Fish Mounts Lack Dead Animal Parts, Ineligible for Taxidermy Classification, CBP Says

Imported plastic fish parts meant to substitute for preserved fish parts for game fish displays are not classifiable under the same subheading as traditional taxidermy fish mounts, CBP said in a ruling (here). King Sailfish Mounts, represented by Deborah Stern of Sandler Travis, said such mounts should be classified alongside similar mounts used in taxidermy. The plastic fish "blanks" at issue represent game fish that were caught and then released alive, CBP said.

The company said the fish mounts should be classified in subheading 9705.00.00, as collections and collectors’ pieces of zoological interest. These fish mounts "are substantially akin in both composite material and purpose to taxidermied fish mounts in that they are made from the same type of fiberglass reinforced materials used in making taxidermied fish mounts (which are based on real fish), are used for the same purpose, and are sold in the same channels of trade as taxidermied fish mounts classified in heading 9705," the company told CBP. The company also pointed to a past CBP ruling that found molded plastic shells used to mount fish parts to be in heading 9705 and that such articles “'are very often of little value but derive their interest from their rarity, their grouping or their presentation' and the heading includes 'dead animals of any species, preserved dry or in liquid.'”

The agency took a different approach from that of the company. The King Sailfish mounts "do not include any part of a dead animal" and are "mass produced from a mold of a game fish that has been caught and then released back alive," the agency said. "A product made solely of plastics cannot be said to have the essential character of a particular preserved dead animal merely because it is constructed to accurately replicate that type of animal." These fish mounts are a "decorative and commercial article made of plastic, which are not uniquely representative of a specific catch or collector’s item and may be purchased by anyone for display and decorative purposes," CBP said. As a result, the mounts are best classified in subheading 3926.40.00, which provides for “Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings 3914: Statuettes and other ornamental articles.”