Disposable Face Masks Assembled in Canada Meet Tariff Shift Rule, Qualify for USMCA, CBP Says
Disposable medical face masks assembled in Canada from components made in India, the U.S. and China are eligible for USCMA tariff treatment, CBP said in a ruling issued Dec. 18, 2020. While some components that determine the classification of the masks originate in India, those components undergo the relevant USCMA tariff shift rule, CBP said in HQ H315375.
Swenco Ltd. requested the ruling. Its masks are made by ultrasonically welding inner and outer layers of nonwoven, spunbond polypropylene fiber fabric from India or the U.S. with a middle layer of nonwoven nanofiber melt blown polypropylene fabric originating in Canada. Both fabrics are classifiable in subheading 5603.12.00. A nose wire and elastic ear bands from China are then attached. The complete mask is classifiable under subheading 6307.90.9870, dutiable at 7%.
U.S. Note 11 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. lists USMCA’s rules of origin. For chapter 63, there’s a chapter rule that says the tariff shift rule applicable to a good “shall only apply to the component that determines the tariff classification of the good and such component must satisfy the tariff change requirements set out in the rule for that good.”
The relevant tariff shift rule for subheading 6307.90 allows a shift to “headings 6304 through 6310 from any other chapter, except from headings 5106 through 5113, 5204 through 5212, 5310 through 5311, chapters 54 through 55 or headings 5801 through 5802 or 6001 through 6006, or other made-up textile articles of heading 9619, provided that the good is both cut (or knit to shape) and sewn or otherwise assembled in the territory of one or more of the USMCA countries.”
For Swenco’s masks, the three layers of nonwoven polypropylene fabric are the components that determine the classification of the finished masks. Both are cut and assembled in Canada, and their tariff classification in subheading 5603.12 does not run afoul of any shifts not allowed under the relevant tariff shift rule. “Accordingly, the disposable medical face masks classified under subheading 6307.90.9870, HTSUSA, are eligible for USMCA preferential tariff treatment,” CBP said.