HQ 952940: Decision on Application for Further Review of Protest No. 3604-92-100001; wood worked along the edges excluded from heading 4409, HTSUSA; proper classification, heading 4418, HTSUSA.

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 952940

                         March 24, 1993

CLA-2  CO:R:C:T  952940  jb

CATEGORY:  Classification

TARIFF:  4418.90.4090

District Director
209 Federal Building
Duluth, Minnesota 55802

RE:  Decision on Application for Further Review of Protest No.
     3604-92-100001; wood worked along the edges excluded from
     heading 4409, HTSUSA; proper classification, heading 4418,
     HTSUSA.

Dear Sir:

     This is a decision on application for further review of a
protest timely filed on behalf of Edward Hines Lumber Co., Inc,
on February 21, 1992, against your decision regarding the
classification of solid oak floor boards.  The date of
liquidation for the merchandise was January 3, 1992.

FACTS:

     The subject merchandise consists of solid oak boards, 1/2
inch thick, 2-1/4 inches or 3-1/4 inches wide, and 21-1/4 inches
or 31-1/4 inches long.  A number of these boards are packed
together and sold as flooring.  The boards are tongued and
grooved along the edges as well as along the ends.  In addition,
the top surface is routed lengthwise.

     The merchandise was originally entered in subheading
4409.20.2560, HTSUSA, which provides for nonconiferous wood
flooring.  Customs classified the merchandise in heading
4418.90.4090, HTSUSA, which provides for other builders' joinery
and carpentry of wood.

ISSUE:

     Is the merchandise properly classifiable in heading 4409,
HTSUSA, or heading 4418, HTSUSA?





LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA) is in accordance
with the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI), taken in order. 
GRI 1 requires that classification be determined according to the
terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes.
Where goods cannot be classified solely on the basis of GRI 1,
the remaining GRI will be applied, in the order of their
appearance.

     The hierarchal arrangement of the headings and subheadings
of the Schedule mandates that in order to classify an article at
the six, eight or ten digit levels, the criteria at the four
digit level must first be satisfied.

     Heading 4409, HTSUSA, provides for:

     WOOD (INCLUDING STRIPS AND FRIEZES FOR PARQUET FLOORING, NOT
     ASSEMBLED) CONTINUOUSLY SHAPED (TONGUED, GROOVED, REBATED,
     CHAMFERED, V-JOINTED, BEADED, MOLDED, ROUNDED OR THE LIKE)
     ALONG ANY OF ITS EDGES OR FACES, WHETHER OR NOT PLANED,
     SANDED OR FINGER-JOINTED.  (Emphasis added).

     The heading thus specifically provides for wood which is
continuously worked (shaped) along any of the edges or faces; it
is silent on wood which is worked along the ends.  Wood which is
worked along the ends is beyond the scope of this heading.

     The Explanatory Notes to the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System (EN), are the official
interpretation of the tariff at the international level.  The EN
to heading 4409, HTSUSA, state in part:

     The heading also excludes:

     (b) Wood which has been mortised or tenoned, dovetailed or  
         similarly worked at the ends and wood assembled into    
         panels being builders' carpentry or joinery (e.g.,      
         parquet flooring panels made up from parquet flooring   
         blocks, strips, etc., whether or not on a support of one 
         or more layers of wood) (heading 44.18). (Emphasis      
         added)

     As per both the terms of heading 4409, HTSUSA, and the EN to
that same heading, the protested floor boards, which are tongued
and grooved at the edges and the ends, are clearly not provided
for, and specifically precluded from inclusion in heading 4409,
HTSUSA.



     Heading 4418, HTSUSA, provides for builders' joinery and
carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels, assembled
parquet panels; shingles and shakes.  As this heading provides
more accurately for the merchandise at issue, the merchandise was
correctly classified by the import specialist in heading 4418.

HOLDING:

     The merchandise described as solid oak floor boards tongued
and grooved on the edges and ends was properly classified in
subheading 4418.90.4090, HTSUSA, which provides for other
builders' joinery and carpentry of wood.  

     You are instructed to deny the protest in full.  A copy of
this decision should be appended to the Form 19 Notice of Action
and furnished to the protestant.



                           Sincerely,




                           John Durant, Director