The tariff classification of handmade table placemats from Madagascar

N091437 February 19, 2010 CLA-2-46:OT:RR:NC:2:230 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 4601.29.9000 Ms. Laurel Brandstetter Mad Imports 262 Court Street, Suite #3 Brooklyn, NY 11231 RE: The tariff classification of handmade table placemats from Madagascar Dear Ms. Brandstetter: In your letter dated November 11, 2009, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Your request was returned to you for a sample and additional information. Your response was received in this office on January 20, 2010. The ruling was requested on two handmade raffia placemats. Samples of two styles of table placemats were submitted for our examination. Style 1 is a circular placemat constructed of 50% raffia and 50% seagrass. The table placemat measures approximately 15 inches in diameter. The circular placemat is composed of bundles of seagrass wrapped with multicolor raffia strips. The bundles, which measure approximately 10 mm in diameter, are placed in a continuous spiral shape forming a multicolored ring design. Style 2 is a rectangular flat placemat constructed of 100% raffia. The flat, rectangular placemat measures approximately 19 inches long and 14 inches wide. The dyed green upper side and the natural color back side of the table mat are constructed of sheets of woven raffia strips. A 2 mm raffia braid is attached along all the face edges. The placemat has raffia embroidered flowers on two opposite corners of the green face side. The items are designed as table placemats for use in the home. Chapter Note 1 of Chapter 46, HTSUS, states as follows: In this chapter the expression "plaiting materials" means materials in a state or form suitable for plaiting, interlacing or similar processes; it includes straw, osier or willow, bamboos, rattans, rushes, reeds, strips of wood, strips of other vegetable material (for example, strips of bark, narrow leaves and raffia or other strips obtained from broad leaves), unspun natural textile fibers, monofilament and strip and the like of plastics and strips of paper, but not strips of leather or composition leather or of felt or nonwovens, human hair, horsehair, textile rovings or yarns, or monofilament and strip and the like of chapter 54. The raffia and the seagrass, in the condition as presented in the submitted samples, are in a form suitable for plaiting, interlacing, or similar processes. Thus, they are plaiting materials within the terms of Chapter 46, heading 4601, HTSUS. The applicable subheading for the handmade table placemats will be 4601.29.9000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Plaiting materials, plaits and similar products of plaiting materials, bound together in parallel strands or woven, in sheet form, whether or not being finished articles (for example, mats, matting and screens): Mats, matting and screens, of vegetable materials: Other (than of bamboo or rattan): Other (than woven or partly assembled): Other (than floor coverings). The rate of duty will be 8 percent ad valorem. Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/. Articles classifiable under subheading 4601.29.9000, HTSUS, which are products of Madagascar may be entitled to duty free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) upon compliance with all applicable regulations. The GSP is subject to modification and periodic suspension, which may affect the status of your transaction at the time of entry for consumption or withdrawal from warehouse. To obtain current information on GSP, check our Web site at www.cbp.gov and search for the term "GSP". This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Paul Garretto at (646) 733-3035. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director National Commodity Specialist Division