HQ 555127: Applicability of partial duty exemption of item 806.30, TSUS, to certain steel golf clubs

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 555127

                                   October 17, 1988


            CLA-2  CO:R:C:V 555127 DBI

            CATEGORY:  Classification

            TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.60806.30, TSUS)

            Mr. Stephen G. Checkoway
            Hitchiner Manufacturing Company, Inc.
            Milford, New Hampshire  03055

            RE:         Applicability of partial duty exemption of item
                        806.30, TSUS, to certain steel golf clubs

            Dear Mr. Checkoway:

                This is in response to your letter of February 2, 1988, in
            which you request a ruling concerning the applicability of item
            806.30, Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), to
            certain U.S.-made steel golf club heads exported to Mexico for
            grinding, polishing, buffing and sandblasting, and returned to
            the U.S. for further processing.

            FACTS:

                You advise that golf club heads made at your plants in the
            U.S. will be shipped to Mexico where the gate stub will be
            removed from the head by grinding and then straightened to +/-
            1.5 degrees.  The heads will then be polished on successively
            finer belts to +/- four grams, followed by a buffing operation
            on a buffing wheel.  Parts of the heads will then be masked
            with tape and the remaining exposed areas sandblasted.  After
            the tape is removed, the heads will be cleaned in an acid
            solution and then coated with lacquer.

                The polished heads will then be returned to the U.S. where
            each head will be weighed to determine how much of the hosel
            (post) is to be cut off for balancing to final swing weight.
            Following the determined amount of cutting, the heads will then
            be attached to the shafts with epoxy glue and oven cured.
            After any necessary cosmetic repair of the shafts, the grips
            will be installed, followed by cleaning and boxing.

                Samples were submitted for examination.

            ISSUE:

                Whether the described steel golf club heads, when returned
            to the U.S., will be eligible for the partial duty exemption of
            item 806.30, TSUS (9802.00.60, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of












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            the United States (HTSUS)).

            LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                Under item 806.30, TSUS, articles of metal (except precious
            metal) manufactured in the U.S. or subjected to a process of
            manufacture in the U.S., if exported for further processing,
            and if the exported article as processed outside the U.S., or
            the article which results from the processing outside the U.S.,
            is returned to the U.S. for further processing, may be entered
            with duty on the cost or value of the processing abroad upon
            compliance with section 10.9, Customs Regulations (19 CFR
            10.9).

                We have previously held that for the purposes of item
            806.30, TSUS, the term "further processing" has reference to
            processing that changes the shape of the metal or imparts new
            and different characteristics which become an integral part of
            the metal itself and which did not exist in the metal before
            processing.  Thus, further processing includes machining,
            grinding, drilling, threading, punching, forming, plating, and
            the like, but does not include painting or the mere assembly of
            finished parts by bolting, welding, etc.  C.S.D. 84-89, 18
            Cust. Bull. 957 (1983).

                In this respect, the described process of grinding the gate
            stubs in Mexico permanently changes the shape of the metal.
            Therefore, the grinding constitutes sufficient treatment to
            comply with the foreign processing requirements.

                In Intelex Systems, Inc. v. United States, 59 CCPA 138,
            C.A.D. 1055, 460 F.2d 1083 (1972), the court said that the
            expression "returned to the United States for further
            processing" means "that the article processed abroad and
            returned to the United States is no more than an advanced
            material or article which will be subjected to further
            manufacturing processes in the United States to get a complete
            article."  In this case, the golf club heads are advanced
            abroad by grinding, polishing and sandblasting, and are
            returned to the U.S. for further cutting and the attachment of
            the shaft.  The described domestic processes would appear to
            comply with the requirements of item 806.30, TSUS, since such
            operations are a necessary further fabrication that finish the
            complete articles desired by customers, namely the golf clubs.

            HOLDING:

                On the basis of the information and samples submitted, it
            is our opinion that the foreign grinding, and the cutting
            performed in the U.S., constitute "further processing" as that












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            term is used in item 806.30, TSUS, thereby entitling the
            returned golf club heads to classification under that tariff
            provision, upon compliance with section 10.9, Customs
            Regulations (19 CFR 10.9).

                                      Sincerely,






                                       John Durant
                                       Director, Commercial
                                       Rulings Division

















































            CLA-2  CO:R:C:V:DBI:MM:9/29/88