HQ 556743: Applicability of partial duty exemption under HTSUS subheading 9802.00.80 to veneer panels from Brazil; Sanding

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 556743

                       September 18, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:S 556743 RAH

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 9802.00.80

Mr. Ralph Ronderos
Omega Customs Brokers Inc.
P.O. Box 52-9814
Miami, FL 33152

RE:  Applicability of partial duty exemption under HTSUS
     subheading 9802.00.80 to veneer panels from Brazil; Sanding

Dear Mr. Ronderos:

     This is in reference to your letter of March 12, 1992, on
behalf of Viking International Corporation, requesting a ruling
regarding the applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), to veneer panels to
be imported from Brazil.  Your letter was forwarded to this
office for a response by our New York office. 

FACTS: 

     The merchandise to be imported into the United States is
unidirectional veneer panels consisting of a five ply viola core
with a face and back ply of birch or oak.  The viola core is of
Brazilian origin and the birch and oak veneers are of United
States origin. The veneers are sent to Brazil in sheets of 50 by
99 inches and 50 by 87 inches.  In Brazil, the veneer sheets are
glued to the front and back of the core.  The edges are then
trimmed and the front and back are sanded.  The panels will be
imported in 4 by 8 foot and 4 by 7 foot sizes.

ISSUE:

     Whether the veneer panels are entitled to the partial duty
exemption under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS.
 

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 (19 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,
lamination, 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 that component.  See, 19 CFR 10.16(c).

     In the instant case, gluing the birch or oak ply to the
front and back of the core is an acceptable assembly operation as
gluing is specifically enumerated in 19 CFR 10.16(a) as a proper
method of assembly for purposes of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS. 
Furthermore, trimming the edges (removing 2-3 inches) is
incidental pursuant to 10 CFR 10.16(b)(4) (trimming, filing, or
cutting off of small amounts of excess materials is incidental to
the assembly process).
 
     Headquarters Ruling Letter 555216 dated June 8, 1989,
concerned U.S.-origin steel door parts which were exported to
Mexico to be assembled into steel doors.  The operations in that
case involved, among other things, welding, gluing, grinding,
sanding and painting with a prime coat.  We held that the final
grinding and sanding operations to soothe out all imperfections
caused by welding and to remove excess epoxy are acceptable
operations incidental to the assembly process.  

     The sanding operation in question is not a further
fabrication of the veneer panels but is a relatively minor
operation which prepares the doors for finishing operations in
the United States (i.e., staining, lacquering, printing, etc.).  
The sanding operation is performed after the edges of the
assembled veneer panels are trimmed, which we find is reasonably
sequential.  Moreover, 19 CFR 10.14(a) specifically provides that
incidental operations may be performed after assembly of the
component parts.  

HOLDING:

     On the basis of the information submitted, it is our opinion
that gluing veneer sheets to the front and back of a five-ply
viola core constitutes an acceptable assembly operation. 
Furthermore, trimming the panels and sanding the front and back
of the veneer panels are considered incidental to the assembly
operation.  Therefore, allowances in duty may be made under
subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, for the cost or value of the U.S.-
made birch or oak plys upon return of the veneer panels to the
United States, provided the documentary requirements of 
19 CFR 10.24 are satisfied. 
                         
                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division