Classification of Prosciutto, (Parma Ham) from Italy.

HQ 084953 August 22, 1989 CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 084953 JGH CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 0210.11.000 Mr. Richard Schroeter Acting Assistant Administrator, ITP Foreign Agricultural Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250 RE: Classification of Prosciutto, (Parma Ham) from Italy. Dear Mr. Schroeter: This is in reference to your memorandum of June 23, 1989, concerning the classification, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), of Prosciutto or Parma Ham from Italy. FACTS: Prosciutto or Parma Ham is a cured, dried ham considered less salty and milder than other hams. It is regularly eaten without being cooked, although in the United States it is often heated. The imported ham is required to be aged for a period of 400 days, and the curing process produces a product of 35 percent less weight and considerably less size; in fact, a ham with a thickness of 2 inches is often desired. In the processing, the hams are rubbed with a curing mixture. Prosciutti hams are produced either with the bone in or removed. ISSUE: Classification of Prosciutto under the HTSUS. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Classification under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI's). GRI 1 provides that classification is first determined in accordance with the - 2 - headings and any relative Section and Chapter notes. Heading 0210 covers meat and edible meat offal, salted, in brine, dried or smoked. Subheading 0210.11 applies to the meat of swine: Hams, shoulders, and cuts thereof, with bone in. Subheading 0210.19.000 applies to hams with the bone removed. Chapter 16, HTSUS, covers hams which have been prepared or preserved. The Explanatory Notes to Chapter 16 state that the prepared or preserved meats covered in that chapter are those which have been boiled, steamed, grilled, fried, roasted or otherwise cooked --in other words, meat prepared in ways other than the methods prescribed in Chapter 2. The Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of European Communities states that subheading 0210.11 covers hams and shoulders, with the bone in, of domestic swine, preserved by a drying or smoking process, even if these methods of preservation are combined with a prior salting or pickling treatment. This is particularly so in the case of hams which have been salted before being partially dehydrated, whether in the open air (hams of Parma or Bayonne types) or by smoking (hams of the Ardennes type). Presidential Proclamation No. 5759, dated December 29, 1987, assessed a duty of 100 percent ad valorem on certain products of the European Community, including pork hams. However, effective July 28, 1989, the increased duty on these hams was suspended. Federal Register, Vol 34, No. 144, dated Friday, July 28, 1989. HOLDING: Hams which have been processed in the manner described above, with the bone in, are classifiable under the provision for meat, salted in brine, dried or smoked: meat of swine: Hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, with bone in, in subheading 0210.11.0000, HTSUS. The rate of duty is 2.2 cents per kg. Hams processed in the manner described above, with the bone removed, are classifiable under the provision for other meat of swine in subheading 0210.19.0000, HTSUS. The rate of duty is 2.2 cents per kg. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division