N337651

N337651 February 8, 2024 CLA-2-76:OT:RR:NC:N5:116 CATEGORY: Classification; Country of Origin TARIFF NO.: 7606.12.3091; 9903.85.01; 9903.88.15 Ms. Iris Long Farrow Consulting 475A Admiral Blvd. Mississauga, Canada L5T2N1 RE: The tariff classification and country of origin for marking purposes of aluminum panels/sheets Dear Ms. Long: In your letter dated January 18, 2024, you requested a tariff classification and a country of origin ruling for marking purposes for aluminum panel covers on behalf of your client, Latham Pool Canada. The products under consideration are described as “Panel Covers of Swimming Pool Liners.” According to your submission, aluminum sheets in coils of Chinese origin, made from type 3105 aluminum alloy and measuring 0.024 inch (0.60 millimeters) in thickness, are sent to Canada where they are slit, painted, de-coiled, cut-to-size, and notched on each corner. The aluminum panels/sheets are then imported into the United States (U.S.) and combined with polystyrene to form swimming pool liners. You suggest classification of the “Panel Covers of Swimming Pool Liners” under subheading 9506.99.5500, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Articles and equipment for general physical exercise…swimming pools and wading pools…: Swimming pools and wading pools and parts and accessories thereof.” We disagree. As noted in your submission, in their imported condition, the products under consideration are aluminum panels/sheets that have not been made into identifiable parts or components dedicated for use in swimming pools. It is not until the aluminum panels are further worked in the U.S. that these products become integral parts of swimming pools. As a result, the goods are more specifically provided for elsewhere in the tariff, rather than as parts of swimming pools of heading 9506, HTSUS. The applicable subheading for the aluminum panels/sheets will be 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, which provides for aluminum plates, sheets and strip, of a thickness exceeding 0.2 mm: rectangular (including square): of aluminum alloys: not clad: with a thickness of 6.3 mm or less: other: heat-treatable industrial alloys of a kind described in statistical note 7 to this chapter. The rate of duty will be 3 percent ad valorem. Please be advised that the aluminum panels/sheets may be subject to antidumping duties and/or countervailing duties. Written decisions regarding the scope of AD/CVD orders are issued by the Enforcement and Compliance office in the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce (ITA) and are separate from tariff classification and origin rulings issued by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). General information regarding the ITA and AD/CVD can be found at https://www.trade.gov/us-antidumping-and-countervailing-duties. The ITA’s “Guide on How to File for an Antidumping/Countervailing Duty Scope Ruling Request” is available at https://enforcement.trade.gov/scope/Request-Scope-Ruling.pdf. On March 8, 2018, Presidential proclamations 9704 and 9705 imposed additional tariffs and quotas on a number of steel and aluminum mill products. Exemptions have been made on a temporary basis for some countries. Quantitative limitations or quotas may apply for certain exempted countries and can also be found in Chapter 99. Additional duties for steel of 25 percent and for aluminum of 10 percent are reflected in Chapter 99, subheading 9903.80.01 for steel and subheading 9903.85.01 for aluminum. Products classified under subheading 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, may be subject to additional duties or quota. At the time of importation, you must report the Chapter 99 subheading applicable to your product classification in addition to the Chapter 72, 73 or 76 subheading listed above. Pursuant to U.S. Note 20 to Subchapter III, Chapter 99, HTSUS, products of China classified under subheading 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, unless specifically excluded, are subject to an additional 7.5 percent ad valorem rate of duty. At the time of importation, you must report the Chapter 99 subheading, i.e., 9903.88.15, in addition to subheading 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, listed above. 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 at https://hts.usitc.gov/current. In addition to a tariff classification, you are requesting a country of origin determination for the subject panels/sheets for marking purposes. The marking statute, section 304, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article. The "country of origin" is defined in 19 CFR 134.1(b) as “the country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the “country of origin” within the meaning of this part; however, for a good of a NAFTA or USMCA country, the marking rules set forth in part 102 of this chapter (hereinafter referred to as the part 102 Rules) will determine the country of origin.” Pursuant to section 102.0, interim regulations, related to the marking rules, tariff-rate quotas, and other USMCA provisions, published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2021 (86 FR 35566), the rules set forth in §§ 102.1 through 102.18 and 102.20 determine the country of origin for marking purposes with respect to goods imported from Canada and Mexico. Section 102.11 provides a required hierarchy for determining the country of origin of a good for marking purposes, with the exception of textile goods which are subject to the provisions of 19 C.F.R. § 102.21. See 19 C.F.R. § 102.11. Applied in sequential order, the required hierarchy establishes that the country of origin of a good is the country in which: (a)(1) The good is wholly obtained or produced; (a)(2) The good is produced exclusively from domestic materials; or (a)(3) Each foreign material incorporated in that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification set out in § 102.20 and satisfies any other applicable requirements of that section, and all other applicable requirements of these rules are satisfied. Sections 102.11(a)(1) and 102.11(a)(2) do not apply to the facts presented in the cases described above because the imported aluminum panels/sheets are neither wholly obtained or produced or produced exclusively from “domestic” materials. Because the analysis of sections 102.11(a)(1) and 102.11(a)(2) does not yield a country of origin determination, we look to section 102.11(a)(3). Pursuant to 19 C.F.R. §102.11(a)(3), the country of origin of a good is the country in which each foreign material incorporated in that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification as set forth in 19 C.F.R. §102.20 and satisfies any other applicable requirements of that section. Based on the facts presented, because the aluminum panels/sheets that are imported into the U.S. are classified in subheading 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, the change in tariff classification must be made in accordance with section 102.20(n), Section XV: Chapters 72 through 83, heading 7606 - 7615, HTSUS, which requires “A change to heading 7606 through 7615 from any other heading, including another heading within that group.” In order to satisfy the rule of origin in section 102.20(n), the non-originating material/components must meet the tariff shift requirements. Aluminum panels/sheets in coils of Chinese origin are sent to Canada where they are slit, painted, de-coiled, cut-to-size, notched on each corner and then im

of sections 102.11(a)(1) and 102.11(a)(2) does not yield a country of origin determination, we look to section 102.11(a)(3). Pursuant to 19 C.F.R. §102.11(a)(3), the country of origin of a good is the country in which each foreign material incorporated in that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification as set forth in 19 C.F.R. §102.20 and satisfies any other applicable requirements of that section.Based on the facts presented, because the aluminum panels/sheets that are imported into the U.S. are classified in subheading 7606.12.3091, HTSUS, the change in tariff classification must be made in accordance with section 102.20(n), Section XV: Chapters 72 through 83, heading 7606 - 7615, HTSUS, which requires “A change to heading 7606 through 7615 from any other heading,  including another heading within that group.” In order to satisfy the rule of origin in section 102.20(n), the non-originating material/components must meet the tariff shift requirements.Aluminum panels/sheets in coils of Chinese origin are sent to Canada where they are slit, painted, de-coiled, cut-to-size, notched on each corner and then imported into the U.S. to be made into swimming pool liners. The panels that are shipped to Canada for processing are classified in heading 7606, HTSUS. Upon importation into the U.S., this office finds that the panels/sheets have not been made into specific identifiable articles and enter the U.S. as sheets that remain classified in heading 7606, HTSUS. Therefore, the tariff shift requirement of section 102.11(a)(3) has not been met.Since the non-originating components do not meet the requisite tariff shift and an analysis of section 102.11(a) has not produced a country of origin determination, we turn to section 102.11(b) of the regulations. Section 102.11(b) states, in relevant part:Except for a good that is specifically described in the Harmonized System as a set, or is classified as a set pursuant to General Rule of Interpretation 3, where the