Plastic Coated Gloves Classifiable as Textile Articles in Chapter 61, DOJ Says

Knit gloves with a plastic coating on the palm and on the front and sides of the fingers are classifiable as textile gloves of heading 6116, not articles of plastic of heading 3926, the Department of Justice said in a brief filed Sept. 17 with the Court of International Trade. The gloves are entirely described by the terms of heading 6116, and as such can’t be classified in the residual subheading for plastics, DOJ said (Magid Glove & Safety Manufacturing Co. v. U.S., CIT # 16-00150).

Magid filed the underlying lawsuit. The importer asks CIT to overturn CBP’s classification of the gloves and find them classified as articles of plastics, citing dictionary definitions to argue that knit gloves of heading 6116 must be loose fitting. It also cites CIT precedent to argue that textiles embedded in plastics should be classified as plastics.

But DOJ says the tariff schedule must be interpreted as written, and heading 6116 covers knit gloves. Indeed, CIT has found wetsuit gloves made of textiles and plastics classifiable in heading 6116. And the “Explanatory Notes indicate that heading 3926 … covers articles that are not described more specifically elsewhere in the HTSUS,” DOJ said. "The gloves cannot be classified in heading 3926, HTSUS, because they are more specifically described in heading 6116.”