Office Depot Asks CBP to Stop Ruling Revocation for File Organizers
CBP should not go through with its proposed ruling revocation that would reclassify expanding file organizers because the agency uses the wrong legal test to make its decision, said Office Depot in comments filed with CBP. The comments, filed by Robert Stang of Husch Blackwell on behalf of Office Depot, say that CBP should cancel its proposed revocation to maintain the product's current and appropriate classification in Heading 4819. Office Depot submitted the only comments on the proposed ruling revocation, said a CBP spokesman.
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CBP proposed in September to revoke a previous ruling, NY N073247, on expanding file organizers, which could classify the product under Subheading 4202.19.0000 rather than Subheading 4819.60.0000 and increase the duty rate from duty-free to 20 percent (see 13091215). "Not only is classification of the file organizer under Heading 4202, HTSUS inappropriate, but classifying this article under Subheading 4819.60.0000, HTSUS is consistent with and supported by all materials and evidence that CBP typically reviews in a tariff classification dispute," the company said. Office Depot believes "that the proposed revocation misstates the proper legal test when it states 'we must determine if the primary purpose of the file organizer is to organize, store, protect or carry,'" said the company. Instead, as previous court decisions have found, the question is "if the file organizer's primary purpose is 'to organize, store, protect and carry' the articles contained therein," said Office Depot.
CBP's revocation relies in part on the fact that the organizer has a handle. CBP said that handle indicates the organizer is used for carrying documents and would exclude the product from Heading 4819. But the handle alone is not enough to conclude that the item is used to carry goods, said Office Depot. The Explanatory Notes for Heading 4819 specifically do allow for some file boxes with handles, meaning further evidence of a carrying function would be necessary to disqualify the organizer from Heading 4819, Office Depot said. CBP's "proposed revocation fails to substantiate that the file organizer has a 'carrying' function similar to the exemplars in Subheading 4202.19.0000," the company said.
CBP is also misusing Heading 4202, which is generally linked to the "carrying and protection functions" of travel goods, said Office Dept. While both Headings 4202 and 4819 include articles used to protect and carry, items in Heading 4819 don't provide the same level of protection that is important for travel, said Office Depot. For instance, "if the file organizer was used to transport documents or similar goods on an overnight trip or even from one's home to an office there is a risk that the papers therein would become wet, dirty or damaged," the company said. "Moreover, if the file organizer in question was used to transport small items (clips, pads, thumb drives, etc.) then the gap at the top of the container would permit those items to spill out, particularly if stored in a moving vehicle typically associated with travel."
The file organizer is meant primarily for use as a stationary place to store documents, said Office Depot. Any travel with the file organizer is meant to be very short-term, typically from one storage location to another, "preferably in the same facility," it said. "The file organizer's primary purpose is to organize and store documents in a stationary location, not to transport those items in an overnight or daily business trip," further demonstrated by the item's 19 thin separate spaces that would make it impractical to carry other things, such as files or personal travel items, the company said. "The file organizer is clearly described by the terms of Heading 4819, HTSUS and the corresponding Explanatory Notes," said Office Depot. "This classification would also be consistent with several decades of CBP rulings on goods classified under Chapter 48, HTSUS versus travel goods classified under Heading 4202, HTSUS."
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Office Depot's comments.