HQ 555857: Christmas stockings packaged in Mexico; Carr, Superscope

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 555857

                         March 20, 1991

CLA-2 CO:R:C:S  555857 DSN

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  9801.00.10, HTSUS

Mr. Richard G. Seley
Rudolph Miles & Sons
4950 Gateway East
P.O. Box 144
El Paso, Texas 79942

RE:  Christmas stockings packaged in Mexico; Carr,
     Superscope

Dear Mr. Seley:

     This is in response to your letter of January 22, 1991, on
behalf of Holiday Products, Inc., requesting a ruling on the
applicability of subheading 9801.00.10, Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States, (HTSUS) to U.S.-made Christmas
stockings packaged in Mexico and returned to the U.S.  Samples
were submitted with your request.

FACTS:

     Your client intends to manufacture finished Christmas
stockings in the U.S. and send the stockings to Mexico for
packaging.  Upon leaving the U.S. the Christmas stockings will be
turned inside out.  In Mexico, as part of the packaging
operation the stockings will be turned right side out.

ISSUE:

     Whether the "turning right side out" of the stockings in
Mexico advances the value or improves the condition of the
stockings within the meaning of subheading 9801.00.10, HTSUS.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9801.00.10, HTSUS, provides for the free entry of
products of the U.S. that have been exported and returned without
having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any
process of manufacture or other means while abroad, provided the
documentary requirements of section 10.1, Customs Regulations (19
CFR 10.1), are met.

     In United States v. John V. Carr & Sons, Inc., 69 Cust. Ct.
78, C.D. 4377, 347 F.Supp. 1390 (1972), aff'd 61 CCPA 52, C.A.D.
1118, 496 F.2d 1225 (1974), the court stated that absent some
alteration or change in the item itself, the mere repackaging of
the item, even for retail sale, will not preclude free entry of
the merchandise under item 800.00, Tariff Schedules of the United
States (TSUS) (the precursor provision to subheading 9801.00.10,
HTSUS).

     Moreover, in Superscope, Inc. v. United States, 13 CIT ____,
727 F.Supp. 629 (CIT 1989), the court held that certain glass
panels of U.S. origin that were exported, repacked abroad with
certain foreign components, and returned to the U.S. as part of
unassembled audio cabinets, were entitled to free entry under
item 800.00, TSUS, since the U.S. panel portion of the imported
article was "not advanced in value or improved in condition ...
while abroad, but (was) merely repacked."

     The turning of the stockings to the right side in Mexico
does not change the fact that when the stockings leave the U.S.
they are finished products of U.S.-origin.  The turning procedure
is merely a step in the packaging operation which does not
improve the condition or advance in value the stockings.  Thus,
in view of the Carr and Superscope cases, we believe that the
Christmas stockings are entitled to free entry under subheading
9801.00.10, HTSUS, when returned to the U.S., since they are
products of the U.S. which are merely packaged abroad.

HOLDING:

     The U.S.-origin Christmas stockings are entitled to duty-
free treatment under subheading 9801.00.10, HTSUS, upon
compliance with the documentary requirements of 19 CFR 10.1.

                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division