February 19, 2009 CBP Bulletin Notice on Applicability of 9802.00.50 to Certain Imported Putter Heads
In the February 19, 2009 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 43, No. 9), CBP published a notice proposing to revoke one ruling and a treatment as follows:
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Proposed revocation of ruling; proposed revocation of treatment. CBP is proposing to revoke a ruling on the applicability of 9802.00.50 to certain imported putter heads. Additionally, CBP proposes that this notice covers any rulings on this merchandise that may exist but have not been specifically identified. 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 revocations, or any party involved with a substantially identical transaction, should advise CBP by March 21, 2009, 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.
Golf putter heads. The merchandise is described as various models of Redwood golf putter heads that undergo manufacturing or other processing in Taiwan, the U.S., and, in certain instances, China. The putter heads are forged in Taiwan and then imported into the U.S. In the U.S., the putter heads are milled, rough edges are smoothed, a hosel hole is drilled, and the Ping logo is engraved into the piece. The company states that this results in a finished Ping putter head. After the U.S. processing, some of the finished putter heads are sold in the U.S. The remainder is exported to China for additional processing. In China, the putter heads are coated in black nickel, painted with decorative lines, and affixed with the Ping logo. They are then re-imported into the U.S. to be assembled with other component parts into finished golf clubs.
CBP is proposing to issue HQ H026901 in order to revoke HQ H020437 and determine that the putter heads are eligible for a partial duty exemption under subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, provided that the documentation requirements of 19 CFR 10.8 are met.
Subheading 9802.00.50 provides a partial duty exemption for articles that are returned after having been exported to be advanced in value or improved in condition by means of repairs or alterations, provided that the documentary requirements of 19 CFR 10.8 are met. For qualifying articles, duty is assessed only on the cost or value of the foreign processing. However, in circumstances where the operations abroad destroy the identity of the exported article or create a new or commercially different article, entitlement to subheading 9802.00.50 is precluded.
In HQ H020437 CBP held that the imported putter heads processed in China were not eligible for 9802.00.50, stating that coating the putter heads in black nickel changed the quality and added a significant characteristic to the putter head, thus the putter heads were not finished for their intended use prior to being exported from the U.S.
CBP proposes this change based on new information. Additional information was supplied to correct a factual error in the original submission which stated that the black nickel coating provided anti-corrosive properties. The new information indicates that the application of the black nickel coating is only an aesthetic alteration and does not change the quality of the putter head and make it more anti-corrosive.
CBP now proposes that the coating of the putter heads in black nickel in China does not change the quality of the putter heads and does not add a significant characteristic to the putter heads as noted by the third-party empirical tests, and that therefore the putter heads are eligible for a partial duty exemption under subheading 9802.00.50 provided that the documentation requirements of 19 CFR 10.8 are met.
February 19, 2009 CBP Bulletin (Vol. 43, No. 9) available athttp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_2009/