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HQ 561623




April 2, 2001

CLA-02:RR:CR:SM 561623 KSG

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 9802.00.80

Ms. Gail T. Cumins, Esq.
Sharretts, Paley, Carter & Blauvelt, P.C. Seventy-Five Broad Street
New York, New York 10004

RE: Applicability of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS; brassieres; heat setting operation

Dear Ms. Cumins:

This is in reference to your letters dated November 30, 1999, and December 1, 2000, on behalf of your client Warnaco Inc. (“Warnaco”), requesting a ruling concerning whether certain women’s undergarments, assembled in Costa Rica from U.S. components, are subject to treatment within heading 9802, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). You submitted samples of sports bras, tank tops, long-length bras, and bodysuits, one set of samples which have not undergone the foreign heat setting operation at issue and another set which have undergone the operation. You also submitted photographs of the machine used to shape the undergarments. At the request of counsel, a conference was held on this matter at Headquarters on November 15, 2000.

FACTS:

You state that Warnaco imports a line of women’s brassieres and other undergarments which “provide shape, control and comfort to the wearer.” The undergarments are assembled in Costa Rica from cut U.S. fabric components and accessories. You state that the U.S. components are merely assembled in Costa Rica. Your inquiry relates solely to whether a post-assembly process is an operation incidental to the assembly process within the meaning of 19 CFR §10.16(b). We assume that you are referring to subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, which allows for a partial duty exemption for U.S. components which are assembled abroad.

Following assembly of the components, but prior to packaging, one of the assembled components is subject to a steam pressing-like operation which sets the shape of the components previously determined by the assembly operation and gives the garments a clean crisp appearance.

The cup portion of the assembled garment is placed in a Warnaco-designed molding or steam pressing machine. The garment is moistened with water and then positioned over a pre-set metal mold through which electricity passes for 20 to 25 seconds which presses out or blocks a portion of the garment creating the rounded shapes in the chest area of the garments. You characterize this operation as a type of pressing.

This ruling is limited to a consideration of whether the heat setting operation will preclude classification of the garments under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS. We are assuming for purposes of this ruling that the garments otherwise satisfy the conditions and requirements of this provision.

ISSUE

Whether the heat setting operation is an operation incidental to the assembly process which will not disqualify the garments from entitlement to a duty exemption provided for in subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, provides a duty exemption for:
articles.. . assembled abroad in whole or in part of fabricated components, the product of the United States, which (a) were exported in condition ready for assembly without further fabrication, (b) have not lost their physical identity in such articles by change in form, shape, or otherwise, and (c) have not been advanced in value or improved in condition abroad except by being assembled and except by operations incidental to the assembly process, such as cleaning, lubricating and painting.

All three requirements of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, must be satisfied before a component may receive a duty allowance. An article entered under this tariff provision is subject to duty upon the full cost or value of the imported assembled article, less the cost or value of the U.S. components assembled therein, upon compliance with the documentary requirements of section 10.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR §10.24).

Section 10.14(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR §10.14(a)), states in part that:

[t]he components must be in condition ready for assembly without further fabrication at the time of their exportation from the United States to qualify for the exemption. Components will not lose their entitlement to the exemption by being subjected to operations incidental to the assembly either before, during, or after their assembly with other components.

Section 10.16(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR §10.16(a)), provides that the assembly operations performed abroad may consist of any method used to join or fit together solid components, such as welding, soldering, riveting, force fitting, gluing, laminating, sewing or the use of fasteners.

Operations incidental to the assembly process are not considered further fabrication operations, as they are of a minor nature and cannot always be provided for in advance of the assembly operations. However, any significant process, operation or treatment whose primary purpose is the fabrication, completion, physical or chemical improvement of a component precludes the application of the exemption under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, to that component. See 19 CFR §10.16(c). Pressing of assembled articles is listed in 19 CFR 10.116(b)(7) as a permissible operation incidental to the assembly process within the meaning of subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS.

Customs held in Headquarters Ruling Letter 554599, dated June 8, 1987, that washing and pressing blue jeans were operations incidental to the assembly process under item 807.00, TSUS (the precursor provision to subheading 9802.00.80). We referred certain of the samples you forwarded to us the to Customs Office of Laboratories & Scientific Services. They concluded that "the heat setting is similar to a pressing operation." They also stated that their research shows that the fiber contents listed on the garment label are heat settable and heat setting is a commonly used procedure for achieving rounded shapes from flat fabrics for garments such as bra cups and is also a procedure used to confer wrinkle resistance to garments.

Based on the facts provided, we find that the heat setting operation constitutes pressing as it sets the shape of already assembled garments and imparts wrinkle resistance to the fabric. The rounded shapes created are relatively minor changes in the shape of the garments. In our opinion, the heat setting operation is not a significant process; no chemical treatment is involved and the samples reflect that the wrinkle resistance imparted by the operation substantially dissipates after several washings. Accordingly, we conclude that the heat setting operation is an operation incidental to the assembly process which will not disqualify the garments from entitlement to a duty exemption provided for in subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS.

HOLDING:

Based on the information submitted, the heat setting operation is an operation incidental to the assembly process and, therefore, the garments are eligible for a duty exemption under subheading 9802.00.80, HTSUS, if they meet the assembly requirements.

A copy of this ruling should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is entered. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director
Commercial Rulings Division


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