HQ 082138

September 19, 1989

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G 082138 JLJ, 827163

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 4811.90.8000, 4802.20.0000, 4802.52.1000

Mr. Jonathan R. Moore

Windels, Marx, Davis & Ives

1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

RE: Tariff classification of blueprint and copier papers

Dear Mr. Moore:

You requested tariff classifications under the Harmonized

Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) for three

papers manufactured in Belgium for your client, Intermills

Incorporated. You submitted samples of all three papers along

with your request.

FACTS:

The papers at issue are called Dyeline, Electrophotographic

(EPG) Offset Master Base and EPG Base Paper. All three are made

from bleached pulp. All three were analyzed by the New York

Customs Laboratory in Laboratory Report No. 2-88-10568-003 of

March 22, 1988.

Dyeline is used only for making blueprints. It weighs 77.1

grams per square meter. It is 0.091 millimeters thick. Dyeline

is made of 100 percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of

3.4 percent. It is coated with an optical brightener, but not

with any photosensitive coating. The optical brightener is an

organic dye.

EPG Base Paper is used in photocopiers as the plain white

copier paper which receives the copies. It weighs 66.4 grams per

square meter. It is 0.0635 millimeters thick. It consists of

100 percent chemical pulp. EPG Base Paper has an ash content of

7.4 percent. In its imported condition, it is not coated.

EPG Offset Master Base Paper functions as a master plate in

photocopiers. It weighs 110 grams per square meter. It is 0.117

millimeters thick. EPG Offset Master Base Paper is made of 100

percent chemical pulp. It has an ash content of 7.5 percent. In

its imported condition, it is not coated.

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ISSUE:

What are the HTSUSA classifications of these papers?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

You argue that EPG Base Paper and EPG Offset Master Base

Paper are classified under the provision for paper and paperboard

of a kind used as a base for photo-sensitive, heat-sensitive or

electro-sensitive paper or paperboard, in subheading

4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. You cite St. Regis v. United States, Slip.

Op. 87-97 (decided September 23, 1987), in support of your

position. You claim that it makes no difference that the EPG

Base Paper is plain white copier paper used to make copies while

the EPG Offset Master Base Paper is used as a master plate to

transfer images to other sheets of paper.

We disagree. The paper at issue in St. Regis v. United

States was a zinc-oxide coated black calendered paper substrate

which was used within the machine as a type of negative. The

United States Customs Service has interpreted St. Regis v. United

States to mean that only similar papers are to be classified

accordingly. The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is to be used as a

master plate to transfer images to other sheets of paper, just as

the paper at issue in St. Regis v. United States was. The EPG

Offset Master Base Paper is therefore classifiable in subheading

4802.20.0000, HTSUSA, which is a duty-free provision.

The EPG Base Paper is not used as a master image in the

photocopier machine. It has been our experience previously that

copier paper is plain white paper capable of being written on.

The American Paper Institute, in its May 1984 Supplement to

the Dictionary of Paper, Fourth Edition (1980), stated that

\"\...there is now a need for additional definitional material

describing writing papers and printing papers.\" Page 1 of the

Supplement, in the \"Description of Uncoated Writing and Related

Papers\" portion, states that \"Writing papers consist of a wide

variety of papers suitable for pen and ink writing or for use

with the typewriter, automatic accounting equipment, copiers,

computers, etc.\" It says that \"They are usually used by an

individual, within a company for correspondence, copying,

computer output or on a direct basis\--conducting business trans-

actions.\" The Supplement specifically notes that \"End use

products include, but are not limited to, writings, letters,

notes, mimeographing, spirit duplicating, electrostatic

copying\....\" Based on the information above, we find that the

instant EPG Base Paper is a writing paper classifiable under the

provision for other paper and paperboard, not containing fibers

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obtained by a mechanical process\...: weighing more than 40 grams

per square meter but not more than 150 grams per square meter:

writing paper, in subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA, dutiable at

the rate of 2.4 percent ad valorem.

The Dyeline paper is coated with an organic dye. As such,

it is classifiable under the provision for other coated paper:

other: other: other: weighing over 30 grams per square meter, in

subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA, dutiable at the rate of 2

percent ad valorem.

HOLDING:

The EPG Offset Master Base Paper is classified in subheading

4802.20.0000, HTSUSA. The EPG Base Paper is classified in

subheading 4802.52.1000, HTSUSA. The Dyeline paper is classified

in subheading 4811.90.8000, HTSUSA.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

Commercial Rulings Division

JLJohnson:tj:typed 07/26/89

Jones Library

name: 082138JLJ

6cc: A.D. N.Y. Seap. (NIS-234)

1cc: D.D., Baltimore, Md.