HQ 085609: Fabric for automobile seat covers, where imported cut toshape, are parts of seats. Motor vehicle

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 085609

                               February 2, 1990




CLA-2 CO:R:C:G  085609  HP

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  9401.90.1000

Mr. H. J. Henderson
Attorney-In-Fact
Cortez Customhouse Brokerage Company
4950 West Dickman Road
Battle Creek, MI 49015

RE:  Fabric for automobile seat covers, where imported cut to
shape, are parts of seats.  Motor vehicle

Dear Mr. Henderson:

     This is in reply to your letters of November 30, 1988,
January
10, 1989, March 21, 1989, and September 19, 1989, concerning the
tariff classification of cut seat parts, produced in the United
Kingdom, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States
Annotated (HTSUSA).  We apologize for the delay.  Please
reference
your client Courtaulds Automotive Products.

FACTS:

     The merchandise at issue consists of 100% polyester knit
fabric intended for use in automobile seats.  The sample is
rectangular in shape.

ISSUE:

     Whether the fabric is considered seat parts under the HTSUSA
?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Heading 9401, HTSUSA, provides for seats.  The Explanatory
Notes (EN) to the HTSUSA constitute the official interpretation
of
the tariff at the international level.  The EN to this heading
states:

     The heading also covers identifiable
parts of chairs or other seats, such as backs,
bottoms and armrests (whether or not upholst
ered with straw of cane, stuffed or sprung),
and spiral springs assembled for seat upholst
ery.
     In ORR Ruling 418-69 of November 10, 1969, we noted that
fabric panels which are "patterned so as to be limited to use as
parts of furniture," are classifiable as parts.  Although our
sample is cut into a nondescript rectangle, you stated, in a May
16, 1989 telephonic conversation with this office, that the
fabric
is cut to the ultimate consignee's specifications prior to
importation into a Foreign-Trade Zone.  It is our opinion,
therefore, that the fabric at importation is clearly identifiable
as designed for seat covers.

HOLDING:

     As a result of the foregoing, the instant merchandise is
classified under subheading 9401.90.1000, HTSUSA, as seats (other
than those of heading 9402), whether or not convertible into beds
,
and parts thereof, parts, of seats of a kind used for motor
vehicles.  The applicable rate of duty is 3.1 percent ad valorem.


                                  Sincerely,


                             John Durant, Director
                          Commercial Rulings Division