April 11, 2007 CBP Bulletin Notice on Certain Hot and Cold Compress Packs
In the April 11, 2007 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 41, No. 16), CBP published a notice proposing to modify a classification ruling and revoke a treatment as follows:
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Proposed revocation of ruling; proposed revocation of treatment. CBP is proposing to revoke a ruling on the classification of certain hot and cold compress packs. CBP is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.
CBP states that any party who has received a contrary written ruling or decision on the merchandise that is subject to the proposed ruling revocation, or any party involved with a substantially identical transaction, should advise CBP by May 11, 2007, the date that written comments on the proposed ruling are due. Furthermore, CBP states that an importer's failure to advise CBP of such rulings, decisions, or substantially identical transactions may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agent for importations subsequent to the effective date of the final decision in this notice.
In addition, CBP states that this notice covers any rulings on the subject merchandise that may exist but have not been specifically identified.
Hot and cold compress packs.The merchandise is described as "Instant Hot Compress" and "Instant Cold Compress" packs composed of magnesium sulfate and water, and ammonium nitrate and water; respectively. The hot compress pack is comprised of 20-40 percent magnesium sulfate and 60-80 percent water. The cold compress pack is comprised of 40-70 percent ammonium nitrate and 30-60 percent water.
CBP is proposing to issue HQ W968297 in order to revoke NY L84821, and reclassify the hot compress pack in subheading 2833.21.0000, as "Sulfates; alums; peroxosulfates (persulfates): Other sulfates: Of magnesium", and the cold compress pack in subheading 3102.30.0000, as "Ammonium nitrate, whether or not in aqueous solution", rather than both the hot and cold compress packs in subheading 3824.90.9190, (3824.90.9290 in the current HTS) as "prepared binders for foundry molds or cores; chemical products and preparations of the chemical or allied industries (including those consisting of mixtures of natural products), not elsewhere specified or included: other other."
CBP is proposing to make this change as a correction, based on Explanatory Notes (ENs) and Chapter Notes, with the support of two earlier rulings. EN 38.24(B) states, in pertinent part, that aqueous solutions of Chapter 28 remain classified therein. Furthermore, Ruling NY E85600 classified a 50 percent aqueous solution of magnesium sulfate similar to the subject hot compress pack in subheading 2833.21.0000. With regard to the cold compress pack, according to Chapter Notes, the ammonium nitrate cold pack is excluded from Chapter 28 and is classifiable in Chapter 31. Ruling NY M81919 in which CBP previously classified a cold compress containing ammonium nitrate in subheading 3102.30.0000 supports this position.
CBP now proposes that the "Instant Hot Compress" pack is classifiable in subheading 2833.21.0000, and the "Instant Cold Compress" pack is classifiable in subheading 3102.30.0000.
proposed: 2833.21.000, 3.7% and 3102.30.0000, duty-free ; current: 3824.90.9290, 5% (note: this subheading has changed due to new version of HTS)
April 11, 2007 CBP Bulletin (Vol. 41, No.16) available athttp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_2007/