HQ 082660: Plastic Patient Bedside Bags

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 082660

                        February 23, 1990


CLA-2  CO:R:C:G  082660  JBW  830839

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.:  3923.21.0050

Mr. William J. Marston
U. S. Carriage International, Inc.
11938 Waveland Avenue
Franklin Park, IL 60131

RE:  Plastic Patient Bedside Bags

Dear Mr. Marston:

          Your letter of June 16, 1988, on behalf of Cypress
Medical Products, addressed to our New York office, has been
referred to this office for reply concerning the classification
of plastic patient bedside bags under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).

FACTS:

          The sample submitted is a bag, measuring 30 by 17
centimeters, constructed of thin gauge, high density polyethylene
plastic.  The bags have adhesive labels to attach the bags to the
rails of a hospital bed.  Hospital patients may use the bag
either to store personal belongings or to transport their
belongings home.  The bags are also suitable for use as
disposable trash bags.

ISSUE:

          What is the classification under the HTSUSA of a thin
plastic bag designed for use by hospital patients for storage or
transportation of personal belongings or as a trash bag?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

          The General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's) set forth
the legal framework in which merchandise is to be classified
under the HTSUSA.  GRI 1 requires that classification be
determined first according to the terms of the headings of the
tariff and any relative section or chapter notes and, unless
otherwise required, according to the remaining GRI's.

          Subheading 3923.21, HTSUSA, includes articles of
plastic for the conveyance or packing of goods, sacks and bags.
This subheading includes plastic bags designed to hold or to
transport sundry items.  The Explanatory Notes, which provide the
official interpretation of the HTSUSA at the international level,
include under this heading "refuse sacks."  Thus, if the patient
bedside bag is used for storage or transportation of personal
belongings or as a trash bag, then it will fall within the terms
of subheading 3923.21, HTSUSA.

HOLDING:

          The patient bedside bag is classified under subheading
3923.21.0050, HTSUSA, as an article for the conveyance or packing
of goods, of plastic, sacks or bags, of polymers of ethylene,
other.  The duty for this item is 3 percent ad valorem.



                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division