The tariff classification of plastic hangers from China

N248105 December 3, 2013 CLA-2-39:OT:RR:NC:N4:421 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 3923.90.0080 Ms. Cindy Kilgore Lanier Clothes 999 Peachtree Street, Suite 500 Atlanta, GA 30309 RE: The tariff classification of plastic hangers from China Dear Ms. Kilgore: In your letter dated November 14, 2013, you requested a tariff classification ruling. A sample was provided with your letter. You indicate that you will import garments shipped with plastic hangers. The plastic hangers will remain with the garments at retail. The hangers are not part of a formal recycling program. Instead the hangers will remain with the garments and are meant for use in the final customer’s closet. You ask whether the hangers may be classified separately from the garments in subheading 3923.90.0080, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), as other articles of plastics for the conveyance or packing of goods. General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 5(b) of the HTSUS provides that, subject to the provisions of GRI 5(a), packing materials and packing containers entered with the goods therein shall be classified with the goods if they are of a kind normally used for packing such goods. However, this provision is not binding when such materials or packing containers are clearly suitable for repetitive use. The sample hanger is of a kind normally used for the shipment of garments, and so it is classifiable with the garment unless it is clearly suitable for repetitive use. In HQ 964963, 964964 and 964948, all dated June 19, 2001, Customs Headquarters ruled that certain hangers that were of substantial construction and that were used in hanger recovery systems for the repeated international transport of garments were suitable for repetitive use for the conveyance of goods and could be classified separately in subheading 3923.90.00, HTSUS, even when imported with garments. Documents were provided to verify the claim that a substantial portion of the hangers that were the subject of those rulings were forwarded to a hanger supply company and then sorted, sanitized and sold to garment vendors for use in packing, shipping, and transporting other garments. The hangers had a useful life of four to six cycles. In HQ 964963, Headquarters noted that actual reuse of the hangers is not necessary as long as the hangers are substantial and are of the class or kind of goods used for the conveyance of garments. The hangers of your inquiry are not similar in style or construction to the hangers in the above cited rulings or to other hangers that have been ruled to be suitable for repetitive use for the conveyance of goods. They appear to be of a type used for one-time shipping of garments and given to the customer with the garment at the point of sale. This office has no evidence that hangers of this construction are suitable for commercial reuse, and you have not submitted any information or documentation demonstrating repeated use of this particular style or of styles of similar construction for the commercial shipment of garments. In the absence of such evidence, the hangers are considered to be ordinary packing for the garments with which they are imported. The applicable subheading for the hangers if imported alone, without garments, will be 3923.90.0080, HTSUS, which provides for articles for the conveyance or packing of goods, of plastics…other. The general rate of duty will be 3 percent ad valorem. In the absence of evidence that these hangers are suitable for commercial reuse, when imported with garments they are classifiable with those garments, and are dutiable at the same rate of duty as those garments, in accordance with the provisions of GRI 5(b). 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 Joan Mazzola at (646) 733-3023. Sincerely, Gwenn Klein Kirschner Acting Director National Commodity Specialist Division