HQ 082694: Classification of Red Cedar "Short Boards"

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 082694

                                    April 11 1989

          CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082694 JLJ  830383

          CATEGORY: Classification

          TARIFF No.: 4418.50.0040

          Mr. Kevin R. Redl
          Secretary/Treasurer
          Anglo-American Cedar Products Ltd.
          33286 S. Railway Avenue
          Mission, British Columbia V2V 4M6
          Canada

          RE: Classification of Red Cedar "Short Boards"

          Dear Mr. Redl:

               You requested a tariff classification ruling for Western red
          cedar "short boards" imported from Canada.  You submitted samples
          of a "short board," an 18 inch shingle and an 18 inch
          "Certigroove Shake" along with your request.

          FACTS:

               The  product at issue is Western red cedar "short boards."
          The boards are 5/8 to 1-1/4 inches thick, 18 inches or 24 inches
          in length, and in random widths.  In a conversation with our New
          York office you stated that the short boards are manufactured on
          a vertical circular saw, the same equipment used to manufacture
          shingles.  The short boards are made from Western red cedar logs
          or blocks normally used to make shakes and shingles.

               The instant short boards will be used exclusively to make
          shingles.  The short boards are one step away from being complete
          shingles.  In the United States, the boards will be sawn
          diagonally across the thickness to produce two shingles per board
          (or, in some cases, four shingles).  You stated that some of the
          shingles are further manufactured into the machine grooved shakes
          known as "Certigroove Shakes."  We note that our best information
          indicates that, in the normal course of manufacturing shingles,
          short boards are not produced.  The shingles are sawn directly
          from cedar logs or blocks.


















                                         -2-


          ISSUE:

               Are the instant short boards classified as unfinished shakes
          or shingles?

          LAW AND ANALYSIS:

               The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
          Annotated (HTSUSA) replaced the Tariff Schedule of the United
          States (TSUS) on January 1, 1989.  Under General Rule of
          Interpretation 2(a), HTSUSA, "Any reference in a heading to an
          article shall be taken to include a reference to that article
          incomplete or unfinished, provided that, as entered, the
          incomplete or unfinished article has the essential character of
          the complete or finished article...."  Under predecessors to this
          rule, it has been held that where a provision contains no
          qualifying words or phrases to indicate whether or not a
          completely finished article is to be classified thereunder, it
          includes an article which has been advanced to the point where
          its use as the article provided for is made clear, or its utility
          for any other purpose has been destroyed.  Waltham Watch Co. v.
          United States, (Jaeger Watch Co. Inc., Party in Interest), 25
          CCPA 330, T.D. 49425 (1938); Oxford University Press, N.Y., Inc.
          v. United States, 20 Cust. Ct. 78, C.D. 1088 (1948); Norge
          Division Borg-Warner Corp. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 121,
          C.D. 2164 (1960); F.W. Myers & Co., Inc. v. United States, 57
          CCPA 87, C.A.D. 982 (1970).

               A thing may be classified for tariff purposes under an eo
          nomine provision for the article if that thing has been so far
          processed toward its ultimate completed form as to be dedicated
          to the making of that article or that class of articles or has
          been so far advanced beyond the stage of materials as to be
          dedicated to and commercially fit only for use as the particular
          article.  American Import Co. v. United States, 26 CCPA 72, T.D.
          49612 (1938); Finn Bros., Inc. v. United States, 59 CCPA 72,
          C.A.D. 1042 (1972); John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, 72
          Cust. Ct. 19, C.D. 4500 (1974); Avins Industrial Products Co. v.
          United States, 62 CCPA 83, C.A.D. 1150 (1975).

               In Doherty-Barrow of Texas, Inc. v. United States, 3 CIT
          228, Slip Op. 82-47 (1982), it was held that steel strip so
          advanced as to be dedicated for use in making steel cotton bale
          ties, incapable of other commercial or practical use, and
          requiring only to be cut to length, was classified as bale ties
          made from strip rather than as strip of iron or steel, since the
          individual character and identity of the merchandise had been
          fixed with certainty.













                                         -3-

               The instant short boards have been so advanced as to be
          dedicated for use in making shakes or shingles.  They are
          incapable of other commercial use and are used only to make
          shakes or shingles.  They require only diagonal sawing to make
          shingles.  The short boards meet the requirements of unfinished
          shingles and shakes.

               The short boards are classified as incomplete or unfinished
          articles which have the essential character of the finished
          shingles.  The HTSUSA subheading applicable to the short boards
          is 4418.50.0040, which provides for shingles and shakes, of red
          cedar, dutiable at the rate of 20 percent ad valorem under HTSUSA
          subheading 9903.44.10.

          HOLDING:

               The short boards are unfinished shingles and shakes.  They
          are classified in subheading 4418.50.0040, HTSUSA.

                                          Sincerely,




                                          John Durant, Director
                                          Commercial Rulings Division




































          6cc: A.D. N.Y. (NIS-230)
          1cc: John Durant
          JLJohnson:tj:typed 08/24/88