HQ 953995: Classification of a woven polypropylene sack; article of plaiting or textile materials; not an article of plastic; Chapter 39, Note 2(ij); Section XI, Note 1(g); plastic strips with an apparent width of over and under 5 mm; essential character; article of plaiting materials.

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 953995

                        December 29, 1993

CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 953995 ch

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  4602.90.0000

Cynthia C. Crawford, Esquire
Galland, Kharasch, Morse & Garfinkle, P.C.
Canal Square
1054 Thirty-First Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.  20007-4492

Re:  Classification of a woven polypropylene sack; article
     of plaiting or textile materials; not an article of
     plastic; Chapter 39, Note 2(ij); Section XI, Note 1(g);
     plastic strips with an apparent width of over and under
     5 mm; essential character; article of plaiting
     materials.

Dear Ms. Crawford:

     This is in response to your letter of March 5, 1993,
requesting tariff classification under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for a woven
polypropylene sack.  A sample was provided to our office for
examination.  Please reference your client, Bajaj Plastics
Limited.

FACTS:

     The subject merchandise is a sack made of woven
polypropylene strips.  It is manufactured from polypropylene
sheets which are cut into strips measuring 5.5 mm in actual
width.  These strips are then woven into material sheets.  During
the weaving process some of the weft and warp strips are reduced
in width due to crumpling and folding.  The woven material is
coated on one side with polypropylene plastic, and then is cut to
size to produce a sack of specific dimensions.  The sack's
overlap is welded by an extrusion method by plasticizing
polypropylene.  It has an open mouth and is sewn at the bottom
with polypropylene fibrillated thread.  This article is used to
package plastic resins and other materials.  

You have submitted the following information concerning the
composition of the sample at the time of importation:

               Total     Strips    Weight    Strips    Weight
               Strips    Above     Grams     Below     Grams
                         5mm                 5mm
---------------------------------------------------------------
Warp           213       182       24        31        4
                         (85.7%)             (14.3%)

Weft           140       84        17        56        11
                         (60.7%)             (39.3%)

Lamination                         27

Vertical                           2
Welding

Fibrillated                        1
Thread

ISSUE:

     Whether the polypropylene sack is classifiable under heading
3923, HTSUSA, as bags or sacks of plastics for the conveyance or
packing of goods; under heading 4602, HTSUSA, as an article made
from woven plaiting materials in sheet form provided for in
heading 4601, HTSUSA; or under heading 6305, HTSUSA, which
provides for textile sacks or bags of a kind used for the packing
of goods?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Classification of goods under the HTSUSA is governed by the
General Rules of Interpretation (GRI).  GRI 1 provides that
classification is determined first in accordance with the terms
of the headings of the tariff and any relative section or chapter
notes.  Where goods cannot be classified on the basis of GRI 1,
the remaining GRI will be applied in order.

     Subheading 6305.31, HTSUSA, provides for polypropylene sacks
and bags, of a kind used for the packing of goods.  The instant
sack is composed of polypropylene and is used for the packing of
resins and other materials.  Hence, it appears that this article
is prima facie classifiable under heading 6305.

     However, this heading is located in Section XI, HTSUSA. 
Section XI, Note 1(g) provides that Section XI does not
encompass:

     Monofilament of which any cross-sectional dimension
     exceeds 1 mm or strip or the like (for example,
     artificial straw), of an apparent width exceeding 5 mm,
     of plastics (chapter 39), or plaits or fabrics or other
     basketware or wickerwork of such monofilament or strip
     (chapter 46).  (Emphasis added).

The subject merchandise contains strips which possess apparent
widths both above and below 5 mm.  The strips with apparent
widths below 5 mm are classifiable in Section XI.  (See Section
XI, Chapter 54).  However, pursuant to Section XI, note 1(g), the
strips with apparent widths above 5 mm are not classifiable
within Section XI.  Therefore, the instant article is not
entirely composed of materials which are classifiable within
Section XI, HTSUSA.

     Section IX, Chapter 46, Note 1, HTSUSA, states in pertinent
part:

     In this Chapter the expression "plaiting materials"
     means materials in a state or form suitable for
     plaiting, interlacing or similar processes; it
     includes...monofilament and strips and the like of
     plastics and strips of paper, but not strips
     of...monofilament and strips and the like of Chapter
     54.  (Emphasis added).

     The Explanatory Notes (EN) to the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System constitute the official
interpretation of the nomenclature at the international level. 
While not legally binding, they do represent the considered views
of classification experts of the Harmonized System Committee.  It
has therefore been the practice of the Customs Service to follow,
whenever possible, the terms of the EN when interpreting the
HTSUSA.

