HQ 088411

April 23, 1991

CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 088411 KWM

CATEGORY: Classification

TARIFF NO.: 6307.90.9490

Ms. Marcia Beiley

Beiley & Greenberg

Suite 125

7600 Southwest 57th Avenue

Miami, Florida 33143

RE: Reconsideration of NYRL 855591 and NYRL 838361;

Revocation or modification denied; Textile bags; Liquor

bottle bags; Shoe bags; Specially shaped or fitted;

Travel bag; Other made up textile articles.

Dear Ms. Beiley:

We have received your correspondence dated December 20,

1990 and January 4, 1991, requesting a revocation or

modification of New York Ruling Letters 855591 and 838361.

After consideration of the issues raised in your letter, we

decline to revoke or modify the rulings as you requested.

FACTS:

The articles at issue are bags made of textile material.

The samples vary in size, but are uniform in design. They are

closed on the sides and bottom and open on the top. The

opening closes by means of a drawstring sewn into the lip of

the bag. The bags are intended to hold merchandise such as a

liquor bottle, a pair of shoes, or a shoe tree.

The piece goods, drawstring, eyelets and thread are

manufactured/assembled in the United States and consolidated

in Miami. They are assembled in Port Au Prince, Haiti, and

embroidered with the name and/or logo of the customer. They

are returned to the United States via San Juan, Puerto Rico,

or Miami, Florida.

Your letter of December 20, 1990, asserts that the bags

are not the \"primary packaging\" for their contents. Instead,

they are a marketing device used to attract consumers. For

shipping and sales purposes, the bag and its contents are

packed in other, more substantial, containers.

Your letter of December 20, 1990, also includes a history

of previous ruling letters issued to your client, Newhit

Industries, Ltd. Of the three ruling letters you have

identified, one was issued under the auspices of the Tariff

Schedules of the United States (TSUS), a superseded tariff

nomenclature. The remaining two were issued by our New York

office; New York Ruling Letter (NYRL) 838361 issued on March

15, 1989, and NYRL 855591 issued August 29, 1990. Neither the

samples nor original submission letters were available to us

for consideration in this case. Both NYRL\'s classified the

products at issue in heading 4202, HTSUSA, as travel, sports

and similar bags. You ask that we reconsider that

classification.

ISSUE:

Are the textile bags at issue travel or similar bags of

heading 4202, HTSUSA, or are they other made up textile

articles of heading 6307, HTSUSA?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Because no samples were available for reconsideration of

the New York Ruling Letters issued to you, we will not

consider their revocation or modification. The descriptions

provided in each of those rulings is so vague that we cannot,

in hindsight, accurately determine whether the merchandise at

issue was correctly classified. Therefore, it is our decision

that such classification should not be subject to second-

guessing.

However, we note that the Customs Regulations provide

that binding rulings are applicable only to the merchandise

and transaction(s) for which the ruling is issued. Therefore,

we consider your most recent request to be a new binding

ruling request in anticipation of prospective transactions in

this merchandise.

Classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) is made in accordance

with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI\'s). The

systematic detail of the harmonized system is such that

virtually all goods are classified by application of GRI 1,

that is, according to the terms of the headings of the tariff

schedule and any relevant Section or Chapter Notes.

Heading 4202, HTSUSA, provides for a number of distinct

but related items. Among, them is a provision for \"travel,

sports and similar bags.\" Additional U.S. Note 1 states that:

. . . the expression \"travel, sports and similar bags\"

means goods . . . of a kind designed for carrying

clothing and other personal effects during travel,

including backpacks and shopping bags . . . \[but not\]

bottle cases and similar containers.

(Emphasis in the original). We do not consider the instant

merchandise to be \"travel sports and similar bags\" or any

other type of article similar to those of heading 4202,

HTSUSA. That heading is not considered a \"use\" provision, nor

is it strictly an eo nomine provision. In classifying goods

as \"similar\" we look to certain factors which identify the

merchandise as being ejusdem generis to the exemplars given.

Travel, sports and similar bags may reasonably encompass any

article which has the potential to carry \"clothing and

personal effects\" during travel. However, we also consider

other factors to narrow the scope of the subheading. In

Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 086852, we said that the

\"textile drawstring pouches\" did not \"possess the

substantiality required of heading 4202, HTSUSA.\" HRL 086852

also found that the textile drawstring pouches, similar to

those at issue here, were not \"specially shaped or fitted\"

similar to other articles of heading 4202, HTSUSA. Those

factors (or absence thereof) indicate an exclusion from

classification in heading 4202, HTSUSA. Coupled with your

assertions that the bags are not designed for use while

traveling, we find that, legally, the terms of heading 4202,

HTSUSA, do not include this merchandise.

Heading 6307, HTSUSA, provides for other made up textile

articles. Customs has classified other bags such as these in

heading 6307, HTSUSA; for example, certain shoe bags and

textile pouches for purses. In most cases, bags such as these

are imported with the article they will contain and are

classified with that article. However, when imported

separately, we believe that they are properly classified as

other made up textile articles. The Explanatory Notes to

heading 6307, HTSUSA, substantiate that belief:

This heading covers made up articles of any textile

material which are not included more specifically in

other headings of Section XI or elsewhere in the

Nomenclature.

It includes, in particular:

. . .

\(5\) Domestic laundry or shoe bags, stocking,

handkerchief or slipper sachets, pyjama or

nightdress cases and similar articles.

Shoe bags and similar articles are domestic items designed to

store and protect the articles they contain. Their character

is not that of a bag designed to transport personal belongings

while traveling.

HOLDING:

We decline to revoke or modify New York Ruling Letters

838361 or 855591. However, those ruling letters are, by

regulation, limited to the goods described therein. We cannot

determine from the descriptions given that the findings of the

rulings are incorrect, and therefore will not revoke or modify

them.

The merchandise presented with your request, described as

textile drawstring bags, are classified for purposes of future

transactions in subheading 6307.90.9490, HTSUSA, as other

made up textile articles, other. The applicable rate of duty

is 7 percent ad valorem. There is no textile visa category

associated with this classification. Please note that the

U.S. subheadings (the eight- and ten-digit breakouts) under

heading 6307, HTSUSA, were amended pursuant to Presidential

Proclamation 6245, dated February 6, 1991.

Sincerely,

John A. Durant

Director

Commercial Rulings Division