CAFC Says Importer's Medical Foods are 'Medicaments,' Not 'Food Preparations'
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 17 held that five types of medical foods imported by Nutricia North America are properly classified as "medicaments" under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 3004 and not as "food preparations"…
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under heading 2106. Reversing the Court of International Trade's decision, Judges Sharon Prost, Richard Taranto and Leonard Stark found that Nutricia's goods plainly fall within heading 3004, particularly due to the fact that they qualify as "medical foods" as defined by Congress and the FDA in implementing the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. Taranto, writing for the court, added that the entries aren't excluded from heading 3004 due to Chapter 30's note 1(a), which says Chapter 30 doesn't include foods or beverages "(such as dietetic, diabetic or fortified foods, food supplements, tonic beverages and mineral waters), other than nutritional preparations for intravenous administration."