CBP Finds 'Amusement Component' of Lollipop Holders Enough for Toy Classification

Plastic head-shaped lollipop holders imported separately from lollipops meet the required standards for classification as toys in heading 9503, CBP said in a ruling released Oct. 2. The ruling request came from lawyers for Imaginings 3, which imports the lollipop holders, the agency said. The merchandise was then being entered at the Port of Chicago “and so we have converted the ruling request to an internal advice request for entries not yet liquidated,” CBP said in the ruling, dated July 31.

The goods, called Pop Ups, are plastic “heads and, in some cases, head and torso, of various animated characters and a spring mechanism,” CBP said. “The two halves of the 'head' are attached on pivot hinges to a tube-shaped plastic base that houses the spring mechanism, which is actuated by a slide button to open and close the head,” it said. “The product is designed so that the head claps closed with a loud popping sound. The lollipop is revealed when the head is opened.”

CBP found that this product differs from other candy holders that were the subject of another recent ruling that also involved Imaginings 3 (see 2007270033). Unlike that ruling, which involved a lips-shaped lollipop holder, “this case is distinguishable because it is imported without the candy and is classified” under a different rule of interpretation, GRI 1, CBP said. “Although the plastic unit operates as a handle/dispenser for the lollipop, the amusement component of the Pop Ups exceed[s] its function as a holder of the lollipop,” it said.

The item is classifiable as a toy in subheading 9503.00.0073 with a free duty rate, the agency said. That subheading covers “Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars and similar wheeled toys; dolls’ carriages; dolls, other toys; reduced-scale (“scale”) models and similar recreational models, working or not; puzzles of all kinds; parts and accessories thereof: Other: Labeled or determined by importer as intended for use by persons: 3 to 12 years of age.”