# HQ 963570

September 26, 2000

CLA-2 RR:CR:TE 963570 RH

Category: Classification

TARIFF NO.:. 4412.99.4500

Area Port Director

U.S. Customs Service

4735 Oakland Street

Denver, CO 80239

RE: Application for Further Review of Protest Number 3307-99-100030;

> Wood Flooring; Heading 4412; Heading 4418

Dear Sir:

This is a decision on the Application for Further Review of Protest
(AFR) numbers 3307-99-100030, filed by Gallagher Transport
International, Inc., on behalf of Gamweger, Reto (d/b/a Edelweiss Wood
Flooring). The protest is against Customs classification of wood
flooring as plywood under heading 4412 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule
of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA). The protestant asserts that the
merchandise is correctly classified under heading 4418, HTSUSA, as
builder's joinery and carpentry of wood, specifically parquet panels.

Customs liquidated the entry covering the merchandise at issue on
January 22, 1999, and the protestant timely filed the AFR on April 16,
1999. Review of the AFR is warranted under sections 74.24 and 174.25 of
the Customs Regulations (19 CFR §§174.24 and 174.25).

\- 2 -

FACTS:

The merchandise in question is a laminated product consisting of three
wood plies with the grain of each ply at an angle to its adjacent ply.
The face ply consists of one veneer strip across the width. Two samples
were submitted, one with the outer surfaces made of larch and the other
of beech.

> The facts presented (including the samples) describing the merchandise
> in question do not agree. Thus we are describing all the possibilities
> presented (including the samples). However, we note that **ALL** the
> products are laminated boards, specifically **plywood**. The
> discrepancies occur in the species used and the sizes of the boards
> covered by the subject protest.
>
> According to the information submitted, the boards may be 15 mm or 21
> mm thick, 6.2 inches or 7.5 inches wide, and 6.5 feet or 8 feet long.
> The boards are constructed as follows:
>
> 1\. Laminated boards 15 mm thick:
>
> a\. If made of coniferous wood species, the face is 5 mm thick, the
> core is 5 mm thick and the back is 5 mm thick.
>
> b\. If made of nonconiferous wood species, the face ply is 4 mm thick,
> the core is 6 mm thick, and the back ply is 5 mm thick.
>
> 2\. Laminated boards 21 mm thick:
>
> a\. If made of coniferous wood species, the face ply is 5 mm thick,
> the core is 11 mm thick, and the back ply is 5 mm thick.
>
> b\. If made of nonconiferous wood species, the face ply is 4 mm thick,
> the core is 12 mm thick, and the back ply is 5 mm thick.
>
> All the boards are tongued and grooved on the ends and edges. The core
> of the boards is made of spruce or pine, and the face and back are
> made of the same species which can be beech or larch. All the boards
> are face finished with a natural hard wax.

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ISSUE:

Is the flooring at issue classifiable as plywood under heading 4412,
HTSUSA, or as parquet panels under heading 4418, HTSUSA?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Classification of goods under the HTSUS is governed by the General Rules
of Interpretation (GRIs). GRI 1 provides that classification shall be
determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative
section or chapter notes. Where goods cannot be classified solely on the
basis of GRI 1, the remaining GRI will be applied.

Additionally, in interpreting the headings and subheadings, Customs
looks to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
Explanatory Notes (EN), which are not legally binding, but are
recognized as the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at
the international level. It is Customs practice to follow, whenever
possible, the terms of the EN when interpreting the HTSUSA.

Heading 4412, HTSUSA, provides for "Plywood, veneered panels and similar
laminated wood." The EN to heading 4412, HTSUSA, state, in pertinent
part:

This heading covers:

> \(1\) **Plywood** consisting of three or more sheets of wood glued and
> pressed one on the other and generally disposed so that the grains of
> successive layers are at an angle; this gives the panels greater
> strength and, by compensating shrinkage, reduces warping. Each
> component sheet is known as a "ply" and plywood is usually formed of
> an odd number of plies, the middle ply being called the "core".

