HQ 555566: Applicability of partial duty exemption of subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, to stainless steel trim for simulated automotive convertible tops imported from Mexico

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 555566

                           May 1, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:V  555566 KAC

CATEGORY:  CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.50

Mr. John W. Cain
Cain Customs Brokers Incorporated
421 Texano
P.O. Box 150
Hidalgo, Texas  78557

RE:  Applicability of partial duty exemption of subheading
     9802.00.50, HTSUS, to stainless steel trim for simulated
     automotive convertible tops imported from Mexico

Dear Mr. Cain:

     This is in response to your letter of January 6, 1990, on
behalf of Earl Pilling, dba Pilling's F.R.P., requesting a ruling
on the applicability of subheading 9802.00.50, Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), to stainless steel trim
to be imported from Mexico for use with simulated automotive
convertible tops.

FACTS:

     Pilling will send U.S.-origin 8 or 10 foot length stainless
steel bars to Mexico for foreign operations.  The bars will be
sanded to remove pitting, cut to various lengths, buffed, bent to
conform to the shape of a convertible top, and then holes will be
punched in the bar.  The bar is buffed once again before it is
returned to the U.S., where it will be attached to convertible
tops as decorative trim.

ISSUE:

     Whether the operations performed on the U.S.-origin
stainless steel bars in Mexico will entitle the trim to the
partial duty exemption in subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, when
returned to the U.S.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, provides for the assessment of
duty on the value of repairs or alterations performed on articles
returned to the U.S. after having been exported for that purpose.
However, the application of this tariff provision is precluded in
circumstances where the operations performed abroad destroy the
identity of the articles or create new or commercially different

articles.  See, A.F. Burstrom v. United States, 44 CPU 27, C.A.D.
631 (1956), aff'g, C.D. 1752, 36 Cust.Ct. 46 (1956); Guardian
Industries Corporation v. United States, 3 CIT 9 (1982), Slip Op.
82-4 (Jan. 5, 1982).  Subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, treatment is
also precluded where the exported articles are incomplete for
their intended use and the foreign processing operation is a
necessary step in the preparation or manufacture of finished
articles.  Dolliff & Company, Inc. v. United States, 81 Cust.Ct.
1, C.D. 4755, 455 F.Supp. 618 (1978), aff'd, 66 CPU 77, C.A.D.
1225, 599 F.2d 1015 (1979).

     We have previously held in Headquarters Ruling Letter
555417 dated January 22, 1990, that bending operations performed
on rebars exceeded an alteration and constituted a manufacturing
process, as the bending of metal is generally regarded as a
forming operation, intended to cause permanent deformation of the
material.  With regard to the facts you have provided and based
on our previous ruling, we are of the opinion that the foreign
operations exceed alterations under HTSUS subheading 9802.00.50.
The exported stainless steel bars are not complete for their
intended use as trim for automobile convertible tops.  They must
undergo various foreign operations, including a bending process,
to manufacture them into finished automotive convertible trim.

HOLDING:

     On the basis of the information submitted, it is our opinion
that the foreign operations constitute a process of manufacture
and not an alteration, within the meaning of subheading
9802.00.50, HTSUS.  Accordingly, the stainless steel trim will
not be eligible for the partial duty exemption available under
this tariff provision when returned to the U.S.


                              Sincerely,



                              Jerry Laderberg
                              Acting Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division