Displayable Packaging Classifiable With Imported Footwear, CBP Says

Two types of special packaging that allow for retail displays for footwear still on a pallet as imported should be classified along with the footwear, CBP said May 18 in response to a further review of protest (here). The packaging at issue accompanied shipments for the Eastman Footwear Group and is able to protect footwear imported in individual boxes on pallets and later used as a display on a sales floor, CBP said. The company said the cardboard displays deserve separate classification from the imported footwear.

Eastman's further review of protest involved the two displays, which were entered and later liquidated with the footwear in heading 6403 as footwear. The company now "claims that the subject merchandise is not 'ordinary packaging,' that is, it is not of a kind normally used for packing footwear," CBP said. The "shoeboxes are the ordinary packaging for footwear" whereas "the cardboard displays are chiefly used to display the shoes," Eastman argued. The displays should instead be classified separately as other articles of paperboard under subheading 4823.90.86, the company told CBP.

CBP's legal analysis of such packaging involves past court rulings on what constitutes packing materials, the agency said. "Based on the material design and construction features, we conclude that the master cartons formed from cardboard cartons, bases, sides and lids, and corrugated paperboard separators are of a temporary nature, and are not suitable for repetitive use, commercial or otherwise," CBP said. The agency also questioned whether such packaging is in fact unusual. "The cardboard pallet displays similar to the ones under consideration are very common and widely used in the footwear marketplace," it said. "We have found the following statement about footwear retail packaging displays on the internet: 'One of the most popular forms of footwear displays are temporary, corrugated pallet displays, used extensively in warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s.'"

Unlike the products in other CBP rulings cited by Eastman in its arguments, Eastman's displays are "the packing containers normally used to ship shoeboxes" to a retailer, it said. The Eastman displays are therefore classifiable along with the shoes, CBP said in its ruling to deny Eastman's protest. "We note that this is consistent with prior CBP decisions that recognized innovations within the packing industry, such as the placement of UPC bar codes on products, which in many cases replaced product information previously printed in text on a packing container," the agency said.