Pomeroy's Candle Holders Classified as Glassware in HTS, not Lamps or Furniture, says CIT
The Court of International Trade ruled that Customs correctly classified plaintiff The Pomeroy Collection’s decorative glass “pillar plates,” floor-, and wall-mounted vessels, designed for use as candle holders, as “Glassware of a kind used for . . . indoor decoration or similar purposes” under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 7013, dutiable at 4.3 to 18 percent. Pomeroy had attempted to argue that the merchandise was classifiable under heading 9405 (“Lamps and lighting”), or alternatively, heading 9403 (“Other furniture and parts thereof”), both of which enter duty-free from Mexico. CIT said heading 9405 did not apply because the merchandise was not shipped with candles and was not specifically designed to hold candles. Heading 9403 didn’t apply because the goods were decorative, not utilitarian, CIT said.
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Pomeroy imported the merchandise at issue from Mexico in 1999. The company’s challenge of CBP’s classification originally covered over 80 entries and 90 separate articles, but Pomeroy and CBP later agreed on classification of most of the articles at issue, leaving classification of 16 articles for the court to decide. CIT grouped the merchandise into three categories: (1) pillar plates -- glass plates with rounded feet on the bottom; (2) floor articles -- a wrought iron pedestal holding a glass cup with a rounded bottom and (3) wall articles -- a glass vessel with an iron wall mounting. Pomeroy said all of these products were intended as “candle holders,” though none were shipped with candles.
Pomeroy said the articles were all classifiable under HTS heading 9405 (“Lamps and lighting …”), but CIT disagreed. Although the heading does include non-electrical lighting sources such as candles, Pomeroy’s goods do not include any features that would limit them to candle holders, such as a spike or tight-fitting cup. Also, none of the products were shipped with candles, and were therefore incapable of illuminating, as required under heading 9405.
The goods could not be classified under heading 9403 (“Other furniture and parts thereof”) either, because they are decorative in nature, the court said. An explanatory note to chapter 94 of the HTS says that items in chapter 94 should be utilitarian, not decorative, said CIT. Without spikes that would be useful in impaling and securing an item, Pomeroy’s goods cannot be called utilitarian, it said.
Finally, the court turned to heading 7013 (“Glassware of a kind used for . . . indoor decoration or similar purposes”), the classification favored by CBP. Pomeroy’s pillar plates fall clearly within heading 7013, CIT said, as glassware used for table, kitchen, toilet, office, indoor decoration or similar purposes. Classification of the floor and wall articles wasn’t quite so simple, the court said, because they contained both iron and glass. The function of the article, which is to hold objects, is derived from the glass cup, not the iron base or wall mounting. The iron pieces only served to hold the glass cup, CIT said. Therefore, said the court, the glassware gives the items their essential character, and the items are classifiable under heading 7013 under General Rule of Interpretation 3(b).
(The Pomeroy Collection, Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 13-13, dated 01/28/13, Judge Ridgway)
(Attorneys: Peter Fitch of Fitch, King for plaintiff The Pomeroy Collection; Beverly Farrell for defendant U.S. government)