The tariff classification of women and children’s footwear from China.

NY F80912 December 28, 1999 CLA-2-64:RR:NC:TP:347 F80912 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 6402.99.18, 6402.99.30, 6404.19.35 Ms. Alice Liu Atico International USA, Inc. P.O. Box 14368 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33302 RE: The tariff classification of women and children’s footwear from China. Dear Ms. Liu: In your letter dated December 9, 1999, you requested a tariff classification ruling. You have submitted five samples of shoes. All five shoes are slip-on’s, with open toes and open heels. You state that item #C20A-0186 is a child’s sandal, with a jelly strap and insole, EVA midsole and outsole. The applicable subheading for the shoe will be 6402.99.18, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics, having uppers of which over 90% of the external surface area (including accessories and reinforcements such as those mentioned in note 4(a) to this chapter) is rubber or plastics, not covering the ankle. The rate of duty will be 6% ad valorem. The rate will remain the same in year 2000. You state that item C20B-0272 is a ladies EVA sandal with a PU nubuck upper and straw insole and a rubber/plastic outer sole. The upper has a filled-in textile embroidery in the shape of a dragonfly. The textile embroidery will be counted as accessory/reinforcement in the surface area measurement of the upper. Therefore, we would consider this shoe to have an upper that is not over 90% rubber/plastic. The applicable subheading for the shoe will be 6402.99.30, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics, not covering the ankle, having uppers of which not over 90% of the external surface area is rubber or plastics, footwear with open toes or open heels. The rate of duty will be 37.5% ad valorem. The rate of duty will remain the same in year 2000. You state that item #C20B-0355 is a ladies sandal, with a textile upper and a rubber/plastic outer sole. You state that item #C20B-0269 is a ladies canvas upper sandal with a jute insole, and a rubber/plastic outer sole. You state that item G20B-2597 is a ladies woven PVC sandal, with a rubber/plastic outer sole. The upper is made up of strips of plastic material that are less than 5mm in width. These strips are interwoven with monofilaments of rubber/plastic which has a cross-sectional dimension which is less than 1mm. Therefore, in accordance with Note 1(g) to Section XI, these strips and monofilaments of rubber/plastic will be considered “textile material” for tariff purposes. As a result, the upper of the footwear sample is not over 90% rubber/plastic. In addition, these strips and monofilaments of “textile material” are held together with horizontal textile threading, which is also visible on the surface of the upper and counted toward the percentage of textile in the surface area measurement. In this regard, this upper is considered textile for tariff purposes. The applicable subheading for these shoes will be 6404.19.35, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for footwear with outer soles of rubber or plastics, and uppers of textile materials, footwear with open toes or open heels, which is 10% or more by weight of rubber or plastics. The rate of duty will be 37.5% ad valorem. The rate will remain the same in year 2000. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Richard Foley at 212-637-7089. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director, National Commodity Specialist Division