HQ 083781: Classification of a woman's jacket

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                                        HQ 083781

                                     March 10, 1989


             CLA-2 CO:R:C:G   083781 PR

             CATEGORY:  Classification

             TARIFF NOS: TSUSA 376.5612; TSUSA 384.9152

             Stephen M. Zelman, Esquire
             Siegel, Mandell & Davidson, P.C.
             One Whitehall Street
             New York, New York 10004

             RE:  Classification of a woman's jacket

             Dear Mr. Zelman:

                 This is in reply to your letter of April 18, 1988, on
             behalf of Amerex of California, concerning the classification
             of certain women's jackets.

             FACTS:

                 The lightweight garment you submitted is a waist length
             jacket with a full front opening secured with metal snaps.  It
             has long sleeves with elasticized cuffs, a pointed collar, a
             vertical inserted pocket on each front quarter panel near the
             bottom of the garment, a drawstring waist, and a woven cotton
             lining.  The woven man-made fiber outer shell fabric is stated
             to be coated with plastics on the inner surface; however,
             there is no visible evidence of such a coating.  No claim is
             made, nor is there any evidence of plastics having been added
             to the outer shell fabric in the form of a lamination.

                 The importer submitted a swatch of fabric to the Area
             Director, New York Seaport, for a ruling on its
             classification.  The Area Director, in NYRL 822951, of April
             22, 1988, ruled that the submitted fabric was coated or filled
             with plastics for tariff purposes and classifiable, when
             imported in fabric form, in item 355.8220, Tariff Schedules of
             the United States Annotated (TSUSA).  Subsequently, the
             importer entered jackets under the provision for garments
             designed for rainwear or similar uses, wholly or almost wholly
             of fabrics that have been coated or filled with rubber or
             plastics, in item 376.5612, TSUSA.  Those jackets were stated
             to have an outer shell made from the same fabric as that ruled
             upon in NYRL 822951,














                                          - 2 -




                 A sample was taken from the shipment and examined by the
             two principal National Import Specialists in New York who are
             concerned with coated or filled fabrics.  Both concluded that
             the outershell fabric of the imported jackets was not the same
             fabric as that ruled upon in NYRL 822951.

                 The importer, through its attorney representative,
             maintains that the two fabrics are the same--that they were
             manufactured by the same manufacturer according to the same
             specifications; although it is admitted that the two fabrics
             did not come from the same roll.

             ISSUE:

                 The issue presented is whether the ruling issued by the
             Area Director, New York Seaport, requires that the instant
             merchandise be classified in item 376.5612.

             LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                 This office has independently compared a swatch of the
             fabric that was the subject of NYRL 822951 with the outer
             shell fabric of the sample submitted by the importer's
             representative.  Using magnification solely for the purpose of
             determining whether the two fabrics are sufficiently similar
             to warrant sending them to a Customs laboratory for a report
             on their degree of similarity, we are convinced that, at a
             minimum, each fabric has a noticeably different amount of
             plastics applied.

                 Since the garments are not made of the same fabric as that
             previously ruled upon, we need not comment on the propriety of
             relying on a ruling concerning the classification of fabric
             when importing garments.

                 In determining the classification of the submitted sample,
             we have examined the outer shell fabric and are unable to
             detect any visible evidence of the presence of a plastics
             coating or filling.  Accordingly, the sample garment cannot be
             classified under 376.5612, which requires that it be wholly or
             almost wholly of fabrics that have been coated or filled with
             rubber or plastics.

















                                          - 3 -


             HOLDING:

                 The ruling issued by the Area Director, New York Seaport,
             NYRL 822951, has no application to the sample jacket.  That
             garment is classifiable, if in chief value of man-made fibers
             and imported prior to January 1, 1989, under the TSUSA
             provision for women's coats, of man-made fibers, not
             ornamented and not knit, in item 384.9152, and under textile
             category 635.

                                           Sincerely,




                                           John Durant, Director
                                           Commercial Rulings Division