     The General EN to Chapter 46, at page 651, provide:

          In addition to articles of loofah, this Chapter
     covers semi-manufactured products (heading 46.01) and
     certain articles (46.01 and 46.02) made by interlacing,
     weaving or by similar methods of assembling unspun
     materials, particularly:

                         *      *      *

     (3)  Monofilament and strip and the like of plastics of
     Chapter 39 (but not monofilament of which no cross-
     sectional dimension exceeds 1 mm nor strip or the like
     of an apparent width not exceeding 5 mm, of man-made
     textile materials, of Chapter 54.  (Emphasis in
     original).

Chapter 46, Note 1, when read in conjunction with the General EN
to Chapter 46 cited above, makes it clear that Section IX,
Chapter 46 encompasses strips of plastics with apparent widths
above 5 mm, suitable for plaiting or interlacing.  To the extent
that the polypropylene sack contains woven plastic strips with
apparent widths above 5 mm, it is described by Chapter 46.  More
specifically, this item is an article of heading 4602.  See
Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 952202, December 3, 1992
(polypropylene bag composed of plastic strips with apparent
widths above 5 mm is an article of heading 4602).

     As the sack is composed of plastic, we must also consider
whether it may also be classified pursuant to Section VII,
Chapter 39, HTSUSA, which encompasses plastics and articles
thereof.  Chapter 39, Note 2(ij), specifies that Chapter 39 does
not cover articles of Chapter 46.  In addition, Chapter 39, Note
2(l) provides that Chapter 39 does not cover goods of Section XI. 
As the sack is an article composed entirely of materials found in
Section XI and Chapter 46, Chapter 39 is inapplicable.

     GRI 2(b) provides that:

     Any reference in a heading to a material or substance
     shall be taken to include a reference to mixtures or
     combinations of that material or substance with other
     materials or substances.  Any reference to goods of a
     given material or substance shall be taken to include a
     reference to goods consisting wholly or partly of such
     material or substance.  The classification of goods
     consisting of more than one material or substance shall
     be according to the principles of rule 3.  

The sack is composed of a combination of two materials; i.e.
materials of Section IX, Chapter 46 and Section XI, Chapter 54,
HTSUSA.  Therefore, classification of this article shall be
determined pursuant to the principles of GRI 3.

     GRI 3(a) states that:

     The heading which provides the most specific
     description shall be preferred to headings providing a
     more general description.  However, when two or more
     headings each refer to part only of the materials or
     substances contained in mixed or composite goods or to
     part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale,
     those headings are to be regarded as equally specific
     in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a
     more complete or precise description of the goods. 

As noted above, the instant article is classifiable under two
headings of the tariff schedule based upon its material
composition.  Pursuant to GRI 3(a), these headings are to be
regarded as equally specific in relation to one another.  Hence,
we cannot classify this item on the basis of GRI 3(a).

     GRI 3(b) reads as follows:

     Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different
     materials or made up of different components, and goods
     put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be
     classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as
     if they consisted of the material or components which
     gives them their essential character, insofar as this
     criterion is applicable.

     The EN to GRI 3(b), at page 4, state in pertinent part that:

     The factor which determines essential character will
     vary as between different kinds of goods.  It may, for
     example, be determined by the nature of the material or
     component, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by
     the role of a constituent material in relation to the
     use of the goods.

     In this case, the sack is composed of two materials.  The
strips above 5 mm in apparent width are classified as plaiting
materials of Section IX, Chapter 46, and comprise 85.7 percent of
the warp and 60.7 percent of the weft of the sack.  On the other
hand, the strips which measure below 5 mm in apparent width are
classified as textile materials of Section XI, Chapter 54.  These
strips comprise 14.3 percent of the warp and 39.3 percent of the
weft of the finished article.  Based on these figures, the
surface area of the sack is predominantly of plaiting materials. 
In addition, the total number of plaiting strips (266) exceeds
the total number of textile strips (87).  Finally, the weight of
the plaiting materials (41 grams) is significantly greater than
the weight of the textile strips (15 grams).  For these reasons,
we conclude that the essential character of the polypropylene
sack is imparted by the plaiting strips.  Accordingly, the sack
shall be classified as an article made from plaiting materials.

HOLDING:

     The subject merchandise is classifiable under subheading
4602.90.0000, HTSUSA, which provides for basketwork, wickerwork
and other articles, made directly to shape from plaiting
materials or made up from articles of heading 4601; articles of
loofah:  other.  The applicable rate of duty is 5.3 percent ad
valorem.  

                         Sincerely,



                         John Durant, Director