The tariff classification of laundry basket with legs from Italy.

N155176 March 30, 2011 CLA-2-94:OT:RR:NC:N4:433 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 9403.70.4015 Debra L. Taylor Import Assistant The Container Store 500 Freeport Parkway Coppell, TX 75019 RE: The tariff classification of laundry basket with legs from Italy. Dear Ms. Taylor: In your letter dated March 21, 2011, you requested a tariff classification ruling. A photo of the item was received. SKU # 10055127 is depicted as a laundry basket on four legs. The item is a floor standing laundry basket with legs that can fold-away. The item is composed of reinforced plastic. The item measures 25 inches long by 17 inches wide, and stands 24 inches high when the legs are folded out. This item and similar type items are marketed as: “empty your washing machine, hanging your clothes out on the line, both activities put your back to the test. This basket, with four foldaway legs, leaves clothes within perfect reach. No more aches and pains! You simply push on the handles and the legs fold out. When you are finished, press lightly and the legs fold away.” One can easily sit on a sofa, chair with table or counter, or an average height bed to fold clothes. The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes (ENs), constitute the official interpretation at the international level to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). While neither legally binding nor dispositive, the ENs provide a commentary on the scope of each heading of the HTS and are generally indicative of the proper interpretation of the headings. See T.D. 89-80, 54 Fed. Reg. 35127, 35128 (August 23, 1989). Chapter 94, HTS, provides for furniture, among other articles. Note 2 to Chapter 94 states, in relevant part, that the articles (other than parts) referred to in headings 9401 to 9403 are to be classified in those headings only if they are designed for placing on the floor or ground. The General Explanatory Notes to Chapter 94 state, in relevant part, with regard to the meaning of furniture, at (A): For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “furniture” means: Any “movable” articles (not included under other more specific headings of the Nomenclature), which have the essential characteristic that they are constructed for placing on the floor or ground, and which are used, mainly with a utilitarian purpose, to equip private dwellings, hotels, theatres, cinemas, offices, churches, schools, cafes, restaurants, laboratories, hospitals….. Internet research and photos indicate that plastic laundry hampers with handles that sit on the floor or ground, or slide out from cabinets, are similar in construction and design to plastic laundry baskets having handles with legs that sit on the floor or ground. At the website, www.organize.com, a roll-put plastic clothes hamper by Knape & Vogt®, featured a plastic basket that lifted out for easy carrying. One could take this basket with unwashed clothes to the laundry room and from the laundry room to a place for folding clean clothes. Other than the low height of a laundry basket versus a hamper, the basket on legs falls within the meaning of furniture, in that it sits on the floor, and is equally used for the purposes of placing and taking laundry to the washing and drying area, while returning those clothes to a place for folding and storage. As such, the laundry basket on legs falls within heading 9403, HTS – the provision for other furniture. The applicable subheading for the laundry basket with legs, will be 9403.70.4015, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Other furniture and parts thereof: Furniture of plastics: Of reinforced or laminated plastics: Other household.” The rate of duty will be free. Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/. 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 Neil H. Levy at (646) 733-3036. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director National Commodity Specialist Division