Importer Vies for Preferred HTS Classification of Animal Antibiotic CTC Concentrate at CIT

CBP wrongly classified animal antibiotic chlortetracycline concentrate feed grade powder (CTC concentrate), resulting in the imposition of Section 301 China tariffs on the imports, Zoetis Services said in a Feb. 24 complaint at the Court of International Trade. While CBP classified the powder as a feed preparation, Zeotis says it should have classified it has a medicament (Zoetis Services LLC v. U.S., CIT #22-00056).

CTC concentrate is an animal antibiotic that is mixed with other materials and imported in bags and recognized by FDA as an antibiotic. The agency says CTC concentrate is "used to manufacture finished products that are intended to treat and control" a wide range of diseases in livestock, and it "restricts the use of CTC Concentrate in animal feed to 'uses that are associated with the treatment, control, and prevention of specific diseases to be therapeutic uses that are necessary for assuring the health of food-producing animals.'” The concentrate must also undergo post-importation processing that includes mixing the concentrate with calcium sulfate and other inactive ingredients using a granulation process, the complaint said.

CBP liquidated the CTC concentrate under subheading 2309.90.1050, which is free of duty, but assessed Section 301 tariffs. This subheading covers preparations used for animal feeding, Zoetis said. Zoetis argued that the proper subheading was 3003.20.0000, which is also free of duty but provides for "Medicaments ... consisting of two or more constituents which have been mixed together for therapeutic or prophylactic uses, not put up in measured does or in forms of packings for retail sale." This subheading is not assessed Section 301 duties.

In the complaint, Zoetis said subheading 3003.20.0000 is the proper home for the CTC concentrate because it's properly defined by all the elements of the subheading. The concentrate is a "medicament" used in the "curing, healing, or therapy of animal diseases," the complaint said. The concentrate consists of chlortetracycline mixed with the carrier medium, meaning "it consists of 'two more or more constituents which have been mixed together,'" and has both therapeutic and prophylactic uses since it treats and prevents animal diseases, Zoetis said.

If the court were to find that CTC concentrate fits under both of these subheadings, Zoetis' preferred classification should be selected since it is more specific, the importer said. "While HTSUS heading 2309 covers preparations used for animal feeding, it does not address the full purpose of the subject CTC Concentrate as this product must undergo post-importation processing to be used for animal feeding," the complaint said. "HTSUS heading 3003 covers the CTC Concentrate in its entirety because it is a medicament consisting of two or more constituents mixed together for prophylactic uses and describes the CTC Concentrate in its condition as imported."

The importer also told the court that the "essential character" of the concentrate's main component, the CTC, is a "medicament to prevent or control certain illnesses or diseases in livestock." Zoetis said this makes the proper classification subheading 3003.20.0000, since General Rule of Interpretation 3(b) says that a composite good shall be classified as if it was made of the component that gives it its essential character.