HQ 087897: Internal Advice 61/90, automobile window guides, goods originating in the territory of Canada under the Automobile Products Trade Act ("APTA") and the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement ("CFTA"); General Note 3(c)(iii), General Note 3(c)(vii); New York Ruling 824832

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 087897

                        December 5, 1990

CLA-2 CO:R:C:G  087897  JMH

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF NO.:

Assistant District Director
Commercial Operations Division
U.S. Customs Service
Patrick V. McNamara Building, Suite 200
477 Michigan Ave
Detroit, MI  48266

RE:  Internal Advice 61/90, automobile window guides, goods
     originating in the territory of Canada under the Automobile
     Products Trade Act ("APTA") and the United States-Canada
     Free Trade Agreement ("CFTA"); General Note 3(c)(iii),
     General Note 3(c)(vii); New York Ruling 824832

Dear Sir:

     This is in response to your request for Internal Advice, IA
No. 61/90 concerning certain automobile window guides and their
status under the Automobile Products Trade Act ("APTA").

FACTS:

     The articles in question are plastic automobile window
guides.  The guides are manufactured in the United States and
then sent to Canada where they are painted.  The guides are
imported into the United States in their painted condition.

     These plastic automobile window guides were the subject of
New York Ruling 824832 ("NY 824832"), a ruling issued under the
Tariff Schedules of the United States ("TSUS").  NY 824832
considered whether the window guides were entitled to duty free
entry under APTA.  One of the requirements under the TSUS for
goods to receive APTA duty treatment was that the goods must be
"Canadian articles."  It was determined in NY 824832 that the
window guides did not meet the definition of "Canadian articles",
and thus, the guides did not receive APTA treatment.

     Under the present Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States Annotated ("HTSUSA"), a new definition for the term
"Canadian article" has been adopted.  When the United States-
Canada Free-Trade Agreement ("CFTA") was implemented, APTA was
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altered to utilize the definition of a "Canadian article"
provided for within the CFTA.  The importer believes that under
the new definition of "Canadian article" the window guides are
now entitled to duty free entry under APTA.

ISSUE:

     Are the plastic automobile window guides, the subject of NY
824832, entitled to duty free status under APTA due to the new
definition of the term "Canadian article?"

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The requirements that an automotive component must meet to
be allowed entry under APTA are set out in General Note
3(c)(iii), HTSUSA.  The first requirement is that the automotive
component must be a "Canadian article", and such an article
"originates in Canada, as defined in subdivision (c)(vii) of this
note."

     General Note 3(c)(vii) are the HTSUSA provisions for the
CFTA.  Under the CFTA, "goods imported into the customs territory
of the United States are eligible for treatment as 'goods
originating in the territory of Canada' only if--

     (1)  they are goods wholly obtained or produced in the
          territory of Canada and/or the United States, or

     (2)  they have been transformed in the territory of Canada
          and/or the United States, so as to be subject--

          (I)  to a change in tariff classification as described
               in the rules of subdivision (c)(vii)(R) of this
               note, or

          (II) to such other requirements subdivision (c)(vii)(R)
               of this note may provide when no change in tariff
               classification occurs, and they meet the other
               conditions set out in subdivisions (c)(vii)(F),
               (G), (H), (I), (J) and (R) of this note."

     See General Note 3(c)(vii)(B), HTSUSA.

     The importer believes that the automobile window guides in
question meet the requirement of part (1), that they are "goods
wholly obtained or produced in the territory of Canada and/or the
United States."  General Note 3(c)(vii)(L), HTSUSA, defines the
term "goods wholly obtained or produced..."  This definition
includes in relevant part mineral goods extracted in the United


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States or Canada, goods harvested in the United States or
Canada, and goods produced in the United States and/or Canada
that are made exclusively from such extracted minerals or
harvested goods.

     In order for the window guides to be "wholly obtained or
produced" every ingredient in the plastic and the paint must be
made exclusively from such extracted minerals or harvested goods
in the United States and/or Canada.  We do not have sufficient
facts or evidence to make this determination.

     The second method by which the automobile guides may be
originating goods under the CFTA is to undergo an authorized
transformation under subdivision (R) of the note.  It is the
foreign component which must be transformed.  Since it has not
been stated otherwise, this office assumes that the paint is
considered a foreign component.  Since the plastic automobile
guide is an originating good under the CFTA upon entry into
Canada, it is the paint which must be transformed.

     Paint is classified in Chapter 32, HTSUSA.  Automobile
window guides are classified in Chapter 87, HTSUSA, as parts of
motor vehicles.  Once the paint is placed on the window guides,
the paint becomes a component of the window guides and loses its
own classification.  General Note 3(c)(vii)(R)(17)(aa) states
that a change from one chapter to another is an authorized
transformation.  Since the paint changes classification from
Chapter 32 to Chapter 87, it is an authorized transformation
under General Note 3(c)(vii)(R).

     The plastic automobile window guides meet the transformation
requirements under General Note 3(c)(vii)(B)(2)(I).  The window
guides are "goods originating in the territory of Canada" under
General Note 3(c)(vii).  As goods which originate in Canada, they
meet the requirements of General Note 3(c)(iii), the APTA
provision.  Therefore, the automobile window guides are "Canadian
articles" for APTA purposes and are eligible for APTA treatment.

HOLDING:

     Under General Note 3(c)(vii)(B)(2)(I), foreign components
must be transformed in accordance with General Note 3(c)(vii)(R)
to be considered "goods originating in the territory of Canada."
The American plastic automobile window guides, the subject of NY
824832, are painted in Canada with what may be non-originating
paint.  The paint is transformed from classification within
Chapter 32 to classification in Chapter 87 with the automobile
window guides.  This transformation is an authorized
transformation under General Note 3(c)(vii)(R)(17)(aa).  The
painted automobile window guides are "goods originating in the

                               -4-


territory of Canada" for purposes of General Note 3(c)(vii).  As
goods which originate in Canada, they meet the requirements of
General Note 3(c)(iii), the APTA provision.  Therefore, the
automobile window guides are "Canadian articles" for APTA
purposes and are eligible for the APTA duty rates.

                              Sincerely,



                              John Durant, Director
                              Commercial Rulings Division