Internal Advice; Classification of Bamboo Wood Flooring

HQ H294087 February 23, 2021 OT:RR:CTF:CPMM H294087 MMM CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 4418.90.4605 Ann Marie Paul Center Director Industrial & Manufacturing Materials Center of Excellence and Expertise (IMM CEE) RE: Internal Advice; Classification of Bamboo Wood Flooring Dear Port Director: The following is our response to your memorandum dated January 23, 2018, requesting Internal Advice in accordance with 19 CFR 177.11(b)(4), concerning the proper classification of Bamboo Wood Flooring, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”), initiated by letter dated June 2, 2016, by Livingston International Professional Services, Inc., on behalf of its client, Strategis International Inc. FACTS: The subject merchandise is a panel comprised of irregular, threshed strands of bamboo that have been agglomerated together with resin under heat and high pressure. The strands and resin are compressed into large blocks, or cants, and each flooring plank is cut from the block. In cross-section, there are no apparent strips, layers, or pieces, nor is there any distinct configuration of such. No two planks have the same configuration of strands. The planks are then profiled and finished for use as interior flooring panels. ISSUE: Whether the subject bamboo flooring panels are assembled and classified in subheading 4418.72, HTSUS, as assembled flooring panels. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Merchandise imported into the United States is classified under the HTSUS, in accordance with the General Rules of Interpretation (“GRIs”). GRI 1 requires that classification be determined first according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative section or chapter notes and, unless otherwise required, according to the remaining GRIs taken in order. In the event that the goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1, and if the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining GRIs 2 through 6 may then be applied in order. Pursuant to GRI 6, classification at the subheading level uses the same rules, mutatis mutandis, as classification at the heading level. The HTSUS 2016 headings and subheadings under consideration are as follows: 4418 Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels and assembled flooring panels; shingles and shakes: Assembled flooring panels: 4418.72 Other, multilayer: Other: 4418.72.91 Of Unidirectional Bamboo Other 4418.90 Of bamboo: 4418.90.25 Drilled or notched lumber studs 4418.90.46 Other 4418.90.4605 Wood flooring Additional U.S. Note 5, HTSUS (2016) states: Heading 4418 includes— … (b) multi-layer assembled flooring panels having a face ply 4 mm or more in thickness. In interpreting the HTSUS, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (“ENs”) may be utilized. The ENs, though not dispositive or legally binding, provide commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTSUS, and are the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). EN 44.18 states, in relevant part, that: This heading applies to woodwork, including that of wood marquetry or inlaid wood, used in the construction of any kind of building, etc., in the form of assembled goods or as recognisable unassembled pieces (e.g., prepared with tenons, mortises, dovetails or other similar joints for assembly), whether or not with their metal fittings such as hinges, locks, etc.   The articles of this heading may be made of ordinary wood or of particle board or similar board, fibreboard, laminated wood or densified wood (see Note 3 to this Chapter).   The term “joinery” applies more particularly to builders’ fittings (such as doors, windows, shutters, stairs, door or window frames), whereas the term “carpentry” refers to woodwork (such as beams, rafters and roof struts) used for structural purposes or in scaffoldings, arch supports, etc., and includes assembled shuttering for concrete constructional work. However, plywood panels, even if surface treated for the purposes of concrete shuttering, are classified in heading 44.12. Builders’ carpentry also includes gluelaminated timber (glulam), which is a structural timber product obtained by gluing together a number of wood laminations having their grain essentially parallel. Laminations of curved members are arranged so that the plane of each lamination is at 90  degrees to the plane of the applied load; thus, laminations of a straight glulam beam are laid flat. This heading also covers cellular wood panels which are somewhat similar in appearance to the blockboard and battenboard described in the Explanatory Note to heading 44.12, but the battens or laths forming the core are spaced one from the other, either parallel or in lattice form. In certain cases the panels may consist of facing sheets separated by an internal frame at the edges only. The interstices may be packed with sound-insulating or heat-resisting materials (e.g., cork, glass wool, wood pulp, asbestos). The facing sheets may be of solid wood, particle board or similar board, fibreboard or plywood, and the panels (like those in heading 44.12) may be faced with base metal. Panels of this kind are relatively light but strong and are used for partitions, doors and sometimes in the manufacture of furniture.   