HQ 950301

March 10, 1992

CLA-2 CO:R:C:F 950301 ALS

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 3701.30.0000

District Director of Customs

P. O. Box 20876

Charleston, South Carolina 29413-0876

RE: Request for Further Review of Protest 1601-91-100233, dated

July 24, 1991, Concerning Plates Coated With Photosensitive

Material Which are Used as a Printing Plates After being

Photographically Imaged

Dear Ms. Pollock:

This ruling is on a protest that was filed against your

decisions of May 3, 1991, in the liquidation of 25 entries covering

the referenced item.

FACTS:

The articles under consideration are plates coated with

photosensitive material which are photographically imaged and then

used as printing plates. The plates are made of aluminum that has

been anodized and grained. They are coated with a mixture of

organic oligomers, sensitizers, surfactants, and dyes. The organic

oligomers constitute approximately 56.7 percent of the coating.

The other compounds in the coating include a Diazo compound. The

Diazo compound is a photo-reactive diazide dye which, upon exposure

of to U.V. light, forms the image utilized for printing.

ISSUE:

Are photosensitive plates used for printing classifiable as

printing plates or as photographic plates?

\- 2 -

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff

Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) is governed by

the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI\'s) taken in order.

GRI 1 provides that the classification is determined first in

accordance with the terms of the heading and any relative section

and chapter notes. If GRI 1 fails to classify the goods and if

the heading and legal notes do not otherwise require, the remaining

GRI\'s are applied, taken in order.

The articles under consideration were classified by Customs

as photographic plates under subheading 3701.30.0000, HTSUSA. The

Customs broker representing the importer believes that the plates

should be classified as printing plates under subheading

8442.50.10, HTSUSA. The broker states that in the arts industry

photographic plates are generally understood to mean plates coated

with silver halide emulsions and not organic solutions such as the

plates under consideration. The definitions for photographic

plates and emulsion in Webster\'s New Collegiate Dictionary (1977)

are referenced in support of that position as is a definition for

emulsion in the Lithographers Manual, sixth edition (1980).

In analyzing the broker\'s arguments that the subject plates

are not photographic plates because they do not contain a silver

halide emulsion, we have considered the above referenced sources.

We also considered the description of photographic plates contained

in the publication Pocket Pal\~, A Graphic Production Handbook,

Fourteenth Edition - May 1989, referenced by the broker in a

narrative statement submitted subsequent to the request for further

review. We noted that the definition in the above-referenced

dictionary, as supplied by the broker, indicates that a

photographic plate is a sheet of material coated with a light-

sensitive photographic emulsion. According to the definition

contained in that dictionary, as supplied by the broker, the term

emulsion especially refers to a suspension of sensitive silver salt

or a mixture of silver halides in a viscous medium. The referenced

Manual, in one of the 3 definitions it gives for emulsion,

indicates that an emulsion is a gelatin or collodion solution

holding light-sensitive salts of silver in suspension. We also

noted that the Pocket Pal\~, as referenced by the broker, indicates

that there are 2 types of photographic plates using silver halides.

We noted that silver halide may be considered a usual

component of a photographic emulsion. This is confirmed by The - 3 -

American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition (1982), which

states that an emulsion is \"A light sensitive coating , usually of

silver halide,\....\" However, in referring to the introductory

material in the Pocket Pal\~ regarding \"Photomechanic\'s\", we note

that the light sensitive coatings used in the photomechanical

process may incorporate other materials such as diazo compounds.

We also note, in considering the Explanatory Notes (EN\'s) to the

Harmonized System which represent the view of the tariff

classification experts at the international level, that silver

halides are the most common emulsions for photographic plates.

However, as stated in the General Note to Chapter 37 of the EN\'s,

other materials may be used, e.g., diazonium salts for diazo

emulsions. Based on these sources, we have concluded that the

emulsion which forms a photosensitive coating need not be composed

of silver halide, but may be composed of other materials such as

diazo compounds.

In considering the application of the exclusionary sentence

at the end of Part A of EN 84.42, we note that while the examples

listed therein do not specifically appear to cover the article

under consideration, the sentence states that sensitized plates

are excluded from Chapter 84 and that they should be placed under

heading 3701. We also note that Note 2 to Chapter 37, HTSUSA,

states \"\...the word \~photographic \~ relates to a process which

permits the formation of visible images directly or indirectly by

the action of light or other forms of radiation on sensitive

surfaces.\" We thus believe it is clear that photosensitive plates

need not contain silver halide and that diazo compounds may give

photographic plates their sensitivity. We specifically note that

the coating of the articles under considering are a mixture of

photosensitive diazo compounds, cellulose acetate butyrate plastic

and a urethane plastic material which sets upon UV exposure.

In summary, we have concluded that photosensitive plates need

not contain silver halide and that such plates, regardless of

whether their coating contains such halides or other photosensitive

compounds, is classifiable under the provision for photographic

plates in Chapter 37, HTSUSA.

HOLDING:

Plates coated with a photosensitive material composed of

diazo compounds which will be imaged photographically by a printer

and then used as a printing plates on a press are - 4 -

classifiable under subheading 3701.30.0000, HTSUSA. Such plates

are subject to a general rate of duty of 3.7 per cent ad valorem.

Since the rate of duty under the classification indicated

above is the same as the liquidated rate, you are instructed to

deny the protest in full. A copy of this ruling should be attached

to Customs Form 19 and provided to the protestant as part of the

notice of action on the protest.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

Commercial Rulings Division