HQ 951601: Modification of NYRL 864870; glass candy shaped ornaments; lampworking; blow lamp; blow-pipe; glass blowing; free- blowing; subheading 7013.99.50; General Explanatory Note (H) to Chapter 70; Explanatory Note (G) to heading 7018;

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 951601

                           May 4, 1992



CLA-2 CO:R:C:M 951601  NLP

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.: 7018.90.50

Ms. Virginia Miller
Virginia A. Miller & Company, Inc.
15700 Export Plaza, Suite Z
P.O. Box 60414
Houston, Texas 77205

RE:  Modification of NYRL 864870; glass candy shaped ornaments;
     lampworking; blow lamp; blow-pipe; glass blowing; free-
     blowing; subheading 7013.99.50; General Explanatory Note
     (H) to Chapter 70; Explanatory Note (G) to heading 7018;

Dear Ms. Miller:

     On July 22, 1991, Customs issued New York Ruling Letter
(NYRL) 864870 in response to your letter, dated June 24, 1991.
NYRL 864870 dealt with the classification of glass candy shaped
ornaments under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTSUS).  The following ruling is a modification of NYRL
864870.

FACTS:

     The articles at issue are glass candy shaped ornaments.  The
glass piece that you submitted was red with white stripes and the
twisted wrapper ends were clear giving the appearance of
cellophane.  The item was approximately two inches in length.
The glass pieces were produced by a glassworker who took glass
rods and softened them over an open flame.  When the glass
reached its proper softness it was shaped into the desired
design.

     In NYRL 864870, Customs classified these glass pieces in
subheading 7013.99.50, HTSUS, which provides for glassware of a
kind used for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration
or similar purposes (other than that of heading 7010 or 7018),
other glassware, other, other, other, valued over $0.30 but not
over $3 each.  The corresponding rate of duty for articles of
this subheading is 30% ad valorem.




ISSUE:

     Are the glass pieces classified as other glassware in
subheading 7013.99.50, HTSUS, or as ornaments of lamp-worked
glass in subheading 7018.90.50, HTSUS?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by
the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's), taken in order.  GRI
1 provides that classification shall be determined according to
the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter
notes.  In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely
on the basis of GRI 1, and if the headings and legal notes do not
otherwise require, the remaining GRI's may be applied, taken in
order.

     Heading 7013, HTSUS, provides for glassware of a kind used
for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar
purposes (other than that of heading 7010 or 7018).  Heading
7018, HTSUS, provides for, inter alia, statuettes and other
ornaments of lamp-worked glass.  Therefore, if the subject pieces
are considered to be lamp-worked glass, they would not be
classified in heading 7013, HTSUS, but in heading 7018, HTSUS.

     The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
(HCDCS) General Explanatory Note (H) to Chapter 70, page 926,
states that lampworking is performed with the aid of a blow
lamp, for the manufacture of ampoules, fancy articles, etc., from
glass rod or tubing.  HCDCS Explanatory Note (G) to heading
7018, page 942, provides the following:

     (G)  Statuettes and other ornaments (other than imitation
          jewellery) obtained by working glass in the pasty state
          with a blow-pipe.  These articles are designed for
          placing on shelves (animals, plants, statuettes, etc.).
          They are generally made of clear glass (lead crystal,
          strass, etc.) or "enamel" glass.

     The HCDCS Explanatory Notes constitute the Customs
Cooperation Council's official interpretation of the Harmonized
System.  They provide a commentary on the scope of each heading
of the Harmonized System and are thus useful in ascertaining the
classification of merchandise under the system.  While the
Explanatory Notes should be consulted for guidance, they should
not be treated as dispositive.  H. Conf. Rep. No. 576, 100th
Cong., 2d Sess., 549, reprinted in 1988 U.S CODE CONG. & ADMIN.
NEWS 1582; 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128, August 23, 1989.
Therefore, though the glass pieces are not obtained by working



glass in the pasty state with a blow-pipe, after reviewing
various definitions and discussions on glass shaping and the
tools involved, they are not necessarily eliminated from
classification as lamp-worked ornaments.

