Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings on Aug. 26
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 26 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
H326814: Affirmation of NY N326746; Country of Origin of Sea Urchin Roe Skeins
| Ruling: The country of origin of the sea urchins to be China, Mexico, or Russia, as determined by the flag of the catching vessel. NY N326746 is affirmed. |
| Issue: What is the country of origin of sea urchin roe? |
| Item: “Uni” (also known as Sea Urchin Roe). Five strips of Uni reside within the structure of an urchin, and range in color from rich gold to light yellow. They bear a resemblance to tongue in shape and outer texture with a creamy consistency. |
| Reason: CBP has consistently found that shucking and cleaning scallops do not constitute a substantial transformation. The operations in Japan are minor processes that do not constitute substantial transformation. |
| Ruling Date: Aug. 25, 2022 |
H311415: Revocation of NY N067952; Tariff classification of a “dog wheelchair”
| Ruling: The dog wheelchairs are properly classified under subheading 9021.10.00 as “Orthopedic appliances, including crutches, surgical belts and trusses; splints and other fracture appliances; artificial parts of the body; hearing aids and other appliances which are worn or carried, or implanted in the body, to compensate for a defect or disability; parts and accessories thereof: Orthopedic or fracture appliances, and parts and accessories thereof.” |
| Issue: whether a wheelchair intended for dogs is classified in the heading appropriate to its constituent material (heading 7615, HTSUS as “household articles… of aluminum”) or heading 9021, as an “Orthopedic appliance” |
| Item: A dog wheelchair designed to provide mobility to dogs with injured or amputated hind legs. It is composed of an aluminum rod frame with two wheels on the back end, a textile harness and straps to secure the dog. The Dog Wheel Chair comes with three sizes of wheels and four sizes of harnesses. |
| Reason: The explanatory note for heading 9021 supports classification of orthopedic appliances for animals. |
| Ruling Date: June 13, 2022 |
H289595: Protest No. 1503-17-100021; The Jay Group, Ltd.; 19 C.F.R. §§ 19.4, 19.6, 19.12; presumption of correctness
| Ruling: The warehouse entry was properly liquidated with additional duties and fees owed for the 2,188 unaccounted for shoes discovered by CBP. The protest should be denied. |
| Issue: whether CBP properly liquidated the protested entry with additional duties and fees owed for 2,188 shoes that were unaccounted for in the final warehouse withdrawal |
| Item: 1,225 pairs of shoes classifiable under subheading 6402.99.3115 and 963 pairs of soccer cleats classifiable under subheading 6402.19.1520 that were unaccounted for in Jay Group’s inventory records |
| Reason: The entry “contained a large amount of manifested merchandise and incorrect quantities.” When questioned by CBP Officers, employees admitted they could not identify shortages/overages in their inventory records and had not been reporting shortages/overages to CBP. |
| Ruling Date: May 10, 2022 |