HQ 084068: Reconsideration of NYRL 837830 of March 17, 1989

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 084068

                                  July 21, 1989


      CLA-2 CO:R:C:G  084068  CMR

      CATEGORY: Classification

      TARIFF NO.:

      Ms. Julie White
      Import Specialist
      Nordstrom
      P.O. Box 870
      Seattle, Washington 98111-0870

      RE: Reconsideration of NYRL 837830 of March 17, 1989

      Dear Ms. White:

           This ruling is in response to your letter of March 28, 1989,
      requesting reconsideration of NYRL 837830 of March 17, 1989.  In that
      ruling, plastic hangers imported with garments were classified with
      the garments with which they are imported.

      FACTS:

           Samples of various styles of hangers were submitted.  All of the
      hangers are plastic with metal wire top hooks.  Some have metal
      clasps for skirts or slacks.  The hangers are imported with garments
      for the purpose of shipping and handling the garments they support.
      The hangers are removed from these garments at retail.  When a
      garment is sold, the hanger is removed and reused to display another
      garment.

           The countries of origin of the hangers are Hong Kong, Taiwan and
      Korea.

      ISSUE:

           Were the hangers properly classified in NYRL 837830 with the
      garments with which they are imported?

      LAW AND ANALYSIS:

           The classification of the plastic hangers with the garments with
      which they are imported in NYRL 837830 was based on the decision in
      Holly Stores, Inc. v. The United States, 534 F. Supp. 818 (1981),











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      aff'd, 697 F.2d 1387 (Fed.Cir. 1982).  Although this decision
      involves the interpretation of the meaning of "reuse" as it appears
      in General Headnote 6(b) of the Tariff Schedules of the United States
      (TSUS), we believe it is applicable in understanding the meaning of
      "repetitive use" as it appears in General Rule of Interpretation
      (GRI) 5(b) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
      Each provision addresses the issue of when containers imported with
      goods are classifiable with those goods or classifiable separately.

           Holly Stores involved the classification of plastic and plastic
      coated wire clothes hangers imported with garments by the plaintiff,
      Holly Stores.  The issue turned on whether the hangers were "designed
      for, or capable of, reuse" within the meaning of General Headnote
      6(b), TSUS.  If considered designed for, or capable of, reuse, the
      hangers were to be treated as separate articles of commerce; if not,
      they were to be treated as part of the value of the clothing with
      which they were shipped and dutied at the rate for the clothing.

           You state that the hangers at issue are used for more than the
      shipping and handling of the garments with which they are imported.
      The hangers are reused many times for displaying other garments in
      your stores.  The hangers in Holly Stores were also used for
      displaying other garments after the garments they were shipped with
      were sold.  The Court in Holly Stores found that such "reuse" of the
      hangers was not sufficient to be considered reuse in the commercial
      sense as contemplated in General Headnote 6(b).  The reuse of the
      hangers by the plaintiff's stores was "limited to the operation of
      [the plaintiff's] own enterprise."  The Court found the reuse of the
      hangers to be only "incidental and fugitive relative to [the
      plaintiff's] own scale of operations."  While we recognize that the
      hangers at issue here are more substantial in construction than those
      at issue in Holly Stores, their use is very much the same.

           The term "reuse" as used in the container provision, General
      Headnote 6(b), is reuse in a practical, commercial sense.  It is
      reuse in terms of commercial shipping or transportation purposes.
      Tariff Classification Study, Seventh Supplemental Report, page 99.
      Reuse such as that claimed is not the reuse contemplated.  As the
      Court stated in Holly Stores at 289, the hangers do not enter the
      mainstream of commerce; they do not become separate items of
      commerce.  The function of the hangers was for shipment and
      presentation of the garments to the consumer.  Reuse of the hangers
      to hang other garments was not viewed by the Court as a reuse in the
      commercial sense intended in General Headnote 6(b).

           We believe the Court's interpretation of "reuse" in Holly Stores
      applies to the interpretation of "repetitive use" in GRI 5(b) and the
      correct application of that Rule of Interpretation.  "Clearly
      suitable for repetitive use" as used in GRI 5(b) is taken to mean
      repetitive use in the practical, commercial sense.  This
      interpretation follows the case law as reflected in Holly Stores and











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      other various container cases.  See, United States v. Hohner et al.,
      4 Ct.Cust.Appls. 122, T.D. 33393 (1913); United States v. W.J.
      Mulligan & Co., 29 CCPA 117, C.A.D. 179 (1941); and R.J. Saunders &
      Co., Inc. v. United States, 69 Cust. Ct. 151, C.D. 4387 (1972).

           The reuse of the hangers at issue is not viewed as a repetitive
      use in the commercial sense.

      HOLDING:

           The hangers at issue were correctly classified in NYRL 837830
      with the garments with which they are imported, and therefore,
      dutiable at the same rate as such garments.


                                      Sincerely,



                                      John Durant, Director
                                      Commercial Rulings Division








































      6cc: Area Director, New York Seaport
      1cc: CITA
      1cc: Legal Reference Section
      1cc: Phil Robins