Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings June 5
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 5 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):
H325687: Classification of Agricultural Oil Feedstock
| Ruling: The agricultural oil feedstock is classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 1518.00.40 as “Animal, vegetable or microbial fats and oils and their fractions, boiled, oxidized, dehydrated, sulfurized, blown, polymerized by heat in vacuum or inert gas or otherwise chemically modified, excluding those of heading 1516; inedible mixtures or preparations of animal, vegetable or microbial fats and oils and their fractions of different fats or oils of this chapter, not elsewhere specified or included: Other.” |
| Issue: What is the tariff classification of the processed agricultural oil feedstock? |
| Item: comingled crude soybean oil, tallow, and distiller’s corn oil |
| Reason: Unlike the biofuel in a previous HQ ruling, the agricultural oil feedstock does not qualify as a “similar oil” because it does not have the characteristics in common with petroleum oil or oils of bituminous minerals. The oil feedstock does not consist of any of the fundamental chemical compounds necessary to meet the ASTM D975 specifications. Because the feedstock cannot be considered a “similar oil” and is not a petroleum oil, the subject agricultural oil feedstock does not meet the terms of heading 2710. |
| Ruling Date: June 2, 2023 |