HQ 084337: Tariff classification of a combination holder, telephone and address book, calendar, memorandum pad and pen

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 084337

                                   October 23, 1989

            CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 084337 JLJ 839579

            CATEGORY: Classification

            TARIFF NO.: 4202.32.2000

            Mr. Robert D. Stang
            Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz & Silverman
            12 East 49th Street
            New York, New York 10017

            RE:  Tariff classification of a combination holder, telephone
                 and address book, calendar, memorandum pad and pen

            Dear Mr. Stang:

                 You requested tariff classifications for a Super Planner
            Style R 7057 and a Mini Planner Style R 5087 on behalf of your
            client, RGA Accessories.  You submitted samples of both items,
            as well as an empty Super Planner.  Your associate, Harold
            Grunfeld, attended a conference at Customs Headquarters
            concerning these planners.  You made an additional submission
            dated October 4, 1989.

            FACTS:

                 The Super Planner is a number of items fitted into a
            holder with a plastic exterior.  The holder looks like a wallet
            and has a snap clasp.  When it is empty, it has room for a
            notebook or traveller's checks.  It also has a billfold and a
            sewn-in plastic credit card case.  Within this wallet-like
            holder are an address book, a calendar, a memorandum pad and a
            pen.  The address book, the calendar and the memorandum pad are
            all of paper.  The Mini Planner has the same features as the
            Super Planner, but it is smaller than the Super Planner.

            ISSUE:

                 For tariff classification purposes, does the instant
            combination article constitute goods put up in a set for retail
            sale under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
            Annotated (HTSUSA)?


















                                          -2-


            LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                 General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 3(b), HTSUSA, states
            that goods put up in sets for retail sale shall be classified
            as if they consisted of the material or component which gives
            them their essential character.  The Explanatory Notes for GRI
            3(b), HTSUSA, define the term "goods put up in sets for retail
            sale" to mean goods which:

                      (1)  consist of at least two different
                           articles which are, prima facie,
                           classifiable in different headings,

                      (2)  consist of products or articles put
                           up together to meet a particular need
                           or carry out a specific activity, and

                      (3)  are put up in a manner suitable for
                           sale directly to users without repacking
                           (e.g., in boxes or cases or on boards).

                 The first qualification is easily met inasmuch as the
            address book of paper and the memorandum pad of paper would be
            --if imported separately--classified in Heading 4820, HTSUSA,
            which provides for registers, account books, notebooks, order
            books, receipt books, letter pads, memorandum pads, diaries and
            similar articles...of paper, while the ball point pen would be
            classified under Heading 9608, which provides for ball point
            pens, among other things.

                 The second criterion is also met in that the articles put
            up together are all intended to help the owner organize his
            activities --i.e., a calendar, an address book, a memorandum
            pad, a pen with which to record addresses and notes, and a
            convenient wallet-like holder, with a holder for pictures or
            cards permanently attached,  which packages the other items.

                 The third and final element of retail sets is also present
            in that the other articles are packaged in a holder with a snap
            clasp which constitutes a package suitable for sale directly to
            users.  We find, therefore, that the instant combination
            article constitutes goods put up in a set for retail sale.



















                                          -3-


                 The next question to be determined is the essential
            character of the set.  The Explanatory Notes state that a set's
            essential character may be determined by the nature of the
            component, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or by the role
            of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.
            Clearly the only applicable criterion here is the role of the
            component article in relation to the overall purpose of the
            set.  Viewed in this light, it is clear that the essential
            character of the set is determined by the wallet-like container
            which packages the set in a convenient form and which pulls all
            the components together.  The set as a whole is therefore
            either classifiable in the provision for wallets and similar
            containers, of plastic sheeting: articles of a kind normally
            carried in the pocket or in the handbag: with outer surface of
            plastic sheeting or of textile materials: with outer surface of
            plastic sheeting: of reinforced or laminated plastics, in
            subheading 4202.32.1000, HTSUSA, if of reinforced or laminated
            plastics, or in subheading 4202.32.2000, HTSUSA, if of other
            plastics, because the essential character of the set lies in
            the wallet-like container.