\* \* \* \* \* \*

> The products of this heading remain classified herein whether or not
> they have been worked to form the shapes provided for in respect of
> the goods of heading 44.09, curved, corrugated, perforated, cut or
> formed to shapes other than square or rectangular and whether or not
> they have been surface or edge worked, or coated or covered (e.g.,
> with textile fabric, plastics, paint, paper or metal) or submitted to
> any other operation, **provided** these operations do not thereby give
> such products the essential character of articles of other headings.
>
> \* \* \* \* \* \*
>
> \- 4 -
>
> *This heading also covers plywood panels or veneered panels, used a
> flooring panels, and sometimes referred to as "parquet flooring".
> These panels have a thin veneer of wood affixed to the surface, so as
> to simulate a flooring panel made up of parquet strips.*

Heading 4418, HTSUSA, provides for "Builders' joinery and carpentry of
wood, including cellular wood panels, assembled parquet panels, and
shingles and shakes." The EN to heading 4418, HTSUSA, state, in
pertinent part:

> This heading also **covers parquet strips, etc., assembled into panels
> or tiles**, with or without borders, including parquet panels or tiles
> consisting of parquet strips assembled on a support of one or more
> layers of wood. These panels or tiles may be tongued and grooved at
> the edges to facilitate assembly.
>
> \* \* \* \* \* \*
>
> *This heading **does not cover:***

(a) *Plywood panels or veneered panels, used as flooring panels, which
    have a thin veneer of wood affixed to the surface, so as to simulate
    a flooring panel made up of parquet strips **(heading 44.12)**.*

The Harmonized System Committee ("HSC") amended the EN to heading 4412
and 4418 in November of 1997 by adding the above-italicized sections.
[See]{.underline}, Annex IJ/14 to Doc. 41.600 E (HSC/20/Nov. 97).
However, because the 1997 amendments have not yet been adopted by
Customs, they have no effect on the classification of the merchandise at
issue.

Customs position with respect to the classification of laminated
flooring in heading 4412 versus heading 4418 is based on a Customs
Cooperation Counsel Classification Opinion ("Opinion"), Document No.
34.153, July 29, 1987. The Opinion stated that rectangular mosaic panels
consisting of wooden strips must display top layers having more than one
strip of wood to be classified under heading 4418 as parquet panels.
Following that reasoning, Customs has consistently classified laminated
wood flooring in heading 4418, HTSUSA, only when it had a face
consisting of [multiple veneer strips]{.underline} of wood.
[See]{.underline}, New York Ruling Letter (NY) 832721, dated November
10, 1988; NY 806603, dated February 24, 1995; Port Decision (PD) A84640,
dated July 2, 1999; Headquarters Ruling

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Letter (HQ) 962031, dated February 17, 1999.[^1] On the other hand,
Customs classified laminated wood flooring with a face veneer consisting
of a [single strip]{.underline} of wood in heading 4412, HTSUSA.
[See]{.underline}, NY E89394, dated November 26, 1999; HQ960361, dated
February 17, 1999.

In its imported condition, the subject merchandise has a plywood
construction, *i.e.*, it consists of three wood plies with the grain of
adjacent layers at an angle to each other. The top layer is a single
veneer strip across the width of the face. Accordingly, it does not
possess the characteristics of parquet panels under heading 4418,
HTSUSA. Customs correctly classified the merchandise as plywood in
heading 4412, HTSUSA.

Finally, our office has already responded to the protestant's concerns
that Customs has allowed Edelweiss' competitors to enter products that
are identical to theirs under a different classification or lower duty
rate. That issue does not need to be addressed again in this decision.

HOLDING:

The protest should be DENIED in full. In accordance with Section
3A(11)(b) of Customs Directive 099 3550-065, dated August 4, 1993,
Subject: Revised Protest Directive, you are to mail this decision,
together with the Customs Form 19, to the protestant no later than 60
days from the date of this letter. Any reliquidation of the entry or
entries in accordance with the decision must be accomplished prior to
mailing the decision.

Sixty days from the date of the decision, the Office of Regulations and
Rulings will make the decision available to Customs personnel, and to
the public on the Customs Home Page on the World Wide Web at
www.customs.ustreas.gov, by means of the Freedom of Information Act, and
other methods of public distribution.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

Commercial Rulings Division

[^1]: ^1^ Customs issued this decision to the protestant in the instant
    case on different merchandise. In that ruling, we classified plywood
    flooring with a face ply containing two strips in heading 4418,
    HTSUSA.