HQ 086561: Watch Folder

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 086561

                          June 12, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 086561  WAW

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  6307.90.9050

Peter J. Fitch, Esq.
Fitch, King and Caffentzis
116 John Street
New York, N.Y.  10038

RE:  Watch Folder

Dear Mr. Fitch:

     This letter is in response to your inquiry, dated January
31, 1990, on behalf of your client, Jewelpak Corporation,
regarding the tariff classification of a flocked watch pouch or
folder under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
Annotated (HTSUSA).  A sample of the article was submitted along
with your request.

FACTS:

     The sample article is described as a pouch or folder for a
wrist watch.  The folder measures approximately 9 inches long by
5 inches wide when it is open.  When folded, it is approximately
2-1/2 inches wide.  The exterior consists of a flocked man-made
fabric which is covered with a vinyl material.  The vinyl backing
is visible only upon opening the folder and pulling the back flap
away from the folder.  Two corners of the outside flap have metal
protectors attached.  The sample merchandise will be imported
from China.

     Your letter indicates that these articles are sold to
jewelry stores, and are used as point of purchase packaging for
watches, or for other articles of jewelry.  You maintain that
goods such as these are not intended to be reused, nor are they
the kind of article which is normally carried in the purse or
pocket.  Rather, you claim that they are usually disposed of
after the merchandise has been carried home from the store by the
purchaser.  Accordingly, it is your position that the sample
articles are not of a kind or similar to those enumerated in
Heading 4202, HTSUSA.

ISSUE:

     Whether the sample article is classified under Heading 4202,
HTSUSA, as a jewelry box, or under Heading 6307, HTSUSA, as an
other made up article of textiles, or rather under Heading 3926,
HTSUSA, as an other article of plastics.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) set forth the
manner in which merchandise is to be classified under the HTSUSA.
GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according
to the terms of the headings of the tariff and any relative
section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required,
according to the remaining GRI's, taken in order.  The three
headings at issue in this case are the following:

          (a) 4202, traveling bags, toiletry bags,
          knapsacks and backpacks, handbags, shopping
          bags, wallets, purses, map cases, cigarette
          cases, tobacco pouches, tool bags, sports
          bags, bottle cases, jewelry boxes, powder
          cases, cutlery cases and similar containers

          (b) 6307, Other made up articles, including
          dress patterns

          (c) 3926, Other articles of plastics and
          articles of other materials of headings 3901
          to 3914

     Heading 4202, HTSUSA, refers to items designed or fitted to
hold, protect or store particular goods (e.g., maps, cigarettes,
bottles or jewelry).  Jewelry boxes of Heading 4202, therefore,
must be designed or specially fitted for holding and storing
jewelry.  Furthermore, the articles included in Heading 4202 are
of a class of goods which are suitable for repeated, long-term
use.  Thus, jewelry boxes of Heading 4202, HTSUSA, must be of
substantial construction such that they can be used for long-term
storage of jewelry.

     In the instant case, the watch folder is the type of premium
packaging which is given to the purchaser at the point of sale.
The container is primarily designed for temporary transportation
and storage of an article of jewelry after purchase and up until
the time of first use.  It is not specially designed or fitted
for a particular item of jewelry, nor is it suitable for long-
term use.  Thus, in our opinion the term "jewelry box" as set out
in Heading 4202, HTSUSA, does not include the sample article.

     In HRL 086377, dated February 14, 1990, Customs classified a
similar article of merchandise under subheading 6307.90.9050,
HTSUSA.  The article at issue in HRL 086377 consisted of a
flocked man-made textile ring folder used as retail packaging at
the point of purchase.  Customs held that this article did not
satisfy the requirements of a jewelry box under Heading 4202,
HTSUSA, and was more properly classified as an other made up
article under Heading 6307, HTSUSA.  Since we have ruled out
classification of the article under Heading 4202, HTSUSA, the
issue we are asked to address is whether the article is more
accurately described as an other made up article of textile
material under Heading 6307 or whether it is an other article of
plastic material under Heading 3926.

     The sample article is a composite good composed in part of a
textile man-made material and in part of a plastics material.
Composite goods are classified by reference to GRI's 2 and 3.
Under GRI 2, any reference to a material or an article made of a
material includes goods made wholly or in part of that material.
GRI 2(b), HTSUSA, provides in pertinent part that "[t]he
classification of goods consisting of more than one material or
substance shall be according to the principles of GRI 3."

     GRI 3, HTSUSA, provides in pertinent part:

     When, by application of Rule 2(b) or for any other
     reason, goods are, prima facie classifiable under two
     or more headings, classification shall be effected as
     follows:

          (a) The heading which provides the most
          specific description shall be preferred to
          headings providing a more general
          description.  However, when two or more
          headings each refer to part only of the
          materials or substances contained in mixed or
          composite goods or to part only of the items
          in a set put up for retail sale, those
          headings are to be regarded as equally
          specific in relation to those goods, even if
          one of them gives a more complete or precise
          description of the goods.

     Since the textile material and the plastics material fall
under separate headings in the tariff schedule which describe
only a portion of the components in the entire watch folder, the
headings are to be regarded as equally specific under GRI 3(a).
Therefore, GRI 3(a) fails in establishing classification, and GRI
3(b) becomes applicable.

     GRI 3(b) states in pertinent part:

          (b) Mixtures, composite goods consisting of
          different materials or made up of different
          components, and goods put up in sets for
          retail sale, which cannot be classified by
          reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if
          they consisted of the material or component
          which gives them their essential character,
          insofar as this criterion is applicable.

     The Explanatory Notes to GRI 3(b) indicate that in
determining essential character each case involves an individual
evaluation of such factors as weight, value, bulk,
marketability, etc.  The sample at issue here is a composite
good which should be classifiable as a product of textile or
plastic, depending upon which of these materials gives the
product its essential character.  If no determination of
essential character can be made, then classification will be
under the competing HTSUSA provision which appears last in the
nomenclature, pursuant to GRI 3(c).

HOLDING:

     The sample article will either be classified as an other
made up article of textile material or as an other article of
plastic depending upon the component material which provides the
essential character.  However, without a breakdown of the
constituent materials of the watch folder according to its
weight, value, etc. in this case, we are unable to provide a
final classification of the merchandise.

                                   Sincerely,




                                   John Durant, Director
                                   Commercial Rulings Division