HQ 555072: Applicability of duty exemption under item 800.00, TSUS, to rapeseed and soybean oils packaged in Canada

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 555072

                                   October 17, 1988

            CLA-2  CO:R:C:V  555072 DBI

            CATEGORY:  Classification

            TARIFF NO.:  9801.00.10; 800.00

            Mr. William J. LeClair
            Trans-Border Customs Services
            One Trans-Border Drive
            P.O. Box 800
            Champlain, New York  12919

                RE:     Applicability of duty exemption under item 800.00,
                        TSUS, to rapeseed and soybean oils packaged in
                        Canada

            Dear Mr. LeClair:

                This is in response to your letters of April 25 and May 26,
            1988, on behalf of your client, Pro-Mar Ltee, Quebec, Canada,
            to the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport, in which you
            request a ruling concerning the applicability of item 800.00,
            Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS), to rapeseed and
            soybean oils exported to Canada to be packaged and imported
            into the U.S.  Your letter has been referred to this office for
            review and the preparation of a ruling.

            FACTS:

                You advise that rapeseed and soybean oils of U.S. origin,
            fit for human consumption, will be exported to Canada via tank
            truck.  No processing will be performed on either product prior
            to exportation to Canada.  The tanks will be insulated to keep
            the oils in liquid form for ease of flow upon arrival at the
            packaging facility in Canada.

                Packaging will be the only process that will be performed
            in Canada.  The package size will be for institutional use and
            not the size normally sold at the retail level.  The oils will
            be packaged in either five-gallon plastic containers or plastic
            bags held in corrugated cardboard containers weighing about
            twenty pounds each.  You estimate the cost of "packaging,
            labor, and the container" to be about five cents per pound.  

















                                         - 2 -

            ISSUE:

                Whether the described packaged rapeseed and soybean oils,
            when returned to the U.S., will be eligible for the exemption
            from duty in item 800.00, TSUS (9801.00.10, Harmonized Tariff
            Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)).

            LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                Item 800.00, TSUS, provides for the free entry of articles
            of U.S. origin which are exported and returned without having
            been advanced in value or improved in condition while abroad.
            We have previously held that U.S. articles shipped in bulk to
            another country merely for packaging are entitled to
            classification under item 800.00, TSUS.  In a ruling dated
            July 7, 1987 (HQ 554643), Customs Headquarters held that bulk
            wines exported by tank car in a finished condition to Canada to
            be placed in labelled bottles without any additions could be
            returned to the U.S. free of duty under item 800.00, TSUS.  We
            have also held in a ruling dated June 28, 1988 (HQ 731425),
            that U.S. spring water exported in a finished condition to
            Canada to be bottled, without any additions, was not advanced
            in value or improved in condition while abroad.  The bottled
            water qualified for item 800.00, TSUS, treatment upon return to
            the U.S.

                In the present case, rapeseed and soybean oils will be
            exported in a finished condition to Canada to be packaged
            without any additions.  The oils will not be advanced in value
            or improved in condition while abroad.  Accordingly, the oils
            would qualify for treatment as American goods returned under
            item 800.00, TSUS.

            H0LDING:

                On the basis of the information submitted and in accordance
            with our previous administrative rulings, we are of the opinion
            that the packaging performed abroad does not advance the value
            or improve the condition of the product abroad and, therefore,
            the rapeseed and soybean oils may be entitled to free entry as
            American goods returned under item 800.00, TSUS.

                                      Sincerely,





                                       John Durant, Director
                                       Commercial Rulings Division