HQ 087534: Oyster and scallop cultivator constructed of openworkRaschel like knit is not a net.

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 087534

                         August 30, 1990




CLA-2 CO:R:C:G  087534  HP

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:  6307.90.9590

Mr. John F. Cowen
Philip T. Cowen Customhouse Brokers
1918 E. Elizabeth
Brownsville, TX 78520

RE:  Oyster and scallop cultivator constructed of openwork
Raschel like knit is not a net.

Dear Mr. Cowen:

     This is in reply to your letters of April 5, 1990, and June
16, 1990, concerning the tariff classification and potential duty
reduction of a Salt Water Oyster & Scallop Cultivator, produced
in the United States and Mexico, under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).  Please
reference your client Taylor Ocean Industries, Inc.  Only the
tariff classification issue will be responded to in this letter;
the issue of potential duty reduction under heading 9802, HTSUSA,
has been referred to our Value and Special Admissability Branch,
and will be undertaken in a future correspondence.

FACTS:

     The merchandise at issue consists of an oyster and scallop
cultivator.  The cultivator is constructed of carbon steel rings
coated with polyethylene, and polyethylene openwork fabric and
rope.  It comes in either 3 or 6 tier sizes.

     This device is used to grow these mollusks in a controlled
salt water environment.  Oyster and scallop seeds are placed
inside each tier, where they grow to maturity.  The creatures are
then harvested by pulling the device out of the water.

ISSUE:

     What is the classification of the cultivator?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Heading 5608, HTSUSA, provides for made up nets of textile
materials.  The Explanatory Notes (EN) to the HTSUSA constitute
the official interpretation of the tariff at the international
level.  While not legally binding, they do represent the
considered views of classification experts of the Harmonized
System Committee.  It has therefore been the practice of the
Customs Service to follow, whenever possible, the terms of the
Explanatory Notes when interpreting the HTSUSA.

     The EN to heading 5608 states, in pertinent part:

               Made up nets are nets, whether or not
          ready for use, made directly to shape or
          assembled from pieces of netting.  The
          presence of handles, rings, weights, floats,
          cords or other accessories does not affect
          the classification of the goods of this
          group.

The EN to heading 5804, HTSUSA, defines net fabrics as follows:

          Net fabrics have three series of threads:
          parallel warp threads, mesh threads and
          binding threads (e.g., filet nets).  Each
          mesh thread runs alternately alongside
          different warps forming square meshes as it
          passes from one to the other.  The binding
          threads hold the fabric together by binding
          the mesh threads to the warp threads in
          certain places (see Figure 4).  [Figure
          omitted.]

     The cultivator's fabric does not meet this description.
Laboratory analysis has determined that the cultivator has an
openwork construction with a distinct warp direction, similar to
a knit assembled by Raschel knitting.  Since the fabric fails to
qualify as net fabric, the cultivator cannot be classified in
heading 5608.  See HRL 086013 of February 2, 1990 (hammock not
constructed of net fabric not classifiable in 5608).

     Heading 6307, HTSUSA, provides for made up articles of
textiles not more specifically provided for in Section XI.  As no
heading covers the cultivator, it is classifiable as an other
article.

HOLDING:

     As a result of the foregoing, the instant merchandise is
classified under heading 6307.90.9590, HTSUSA, as other made up
articles, including dress patterns, other, other, other, other.
Articles classified under subheading 6307.90.9590, HTSUSA, when
imported from designated beneficiary countries, are entitled to a
duty rate of Free under the Generalized System of Preferences.
Section 503, Trade Act of 1974.  Otherwise, the General rate of
duty is 7 percent ad valorem.


                            Sincerely,


                      JOHN DURANT, DIRECTOR
                   COMMERCIAL RULINGS DIVISION