Court Opinion

ID: 9489953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:28:52.928803+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:49.329309
License: Public Domain

EDWARD S. SMITH, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because I disagree with the majority’s classification of the shingles and roll roofing at issue under the HTSUS. The majority finds that the application of GRI 1 to these tariff classifications mandates the classification of products at issue under heading 4811. When the function of the merchandise is considered, it becomes clear that the shingles are properly classified under heading 6807.
Heading 4811 describes paper that has been “coated, impregnated, [or] covered” and formed into rolls or sheets, while 6807 classifies “[a]rticles of asphalt.” Chapter Note 1(b) of Chapter 68 specifically excludes “[c]oated, impregnated or covered paper of heading No. 48.10 or 48.11 (for example, ... asphalted paper).” At first blush, it seems that the products in question could be classified under either heading, so the classification must turn on the definition of “asphalted paper.”
There is a point where paper treated with a material can no longer be described as treated paper, and becomes an article whose essence is the treating material. While the majority would classify this merchandise as paper coated with asphalt, the products are more accurately described as articles of asphalt with a paper substrate. The asphalt provides the product’s waterproofing capabilities and the paper, which makes up only 11-13% of the product, merely serves as a carrier for the asphalt. Asphalt is rarely used in its pure form to waterproof roofs — some substrate is typically required. While paper provides this necessary function in the products at issue, it is the asphalt that provides the dominant characteristics of the products.
Therefore, at some point, when paper is no longer a significant component of the product, it must cease to be classified as a paper product. While not binding, the Explanato*629ry Notes (“Notes ”) to heading 6807 also imply the existence of such a “crossover point.” The Notes state that heading 6807 excludes “[p]aper merely coated, impregnated or covered with tar or similar material, intended for use as, for example, wrapping paper (heading 4811).” By describing materials that are properly classified under heading 4811 as “[p]aper merely coated ...,” the drafters of the Notes evidence an intent to classify paper products under 4811 that have not reached the crossover point and taken on the characteristics of the treating materials.
The Notes to Chapter 68 farther support the government’s claim that these products have crossed the line into heading 6807 in contemplating the functionality of the products under the respective sections. While the Notes suggest that products properly classifiable under section 4811 include “wrapping papers,” the Notes to heading 6807 state that that heading includes “[r]oofing boards consisting of a substrate (e.g., of paperboard, of web or fabric of glass fibre, of fabric of man-made fibre or jute, or of aluminum foil) completely enveloped in, or covered on both sides by, a layer of asphalt or similar material.” Clearly, the function of the products at issue here is more akin to the function of products properly classifiable under heading 6807 than to “wrapping paper.”
The majority does not contend that Chapter 68 can never encompass any asphalted paper felt, but that the Explanatory Notes preclude classification of the shingles and roll roofing at issue under heading 6807 because the term “roofing boards” suggests products that are stiff and structural. The substrates set forth in the Note (i.e. paper, fiberglass, jute, aluminum foil) hardly suggest load-bearing potential. Whether rolled or cut into shingles, these products are significantly stiffer than paper, and hence their description as “boards” is not completely inappropriate. Moreover, the majority’s argument is inconsistent with their willingness to classify the non-reetangular Armour-Lock shingles under heading 6807, even though they are no more rigid than the other shingles at issue. After this requirement of rigidity is set aside, roof coverings of the type in question here are clearly properly classified under heading 6807.

Conclusion

Because the products at issue have “crossed the line” from classification as paper products under heading 4811 to articles of asphalt under heading 6807, application of headings and chapter notes along with the support of the Explanatory Notes mandates classification of the products under the latter provision. Therefore, I would reverse the decision of the Court of International Trade and reinstate Customs’ original ruling.