                 You argue that the set must be classified in Heading 4820,
            which provides for the address book and the memorandum pad, and
            you cite New York letter 832003 of October 6, 1988, in support
            of this classification.  We note that both the address book and
            the memorandum pads are small refillable items which are not
            permanent and which do not impart the essential character as
            does the wallet-like container.  We further note that the
            merchandise at issue in New York letter 832003 was a leather
            covered loose-leaf binder filled with paper inserts.  The
            looseleaf binder did not constitute the essential character of
            the set.

                 You also argue that the wallet-like container should be
            classified as a specially shaped container pursuant to General
            Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 5(a), HTSUSA, and that it should
            be classified with the articles it contains.  The instant
            wallet-like container is more than a mere container.  It is a
            separate entity and constitutes the essential character of the
            set, therefore GRI 5(a) does not apply.

                 Finally, you argue that the planners are binders
            classified in Heading 4820, for paperboard binders, or Heading


















                                          -4-


            3926, for other articles of plastic.  You cite a dictionary
            definition of "binders" and Customs Headquarters Ruling Letter
            (HRL) 075156 of February 21, 1989.  You also argue that the
            planners' wallet-like container is not similar to the exemplars
            listed in Heading 4202.

                 HRL 075156 dealt with a loose-leaf binder, so the
            merchandise in that letter is distinguishable from the instant
            merchandise.  The instant merchandise is more than a binder.
            Each planner has sewn-in pockets for its contents, for a pen
            and for photographs, as well as a billfold and a snap clasp.
            In point of fact, the planners resemble wallets more than they
            resemble binders,  therefore they are classifiable in Heading
            4202, which covers wallets and similar containers.

                 Schedule 7, Part 12, Subpart A, Headnote 2, Tariff
            Schedules of the United States (TSUS), defined the term
            "reinforced or laminated plastics" as follows:

                      2.  For the purposes of the tariff schedules,
                          the term "reinforced or laminated plastics"
                          means --

                      (i) rigid, infusible, insoluble plastics
                          formed by the application of heat and
                          high pressure on two or more superimposed
                          layers of fibrous sheet material which
                          has been impregnated or coated with plastics,
                          or

                     (ii) rigid plastics comprised of imbedded
                          fibrous reinforcing materials (such as
                          paper, fabric, asbestos, and fibrous
                          glass) impregnated, coated or combined
                          with plastics usually by the applica-
                          tion of heat or heat and low pressure.

                 Although a definition of "reinforced or laminated
            plastics" does not appear in the HTSUSA, it is a well settled
            principle of Customs law that tariff terms are to be construed
            in accordance with their common and commercial meanings, which
            are presumed to be the same.  Information before this office is
            that the definition for "reinforced or laminated plastics"
            under the TSUS, supra, still represents the common and

















                                          -5-


            commercial understanding of those terms.  Inasmuch as the
            wallet-like containers of the instant Super Planner and Mini
            Planner do not have rigid plastic on their outer surfaces, they
            cannot be considered to have exterior surfaces of reinforced or
            laminated plastic.  They are therefore classifiable under the
            provision for wallets ... and similar containers ...: articles
            of a kind normally carried in the pocket or in the handbag:
            with outer surface of plastic sheeting or of textile material:
            other, in subheading 4202.32.20, HTSUSA.

            HOLDING:

                 The instant merchandise constitutes goods put up in a set
            for retail sale.  Both the Super Planner and the Mini Planner
            are classified in subheading 4202.32.2000.  Subheading
            4202.32.2000 is dutiable at the rate of 20 percent ad valorem.

                                        Sincerely,




                                        John Durant, Director
                                        Commercial Rulings Division































            JLJohnson:tj:typed 8/14/89
            6cc: A.D. N.Y. (NIS-234 and NIS-341)
            Jones library
            name: 084337JLJ