HQ 084168: Expandable Plastic Laths

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 084168

	July 14, 1989


  CLA2:CO:R:C:G    084168 JAS

  CATEGORY:   Classification

  TARIFF NO.: 3926.90.9050

  Kuehne & Nagel, Inc.
  370 Mc Clellan Highway
  East Boston, Massachusetts 02043

  RE:  Expandable Plastic Laths

  Gentlemen:

       	A letter to you from your client, Martek, Inc., Hingham,  Massachusetts, dated March 16, 1989, initiated a request for ruling on the Technos antivibration laths from France.  A
  sample and descriptive literature were submitted.

       	You have indicated that this merchandise may be the  subject of ongoing transactions through the port of Boston.  Therefore, in accordance with section 177.1(a), Customs
  Regulations, this ruling is limited to prospective  transactions only, and does not apply to merchandise already imported.  Our ruling follows.

  FACTS:

       	The articles in question are plastic components used as  damping or antivibration elements in condensers and heat  exchangers.  They represent a technoligical improvement over
  rigid antivibration stakes made of metal, plastic or wood.  The articles in question are made by deflating lengths of  cuttolength plastic tubing by means of a vacuum and sealing
  both ends.  This is their condition as imported.  These  plastic components come in varying lengths as needed for a  particular job.

       	As high speed steam flows in metal tube bundles in condensers and heat exchangers, vibrations occur which cause 


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the metal tubes to clash against each other.  This results in  longitudinal and radial cracks in midspan or where the metal   tubes are attached to plates.  The articles in question  function to cushion and support the metal tube bundles, thus  reducing these damaging vibrations.  As the plastic laths are  inserted into a bundle, their ends are cut to allow the laths to slowly expand together to their original shape, exerting  uniform pressure throughout the tube bundle.

       	You have been advised by Customs officers in Boston that  the provision for other tubes, pipes and hoses, of plastics,  in subheading 3917.32.0050, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
  United States Annotated (HTSUSA) may possibly apply.

  ISSUE:

       	Do expandable plastic laths qualify as tubes, pipes or  hoses for tariff purposes or are they articles of plastic?

  LAW AND ANALYSIS:

       	General Rule of Interpretation (GRI) 1, HTSUSA, states  that for legal purposes classification shall be determined  according to the terms of the headings and any relative
  section or chapter notes.  GRI 3(a), states that when goods  are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings the  heading which provides the most specific description shall be
preferred to headings providing a more general description.

       	Heading 3917 covers tubes, pipes and hoses and fittings  therefor, of plastics, while heading 3926 covers other  articles of plastics and articles of other materials of  headings 3901 to 3914.  Chapter 39, Note 8, HTSUSA, defines  the expression "tub, pipes and hoses" for the purposes of  heading 3917, to mean hollow products, whether  semimanufactures or finished products, of a kind generally  used for conveying, conducting or distributing gases or
liquids (for example, ribbed garden hose, perforated tubes).   The expression also includes sausage casings and other lay  flat tubing.  The plastic laths in question are not within
this definition and are not classifiable in heading 3917.   They are classifiable in heading 3926.

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HOLDING:

       	Expandable plastic laths from France are classifiable  under the provision for other articles of plastics and  articles of other materials of headings 3901 to 3914, in
  subheading 3926.90.9050, HTSUSA.  The rate of duty is 5.3  percent ad valorem.

                              				Sincerely,


                              				John Durant, Director
                              				Commercial Rulings Division