Tariff classification of blueprint and copier papers

HQ 082138 September 19, 1989 CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082138 JLJ, 827163 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 4811.90.8000, 4802.20.0000, 4802.52.1000 Mr. Jonathan R. Moore Windels, Marx, Davis & Ives 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 RE: Tariff classification of blueprint and copier papers Dear Mr. Moore: You requested tariff classifications under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for three papers manufactured in Belgium for your client, Intermills Incorporated. You submitted samples of all three papers along with your request. FACTS: The papers at issue are called Dyeline, Electrophotographic (EPG) Offset Master Base and EPG Base Paper. All three are made from bleached pulp. All three were analyzed by the New York Customs Laboratory in Laboratory Report No. 2-88-10568-003 of March 22, 1988. Dyeline is used only for making blueprints. It weighs 77.1 grams per square meter. It is 0.091 millimeters thick. Dyeline is made of 100 percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of 3.4 percent. It is coated with an optical brightener, but not with any photosensitive coating. The optical brightener is an organic dye. EPG Base Paper is used in photocopiers as the plain white copier paper which receives the copies. It weighs 66.4 grams per square meter. It is 0.0635 millimeters thick. It consists of 100 percent chemical pulp. EPG Base Paper has an ash content of 7.4 percent. In its imported condition, it is not coated. EPG Offset Master Base Paper functions as a master plate in photocopiers. It weighs 110 grams per square meter. It is 0.117 millimeters thick. EPG Offset Master Base Paper is made of 100 percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of 7.5 percent. In its imported condition, it is not coated. -2- ISSUE: What are the HTSUSA classifications of these papers? LAW AND ANALYSIS: You argue that EPG Base Paper and EPG Offset Master Base Paper are classified under the provision for paper and paperboard of a kind used as a base for photo-sensitive, heat-sensitive or electro-sensitive paper or paperboard, in subheading 4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. You cite St. Regis v. United States, Slip. Op. 87-97 (decided September 23, 1987), in support of your position. You claim that it makes no difference that the EPG Base Paper is plain white copier paper used to make copies while the EPG Offset Master Base Paper is used as a master plate to transfer images to other sheets of paper. We disagree. The paper at issue in St. Regis v. United States was a zinc-oxide coated black calendered paper substrate which was used within the machine as a type of negative. The United States Customs Service has interpreted St. Regis v. United States to mean that only similar papers are to be classified accordingly. The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is to be used as a master plate to transfer images to other sheets of paper, just as the paper at issue in St. Regis v. United States was. The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is therefore classifiable in subheading 4802.20.0000, HTSUSA, which is a duty-free provision. The EPG Base Paper is not used as a master image in the photocopier machine. It has been our experience previously that copier paper is plain white paper capable of being written on. The American Paper Institute, in its May 1984 Supplement to the Dictionary of Paper, Fourth Edition (1980), stated that "...there is now a need for additional definitional material describing writing papers and printing papers." Page 1 of the Supplement, in the "Description of Uncoated Writing and Related Papers" portion, states that "Writing papers consist of a wide variety of papers suitable for pen and ink writing or for use with the typewriter, automatic accounting equipment, copiers, computers, etc." It says that "They are usually used by an individual, within a company for correspondence, copying, computer output or on a direct basis--conducting business trans- actions." The Supplement specifically notes that "End use products include, but are not limited to, writings, letters, notes, mimeographing, spirit duplicating, electrostatic copying...." Based on the information above, we find that the instant EPG Base Paper is a writing paper classifiable under the provision for other paper and paperboard, not containing fibers -3- obtained by a mechanical process...: weighing more than 40 grams per square meter but not more than 150 grams per square meter: writing paper, in subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 2.4 percent ad valorem. The Dyeline paper is coated with an organic dye. As such, it is classifiable under the provision for other coated paper: other: other: other: weighing over 30 grams per square meter, in subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 2 percent ad valorem. HOLDING: The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is classified in subheading 4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. The EPG Base Paper is classified in subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA. The Dyeline paper is classified in subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division JLJohnson:tj:typed 07/26/89 Jones Library name: 082138JLJ 6cc: A.D. N.Y. Seap. (NIS-234) 1cc: D.D., Baltimore, Md.