Newly Released CBP HQ Ruling Feb. 16
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Feb. 16 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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H332811: Temporary importation under bond of tin-plated brass strips
| Ruling: (1) Cooper’s proposed modification to its tin-plated brass strips constitutes processing, such that the components described above are eligible for TIB treatment under subheading 9813.00.05. (2) The goods are subject to the USMCA duty deferral restrictions, such that a consumption entry must be filed upon export to Canada or Mexico, and the “lesser of” duties and fees must be paid, in accordance with 19 U.S.C. 4534. |
| Issue: (1) Whether or not Cooper’s tin-plated brass strips qualify for TIB treatment under subheading 9813.00.05, HTSUS, as articles to be processed into articles manufactured or produced in the United States. (2) Whether or not Cooper’s brass plumbing parts are subject to the USMCA lesser of duty rule. |
| Item: Tin-plated brass strips. The strips are to be processed into articles manufactured or produced in the U.S. under subheading 9813.00.05. Cooper is a Canadian metal plating and slitting manufacturer that purchases continuous brass strips from China, imports them into Canada, where the strips are plated with tin and slit. In the U.S., the strips will be processed into brass plumbing parts for use in vehicle manufacturing. The parts are then to be exported to Mexico for that use, and the scrap materials will be exported to Canada. |
| Reason: (1) For articles to make entry under subheading 9813.00.05, two conditions must be met. First, articles may not be processed into “alcohol, distilled spirits, wine, beer or any dilution or mixture of any or all of the foregoing; a perfume or other commodity containing ethyl alcohol ... ; or a product of wheat.” Second, if the processing results in an article other than that described above all articles and valuable wastes resulting from such processing will be exported or destroyed under customs supervision within the bonded period; except that in lieu of the exportation or destruction of valuable wastes, duties may be tendered on such wastes at rates of duties in effect for such wastes at the time of importation. The first condition for entry under subheading 9813.00.05 has been met. For the second one, it is met. To satisfy the requirements of the TIB, the imported article must be timely exported, which is defined as “a severance of goods from the mass of things belonging to this country with an intention of uniting them to the mass of things belonging to some foreign country,” which is done when exporting them to Canada. (2) Cooper intends to modify the tin-plated brass strips, processing them into brass plumbing parts, and thus exceeding the “same condition” operations contemplated by 19 C.F.R. 182.45(b)(1). The articles are not in the “same condition” for purposes of 19 U.S.C. 4534(a)(2) because the characteristics of the tin-plated brass strips have been materially altered to form the brass plumbing parts. |
| Ruling Date: Feb. 8, 2024 |