Quirk mitered marble

HQ 085250 August 21, 1989 CLA-2:CO:R:C:G 085250 SR CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 6802.91.05 Mr. Lewis L. Roberts Quality Marble Imports 3733 N. Meridan Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46208 RE: Quirk mitered marble Dear Mr. Roberts: This is in reference to your recent letter, received on August 7, 1989, concerning the classification of a shipment of marble that has been quirk mitered, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). FACTS: The merchandise at issue is marble of which some of the pieces have been quirk mitered. The importer claims that only a few pieces of the shipment have been quirk mitered to facilitate installation. The shipment was entered at Los Angeles on April 10, 1989, entry number 07248211. The importer states that the merchandise was classified under subheading 6802.91.15, HTSUSA, instead of subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUSA, because some of the pieces are quirk mitered. ISSUE: Whether the quirk mitered marble at issue has been processed merely to facilitate installation. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Heading 6802, HTSUSA, provides for worked monumental or building stone and articles thereof, other, marble, slabs. -2- Additional U.S. Note to chapter 68, HTSUSA, states that for the purposes of heading 6802, the term "slabs" embraces flat stone pieces, not over 5.1 cm in thickness, having a facial area of 25.8 cm or more, the edges of which have not been beveled, rounded or otherwise processed except such processing as may be needed to facilitate installation as tiling or veneering in building construction. If the merchandise at issue is quirk mitered merely to facilitate installation the whole shipment will remain classifiable under heading 6802, HTSUSA. To be considered quirk mitered to facilitate installation it must be mitered at the edges of the marble and must fit tightly with another piece. If the marble is quirk mitered to round off the top of a run then it is decorative and not classifiable under heading 6802, HTSUSA. It is stated by the importer that only a few pieces of the shipment are quirk mitered. If there are more than a small percentage of the pieces of the shipment that are quirk mitered then it is likely that the pieces are more than processed merely to facilitate installation. HOLDING: If the quirk mitered pieces of the merchandise at issue make up only a small percentage of the marble shipment, and those pieces are quirk mitered on the ends merely to facilitate installation, then the whole shipment is classifiable under subheading 6802.91.05, HTSUSA, as worked monumental or building stone and articles thereof, other, marble, slabs. The rate of duty is 2.8 percent ad valorem. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division 6 cc: A.D., N.Y. Seaport Rosenow library 085250