Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings Jan. 3
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Jan. 3 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
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H335651: Subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, Wooden Flooring
| Ruling: The wooden flooring, as described in both scenarios, is ineligible for preferential tariff treatment under subheading 9802.00.50 when imported into the United States. |
| Issue: Is subheading 9802.00.50 applicable to U.S.-origin wood when imported into the United States from China? |
| Item: Artisan Wood Industry purchases wooden flooring from China that is made from U.S. origin material. In your request, you presented two scenarios whereby wood of U.S. origin will be exported to China for processing. In one scenario, trees are harvested and trimmed into long logs in the U.S., then shipped to China for processing. In China, they are cut at a sawmill into planks of lumber, which are then dried and milled to shape. The flooring is graded and finished in China, then shipped to the U.S. as finished flooring. In the other, trees are harvested and trimmed into long logs in the U.S., then cut at a sawmill in the U.S. into planks of lumber and dried. The planks are then shipped to China, where they are milled to shape. The flooring is finished in China, then shipped to the U.S. as finished flooring. |
| Reason: Eligibility under subheading 9802.00.50 is precluded where: (1) the exported articles are not complete for their intended use and the foreign processing operation is a necessary step in the preparation or manufacture of finished articles; or (2) the operations performed abroad destroy the identity of the exported articles or create new or commercially different articles through a process of manufacture. The U.S.-origin wood (logs or boards) exported to China are incomplete for their intended use as flooring. The processing which includes cutting into planks, milling into specification, grading, and finishing under the first scenario and milling to shape into specific dimensions and finishing under the second scenario exceeds an “alteration,” within the meaning of subheading 9802.00.50. The processes constitute a series of finishing operations which are necessary to the manufacture of the finished flooring. |
| Ruling Date: Dec. 27, 2023 |