This heading also covers solid blocks, strips, friezes, etc., assembled into flooring panels (including parquet panels) or tiles, with or without borders. It also includes flooring panels or tiles consisting of blocks, strips, friezes, etc., assembled on a support of one or more layers of wood, known as “multilayer” parquet flooring panels. The top layer (wear layer) is commonly made from two or more rows of strips making up the panel. These panels or tiles may be tongued and grooved at the edges to facilitate assembly. A shingle is wood sawn lengthwise which is generally thicker than 5 mm at one end (the butt) but thinner than 5 mm at the other end (the tip). It may have its edges resawn to be parallel; its butt may be resawn to be at right angles to its edges or to form a curve or other shape. One of its faces may be sanded from the butt to the tip or grooved along its length. A shake is wood split by hand or machine from a bolt or block. Its face reveals the natural texture of the wood resulting from the splitting process. Shakes are sometimes sawn lengthwise through their thicknesses to obtain two shakes, each then having a split face and a sawn back. * * * Heading 4418 includes assembled goods and recognizable unassembled pieces (e.g., prepared with tenons, mortises, dovetails, or similar joints for assembly) that are utilized in the construction of a building. These goods may be builders’ joinery, which consists of fittings such as doors and windows, or carpentry, which is structural woodwork. It is not disputed that the subject merchandise is a flooring panel and classified in heading 4418, as it is forms a decorative floor surface when installed and is finished for wear. The main issue in this case is whether the subject merchandise is an assembled flooring panel and classifiable in subheading 4418.72, HTSUS. Assemble is defined as “to bring together (as in a particular place or for a particular purpose).” The ENs to heading 4418 state assembled flooring panels can consist of solid blocks, strips, and friezes. The importer does not make an argument as to whether the subject flooring panels are assembled, however, instead argues that the strands that comprise the flooring panels are “visibly regular and uniform in their size, direction, and appearance.” Nonetheless, the uniformity of the strands before they are manufactured into panels is unimportant in this case as the strands are compressed together, with no fitting or configuration, until all the air pockets and voids in the bamboo fibers are eliminated to create a cant. The photos provided of the subject merchandise show the panels after compression have varying cross sections and are not uniform in size, direction, and appearance. Notably no two flooring panels are constructed in the same configuration of strands. Unlike when flooring panels are assembled, the placement of the strands in this case is random (due to compression), not placed in a particular place and cannot be dissembled. Furthermore, we note that assembled flooring panels are not manufactured by sawing planks from a cant; the individual pieces, strips, layers, cabochons, etc. are intentionally placed and glued together to form a flooring panel. CBP finds the flooring panels are not assembled but agglomerated. The subject merchandise is not an assembled flooring panel and is not classified in subheading 4418.72, HTSUS. The bamboo panels may also be subject to an ITC exclusion order dealing with certain laminated floor panels (ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-545). The determination of whether the panels are subject to the ITC Exclusion Order will be made independently of the tariff classification ruling. If you require a written ruling on whether the exclusion order applies to your panels, you should submit a ruling request with a sample of the panels to the following office: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade, Regulations and Rulings, IPR and Restricted Merchandise Branch, 90 K Street, N.E., 10th Floor, Mail Stop 1177, Washington, D.C. 20229-1177. HOLDING: By application of GRIs 1 and 6, the subject bamboo flooring panels are classifiable under heading 4418, specifically in subheading 4418.90.46, HTSUS, which provides for “Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels and assembled flooring panels; shingles and shakes: Other: Other.” The 2016 column one general rate of duty for subheading 4418.90.46, HTSUS, is 3.2% ad valorem. Duty rates are provided for the protestant’s convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on the World Wide Web at www.usitc.gov. You are directed to mail this decision to the internal advice applicant, no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. On that date the Office of Regulations and Rulings will make the decision available to CBP personnel, and to the public on the CBP Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.CBP.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and other public methods of distribution. Sincerely, for Craig T. Clark, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division