>> CALENTHIA BANKS: Today's webinar is
figuring out fabrics in Chapter 50-60
part of the webinar series. Today's
webinar has an anticipated duration of
one and a half to two hours. We have a
few housekeeping items. Everyone will
be kept on mute so the presentation can
be kept clear of any background noise if
you have questions or comments, we
invite you to type them into the chat
box. We will answer as many questions
as we can at the end of the presentation
and continuing education credit code
will be placed in the chat box
throughout the presentation. Today's
presenters are national import
specialist Michael Capanna and Nicole
Rosso. Mr. Capanna, over to you. Ml
we're going to move on to Nicole's part
where she will be covering some of her
chapters. I'll also open up the intro
with some mandatory slides as well as a
few other tips and tricks throughout the
trade process that may pertain to you.
Here's our contact information. You're
going to see this throughout the
webinar. Also, I'll reiterate that this
is being recorded so that if we are --
as we are going through these slides, if
for some reason you did not have an
ample amount of time to take notes on
something, you will be able to go back
and view the recording to do so.
So before I jump in to today's brief set
of individual topics, I'm going to let
you know that as it pertains to
questions with the duration of this
webinar already expected to last about
one and a half hours, we're going to ask
that you hold your questions until the
end, and we'll definitely get to as many
as we can. But if for whatever reason
we can't at the end, absolutely feel
free to reach us via e-mail. Again,
those e-mails will be provided
throughout the duration of this webinar.
So I'll go through a brief introduction
with tariff assignments, that is, what
numbers are assigned to myself and what
are assigned to Nicole. We'll hit our
CBP mission. Obviously important. The
disclaimers. We'll talk about
reasonable care very briefly. Our
binding ruling program. Briefly touch
on it webinar topics which we've already
kind of glanced over, offer up important
websites which many of you may already
be familiar with, but it never hurts to
reiterate their importance. And then
again, we will close and provide our
contact information and take questions.
On this slide, we z the CBP core values
of integrity, vigilance and service to
country, which are the basis of our
mission. And I'll move forward as I
said to some of the mandated slides.
Here's our CBP mission statement.
Protect the American people, safe guard
our boarders and enhance the nation's
economic prosperity. The office of
trade mission statement. The office of
trade facilities yit jit trade, enforces
laws, and protects the American economy
to ensure consumer safety and to create
a level playing field for American
businesses. At the bottom, I have --
many of you know, however, maybe not
everyone knows that Twitter has changed
its name to X. So that would be the
symbol you may see in the app store if
you wished to download Twitter or X, as
it's now called -- and follow us at CBP
trade govb. There's a variety of CBP
accounts that are active.
This disclaimer is a slide that basically
indicates that this webinar is for
educational purposes only and it is not
binding in any way. The webinar
regarded coded and uncoded fabrics is
basically for general informational
purposes and is intended to provide
guidance and information to the trade
community. Since legislative and
administrative changes are always
occurring, as we all know, relying
solely on this general information
within the webinar may not be considered
reasonable care.
This presentation will contain many
slides with pictures and photos. Almost
every slide will have unique photos.
While most of the pictures are our own
samples and our own materials, some of
those photos may have been taken from
the public domain. They are for
educational purposes only and do not
represent an endorsement or approval of
any kind by CBP.
All right. So as we've indicated
earlier. My name is mimal, covering the
NIS350 line. Trimmings, braids, labels,
badges but to a much larger extent
narrow ovine fabricbs, including
ribbons, quilted fabrics, felts,
nonwovens, coated and laminated fabrics,
filter fabrics, machine belts and
beltings and other technical use
textiles of Chapter 59. What I'm going
to primarily cover here is going to be
noncovens and coated and laminated
fabrication. Nicole handles basically
all of the uncoated fabrics. The
covens, including pile, chenille, tarry,
embroidery, tulle, lace, netting, and
gauze.
Here, you can see all of the paragraphs
that we cover. I'll leave it inicate
you want to take note of this if this is
something you're not familiar with.
