Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinners Aren't Rituals, CIT Says

Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners are not religious or cultural rituals for the purposes of tariff classification, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued March 1 (here). That being the case, Christmas and Thanksgiving-themed dinnerware imported by WWRD should be classified according to its constituent materials, instead of alongside Seder plates and menorahs in a special duty-free tariff subheading for articles used in specific religious or cultural ritual celebrations, CIT said.

WWRD imported the dinnerware, which included decorative plates, mugs, gravy boats, crystal flutes and punch bowls, and lamps, in 2009 and 2010. CBP liquidated them by material, at duty rates ranging from 3% to 6%, as either ceramic dinnerware in heading 6912, lead crystal glassware in heading 7013, or non-electrical lamps in heading 9405.

WWRD contended they should all instead be classified in the special duty-free subheading 9817.95.01, which covers “utilitarian articles of a kind used in the home in the performance of specific religious or cultural ritual celebrations for religious or cultural holidays, or religious festive occasions, such as Seder plates, blessing cups, menorahs or kinaras.” The importer said Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners “are specific cultural ritual celebrations.” CBP countered that “there is nothing ritualistic about Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner,” and the feasts are instead “opportunities for friends and families to get together and share a meal.”

Though Christmas and Thanksgiving do occur annually, “rituals generally encompass specific scripted acts or series of acts that are customarily performed in an often formal or solemn manner,” CIT said. WWRD’s claim that the dinners are rituals rely on “nothing more than the highly non-specific ‘consumption of special food and drink,’ and, perhaps, the use of ‘festive table settings,’” it said. The examples of articles for ritual celebrations given in WWRD’s favored subheading -- Seder plates, blessing cups, menorahs or kinaras -- have symbolic importance, CIT said. The Christmas and Thanksgiving dinnerware imported by WWRD are “merely decorative items used to serve food and beverages or provide lighting,” it said.

WWRD also claimed that, if its dinnerware is classifiable by material, that means its duty rate increased when subheading 9817.95.01 was created in 2007 in violation of U.S. treaty obligations to maintain the same tariff treatment when changing tariff schedule provisions. But even assuming the dinnerware was duty-free before 2007 and is not anymore, “the requirement for substantial rate neutrality applies to the ITC when it is recommending changes” to the tariff schedule,” CIT said. “Substantial rate neutrality does not factor into this court’s mandate to apply the GRIs to determine the correct classification.”

(WWRD U.S. v. U.S., Slip Op. 17-21, CIT # 11-00238, dated 03/01/17, Judge Barnett)

(Attorneys: Daniel Gluck of Simon Gluck & Kane for plaintiff WWRD U.S., LLC; Beverly Farrell for defendant U.S. government)