     Blow-pipes are most often used in the glass forming process
called "glass blowing" or "free-blowing", rather than in
lampworking.  A blow-pipe is defined as a long narrow iron pipe
used to gather, work, and blow molten glass.  Webster's II New
Riverside University Dictionary, 1984.  The McGraw-Hill
Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, Volume 2, defines a
blowpipe in the following manner:

          In glass blowing, a long straight tube on which molten
          glass is gathered and worked, partly by blowing into
          the tube.  The blowpipe is spun to shape the glass
          object further by centrifugal force, or by a tool, in
          which case the blowpipe acts as a spindle for turning.

     In Two Hundred Years of American Blown Glass, by Helen and
George S. McKearin, Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1950, on page 2, it
states the following:

          That basic tool, the blowpipe, etc..., has been
     attributed to the Sidonians.  Then, as today, gathering a
     glob of molten viscous metal on the end of this hollow tube,
     the blower would inflate it, extending the resulting bubble
     to the size desired.  With a simple tonglike spring tool he
     would fashion the bubble into the shape he envisioned.  We
     call this process free-blowing.

In addition, in Flameworking- Glassmaking for the Craftsman, by
Frederic Schuler, Chilton Book Company, the technique of free-
blowing is discussed on page 7:

          Free-blowing (or offhand blowing) is more difficult,
     requiring rather elaborate and expensive facilities.  This
     technique was invented around 50 B.C. (glassmaking was
     already 1500 years old then).  The glass is manipulated at
     the end of a hollow iron pipe (the blowpipe or blowiron),
     which is about four feet long.  Molten glass is made within
     a refractory container in a furnace, either by remelting
     marbles of chunks of glass, or by fusing together the raw
     materials that form glass.  The fluid glass is wound upon or
     "gathered" on the tip of the hollow iron pipe.  It is then
     shaped and manipulated, inflated, tooled, sheared, and spun
     out or forced in, etc....

     As has been explained above, a blow-pipe is associated with
the technique of glass-blowing/free-blowing.  Therefore, the
fact that the glass pieces are not worked in the pasty shape by a

blow-pipe is not dispositive of whether they are lamp-worked or
not.  Thus, it must be determined whether they are in fact made
by the lamp-worked process.

     The dictionary definition of lampworking states that it is
the process of fashioning objects from glass tubing and cane
softened to workability over the flame of a small lamp.  The
definition states that it should be compared with glassblowing,
which is defined as an art of shaping a mass of glass by
inflating it through a tube after the glass has been heated to a
viscid state.  Webster's Third New International Dictionary.

     In Flameworking-Glassmaking for the Craftsman, Frederic
Schuler writes the following regarding lampworking, on page 7:

          This book will concentrate on flameworking techniques,
     but will describe both flameworking and free-blowing.  The
     technique of flameworking, or reheating glass rod or tubing
     or other pieces of glass, was once called "lampworking."
     This method was used as early as 1660 to shape microscope
     lenses; the simple burners were derived form small oil
     lamps.  With this technique, the glass was heated in a
     relatively small area where pieces were to be sealed,
     enlarged, or changed in some manner.  The cool ends of the
     glass were held in the hands, which controlled the rotation
     and position of the fluid central portion.  Today, with a
     simple workbench, a few tools, and burner which uses gas
     with oxygen or air, this procedure shapes marvelous jewels
     of glass in a direct manner.

In Phaidon Guide to Glass, by Felice Mehlman, lampworking is
defined as follows on page 13:

          Working at the lamp
          For making small glass objects such as toys,
          trinkets and beads, the craftsman would work "at the
          lamp", where rods of annealed glass could be heated in
          the concentrated flame of an oil lamp (or later, a
          Bunsen burner) and shaped by tools.

     It is our position that lampworking should be defined by
the technique and the types of equipment used.  Given the variety
of forms a "blow lamp" may now take, if a glassworker softens
glass rods and manipulates them over an oil lamp, a bunsen burner
or any other "lamp" producing a hot flame, this method of glass
shaping should be considered "working at the lamp".  Thus, based
on the information presented regarding the method used to make
these pieces, they are made by the lampworking process.
Accordingly, they are classified in heading 7018, HTSUS.  More
specifically, the pieces are classified in subheading 7018.90.50,
HTSUS.

HOLDING:

     NYRL 864870 is modified pursuant to section 177.9, Customs
Regulations (19 CFR 177.9), to provide that the glass candy
shaped ornaments are classified in subheading 7018.90.50, HTSUS.


                                   Sincerely,



                                   John Durant, Director
                                   Commercial Rulings Division