This is something you might want to jot
down. You can go back to view the
recording of this presentation.
So before we get going, just a few slides
to review our binding rulings program.
This slide basically states that there
could be many complicated factors as it
applied to classification or for customs
matters. So it's generally in your best
trlt to request apbinding ruling or
obtain advice from an expert that
specializes in customs like a licensed
customs broker, attorney, or consultant.
On this slide you can see the eruling
website. This address will take you
directly to the template to begin the
application process for a binding
ruling. You'll also see this website
posted throughout the presentation.
Some of the things that we work on in
terms of binding ruling issues including
classification, country of origin,
marking, and the application of trade
programs or trade agreements and
sometimes many of those can be worked in
to one -- classification and country of
origin including marking, to include a
trade program or agreement. They can
range from something simple as a
classification ruling to a more complex
mixes of those four individual topics.
The ruling requests must be for
prospective shipments and limited to
five items of the same class or
merchandise. It's a free service
offered to the public. Again, the
website listed in blue will take you
directly to the application. All
rulings are generally answered within 30
days of receipt. However, a lot of
times, specifically with textiles with
the lines that me and Nicole have, we do
consult our laboratory, and that 30-day
turn around time may be extended to a
period that could go from three to six
months or even longer, depending upon
the complexity of the material.
So we're going to review from the NIS350
area a few different cases and topics in
Chapter 56 and Chapter 59.
Some of the things that are directly
relevant to what we'll be discussing and
taking a look at -- I'm going to give
you a heads up now that for almost each
of these scenarios that I'm going to
show you, I'll probably ask a basic
question. And if you can input your
answer into the chat box, I'll give a
slight pause for that to kind of get a
grasp for which way you're all leaning.
So some important issues -- rather, some
important notes of what is relevant for
Chapter 56, the nonwovens, is: Are the
fabrics coated, covered impregnated or
laminated? Are they bleached or yarns
of different colors? Does the fabric
contain raised fibers? And that's
usually via a process of brushing. And
these are all important because as
you'll see they relate to specific
chapter notes or section notes or even
explanatory notes. The coated fabbics
Chapter 59, is the coating visible to
the naked eye? Generally, that's
plastic or rubber. Is the fabric
laminated? Or is it otherwise coated,
covered, or impregnated? Is the fabric
of pile construction? And this is by no
means an all inclusive list. There are
many, many, many more questions that we
ask on a case-by-case basis as it
relates to what guides classification.
Here are some of the important chapter
notes if you just wanted to take a brief
second to jot them down. Chapter 56
note 3 basically determines what's
applicable in 5603. Note 1 to Chapter
5t basically tells us what a textile
fabric is and hence included in the relp
of Chapter 59. Chapter 59 Note 2 tells
us what heading 5903 applies to, what
goods, rather, apply to that heading.
Chapter 59 Note 3, which is relatively
new, defines for the tariff purposes
what a laminated fabric is or what a
laminated text tile fabric. Note 1c to
60 tells us what's excluded, that is,
what's excluded from classification in
59.
All right. So this is the first material
that we're going to look at. And this
happens to be one of our samples from a
case that you can see above, which is
N326404. On the top right, you can see
what the face side of that material
looks like. And the rest of the photo
is what the reverse side looks like.
And it may be a little difficult to
discern exactly, but that's a nonwoven
backing fabric. And you might be able
to see some of the fluffiness or the
puffiness of the raised fibers
throughout, or you might not. But
there's an arrow there saying, hey, this
is a nonwoven backing fabric with raised
fibers, if it's tough for you to see.
The purpose of this material is to
protect flooring during renovations. In
this case, classification will be guided
by the relevant section notes and
chapter notes, explanatory notes, ruling
letters that already exist in the cross
system, and the previous precedents set
by litigation.
In this case, classification will be
determined by several factors. First,
I'm going to pause for a second and I'm
going to ask the question: Does it
matter in the case of a nonwoven
combined with a plastic which side is
the face of the fabric. And you can
input your answers into the chat box.
