute the “official interpretation of the Harmonized System” at the international level. See 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (Aug. 23, 1989). While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs