HQ 556029: Ribbons; slippers, 10.14; 10.16; 071450; 554956; 554943; 555476; 555357; L'eggs; Baylis

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 556029

                       September 10, 1991



CLA-2  CO:R:C:S  556029 DSN

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  9802.00.80

John M. Peterson, Esquire
Neville, Peterson & Williams
39 Broadway
New York, New York 10006

RE:  Ribbons; slippers, 10.14; 10.16; 071450; 554956; 554943;
     555476; 555357; L'eggs; Baylis

Dear Mr. Peterson:

     This is in response to your letters of April 16, 1991 and
July 15, 1991, on behalf of Aris Isotoner, Inc., requesting a
ruling concerning the applicability of subheading 9802.00.80,
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), to U.S.
ribbons formed into bows in the Philippines and attached to
footwear.

FACTS:

     According to your submissions, U.S.-origin fabric ribbon is
sent to the Philippines on spools where it is cut to length and
assembled onto footwear slippers by means of sewing.  Two types
of ribbons are attached to the footwear slippers in the
Philippines.

     The first method consists of cutting the U.S.-origin ribbon
to length and sewing the midpoint of the ribbon to the slipper
upper with thread.  The ribbon is then hand-tied into a bow.  The
bow is then tacked through the center to the footwear upper by a
bartacking machine.  You state the the hand-tying of the ribbons
into bows is such a minor operation that it takes a worker
approximately 35 seconds per slipper to complete.  The slipper is
then packaged and exported to the U.S.

     The second method consists of cutting U.S.-origin ribbon to
various lengths.  A "rosette", which resembles a flower, is
formed by twisting a length of ribbon measuring 5/8 inch by 7 3/4
inches, stitching the ribbon to itself, rolling it, and stitching

it again.  This process is repeated several times until it
resembles a flower, whereupon several additional lengths of
ribbon are folded in the shape of a bow and stitched onto the
rosette to form a bow with rosette.  The rosette/bow is then
attached to the slipper upper by two rows of stitching, one on
either side of the center of the rosette/bow.

ISSUE:

     Whether the formation of the bows constitutes an acceptable
assembly operation or operation incidental to assembly for
purposes of HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, provides a partial duty
exemption for:

     [a]rticles assembled abroad in whole or in part of
     fabricated components, the product of the United States
     which (a) were exported in condition ready for assembly
     without further fabrication, (b) have not lost their
     physical identity in such articles by change in form, shape,
     or otherwise, and (c) have not been advanced in value or
     improved in condition abroad except by being assembled and
     except by operations incidental to the assembly process,
     such as cleaning, lubricating and painting.

All three requirements of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, must be
satisfied before a component may receive a duty allowance.  An
article entered under this tariff provision is subject to duty
upon the full cost or value of the imported assembled article,
less the cost or value of the U.S. components assembled therein,
upon compliance with the documentary requirements of section
10.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.24).

     Section 10.14(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 10.14(a)),
states in part that:

     [t]he components must be in condition ready for assembly
     without further fabrication at the time of their exportation
     from the United States to qualify for the exemption.
     Components will not lose their entitlement to the exemption
     by being subjected to operations incidental to the assembly
     either before, during, or after their assembly with other
     components.

     Section 10.16(a), Customs Regulations (10 CFR 10.16(a)),
provides that the assembly operation performed abroad may consist

of any method used to join or fit together solid components, such
as welding, soldering, riveting, force fitting, gluing,
laminating, sewing, or the use of fasteners.

     Operations incidental to the assembly process are not
considered further fabrication operations, as they are of a minor
nature and cannot always be provided for in advance of the
assembly operations.  However, any significant process,
operation or treatment whose primary purpose is the fabrication,
completion, physical or chemical improvement of a component
precludes the application of the exemption under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUS, to the component.  See, 10 CFR 10.16(c).

     We have previously held that cutting U.S. ribbon to
appropriate lengths abroad, forming one or more pieces of ribbon
into the shape of a bow, and then tying the center of the bow
with coated or tinsel wire to secure the bow shape constitutes an
acceptable assembly or operation incidental to assembly under
subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, or item 807.00, Tariff Schedules of
the United States (the precursor provision to subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUS).  See, Headquarters Ruling Letters (HRL)
071450 of September 8, 1983, 553674 of June 14, 1985, 554956 of
April 6, 1988, and 554943 of April 18, 1988.  We have also held
in HRL 555475 of November 3, 1989, that ribbon cut to length,
wrapped twice around the middle of a coat hanger bar and base of
a hanger hook, and knotted into a bow qualified as an assembly
operation or operations incidental to assembly.  In each of these
cases, the bow formation process involved the joinder of two or
more components.  The ribbon's bow shape was secured either by
tying wire around its center or by wrapping and knotting the
ribbon to the hanger.

     In addition, we have held in HRL 555357 of February 16,
1990, that the formation of a single ribbon into a bow by
knotting the ribbon is not, in itself, an assembly operation.
That case involved cut-to-length ribbon which was placed on a bow
maker machine to form a bow which was tied to itself.  The bow
was then tacked to certain footwear prior to importation.  HRL
555357 is distinguishable from the above-cited rulings as the
single length of ribbon was the sole component which was knotted
to form a bow.  There was no joinder of two or more separate
components as required by HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80.

     In the present case, we find that the first method of
creating bows, whereby a cut-to-length ribbon is stitched to the
upper and the subsequently-formed bow is tacked through its
center to the upper, constitutes an acceptable assembly of two or
more components pursuant to 19 CFR 10.16(a).  Moreover, cutting
the ribbon to length and forming the bow qualify as operations
incidental to assembly.


     With respect to the formation of the rosette/bow, we are of
the opinion that the ribbon is exported in condition ready for
assembly without further fabrication.  Repeatedly stitching the
ribbon to itself to form the rosette constitutes an acceptable
assembly.   See HRL 555476, February 23, 1990 in which we ruled
that forming a ribbon into the shape of a rose and sewing the
ribbon rose to itself to retain its shape are acceptable
assembly operations or operations incidental thereto.

     The cases of L'eggs Products Inc. v. United States, 704 F.
Supp. 1127 (Ct. Int'l Tr. 1989); and Baylis Bros. Co. v. United
States, 64 Cust. Ct. 256, C.D. 3987 (1970, aff'd, 59 CCPA 9,
C.A.D. 1026, 451 F.2d 643 (1971), modified, 474 F.2d 1026 (1973),
also involved the use of thread as a joining agent.  The issue in
Baylis was whether certain imported dress fronts, which were
shirred or smocked abroad were eligible for item 807.00, TSUS
treatment.  The court stated that:

     ...[t]he smocking operation is well within the common
     meaning of the term 'assembly,' since the operation
     merely consists in joining the two components together
     according to the stenciled designs.  Id. at 59 CCPA at 11,
     451 F. 2d at 645.

The two components involved in the shirring operation were the
fabric and the thread.  Similarly, in L'eggs, the sewing of knit
tubes or leg blank portions of pantyhose closed by thread was
held to be an acceptable assembly operation pursuant to item
807.00, TSUS.  Thread was used to join the tube to itself by
sewing the tube ends closed.  The court held that "[s]ince the
tube closing operation joined two components together, namely
thread and fabric, it is an 'assembly' as the term was applied in
Baylis."

     Therefore, consistent with the foregoing and our previous
decisions, we find that twisting and rolling the ribbon to form
the rossette, forming a bow from additional lengths of ribbon,
stitching the bow to the rossette, and attaching the rossette/bow
to the slipper upper by sewing, constitute acceptable assembly
operations or operations incidental thereto.

HOLDING:

     On the basis of the information provided, it is our opinion
that stitching a U.S.-made ribbon to a slipper upper, forming the
ribbon into a bow and then tacking the bow to the upper
constitute acceptable assembly operations or operations
incidental to assembly.  Similarly, creating a rossette/bow by
repeatedly twisting and sewing ribbon to itself, forming the
ribbons into a bow, stitching the bow to the rossette and then
attaching the rossette/bow to the upper by sewing qualify as
acceptable assembly operations or operations incidental thereto.
Therefore, allowances in duty may be made under subheading
9802.00.80, HTSUS, for the cost or value of the U.S. ribbons,
upon compliance with the documentary requirements of 19 CFR
10.24.

                                   Sincerely,



                                   John Durant, Director
                                   Commercial Rulings Division