The tariff classification of lens blanks from China

NY 856872 OCT 30, 1990 CLA-2-114:S:N:N1:114 856872 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NOS.: 9001.40.0000, 9802.00.4040, 9802.00.5040 Ms. Ruth Kroboth Associated Customhouse Brokers, Inc. One Airport Way P.O. Box 22670 Rochester, New York 14692 RE: The tariff classification of lens blanks from China Dear Ms. Kroboth: In your letter dated September 27, 1990, on behalf of Bausch & Lomb, Inc., you requested a tariff classification ruling. Bausch & Lomb plans to send lens pressings, previously imported from Brazil, to China for surfacing and polishing. The product will be returned to the United States for further polishing, edging and impact-hardening. Samples of the lens pressing, the lens blank, and the finished lens were provided with your letter. Optical elements of glass, optically worked, not permanently mounted, fall within Heading 9001, HTS, if the elements have been ground and polished or if the elements have been polished after molding. Based on your description of the processing which will occur in China, and on the samples furnished to this office, it appears that the lenses will have the whole or part of one or more of their surfaces polished to produce the required optical properties, at the time of importation from China. The lenses are intended for use in sunglasses. The applicable subheading for the lenses, as imported from China, will be 9001.40.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for lenses, of any material, unmounted, other than such elements of glass not optically worked; spectacle lenses of glass. The rate of duty will be 5.6 percent ad valorem. In your letter, you requested that we consider the applicability of subheading 9802.00.4040, HTS, which provides for articles returned to the United States after having been exported to be advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means; articles exported for repairs or alterations made pursuant to a warranty. This subheading is not applicable to the lenses. Subheading 9802.00.5040, HTS, which provides for articles exported for repairs or alterations, other, is not applicable because the processing which occurs in China is part of the manufacturing process, not a repair or alteration. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction. Sincerely, Jean F. Maguire Area Director New York Seaport