Okay. I see lots of yes's. But I also
see some no's. Generally, no, it
doesn't. But that's not -- that's just
generally, okay? So those of you
answering yes, you're not exactly wrong.
In all cases, you know, less precedence
set by previous litigation, the chapter
notes and explanatory notes will control
or assist in interpreting the relevant
terms and determining classification of
a nonwoven combined with the plastic.
For example, in this case, the face side
of this material, which is a plastic
sheet, is combined with a nonwoven
material constructed in a manner to
contain antislip properties. Part of
the process that aids in the antislip
properties of the materials are the
reverse side, that is, the nonwoven.
That's the side that's actually placed
on the floor. That contains raised
fibers, and that helps to -- that
achieved by brushing but it also
prevents slipping or sliding around.
The relevant notes that we're going to be
looking at here is note 3 to Chapter 56
-- this is on the left side of the
screen -- note 3C. And for explanatory
notes, we have to go to the section
textile and plastic combinations and
part d for an interpretation of mere
reinforcement.
In this case, we know that note 3 tee
Chapter 56 basically instructs the
nonwovens impregnated coated or covered
laminated are classified in 56.
Essentially, we can have a nonwoven
maybe that's not even like this at all
where in fact the reverse side is
plastic and the face side is the
nonwoven material. It could be of the
exact same construction. And again, in
that case, it's not going to matter
which side is the plastic side and which
side is the brushed nonwoven side.
So when we look to note 3C, we must
determine according to the note whether
this is a product that would be
considered a sheet of cellular plastic
that is combined with the nonwoven where
the nonwoven is present merely for
reinforcing purposes. That's that
explanatory note over there on the left.
To make the determination as to whether
the nonwoven is present as mere
reinforcement, you drag way down, deep
into that section of those general
explanatory notes, the 39. You'll find
that section, plastics and textile
combinations in particular under Part D.
And relevant part, plastics unfigured,
unbleached, bleached, or uniformly dyed
textile fabrics, felt, or nonwovens when
applied to one face only of these
plates, sheets, or strip are regarded as
serving merely for reinforcing purposes.
So we don't have that here. But what
we do have is a figured -- it's not
necessarily figured, but we have a more
elaborately worked textile. And a
specific example is given by raising
fibers. Something like that is regarded
as having more than a function of mere
reinforcement. So on the face side, you
can see those arrows on the picture.
Face side, we have a plastic film. And
on the reverse side, we've got the
material of nonwoven construction, man
made staple fibers. Fablic weighs 160
grams her meters square -- per square
meter. Excuse me. And it contains
raised fibers via brushing.
So given those facts that can contains
raised fibers with the plastic on one
side regardless of whether at this point
it's cellular or compact, is it your
opinion that the nonwoven material's
present for mere reinforcement? No,
pretty much everyone has nailed that
one. That's what I like to see. So
that's correct. It is -- this nonwoven
is beyond what constitutes mere
reinforcement. Therefore, we're able to
classify -- as you see on the bottom
left of the screen, you're able to
classify 5603. Like I said, you
reference this ruling. This is that
actual material. The issue here is, of
course, they can get way more complex.
For example, if the nonwoven contained no
raised fibers and let's say it was
considered to be bleached, which
generally is white. The determining
factor for whether this material would
be classified as a nonwoven or as a
plastic under 39 is whether that coating
or lamination material is compact or
cellular. So we'll explore this a
little more.
Okay. So we're going to move on to
another nonwoven case here. And this
one's going to be more interesting in
that I don't have an answer for you yet.
But what I'm going to want everyone to
keep in mind is just pay attention to
what I'm saying as related to the facts
that we know about this case. And like
I said, throughout this presentation,
you have plenty of time to take down my
e-mail. We'll go back and review the
presentation, take down my e-mail. I
want you to take some time and give me
your perspective. You can shoot me an
e-mail ideally of whether -- of what
chapter or what heading you think that
this material's going to end up in. So
I'm going tell you about it.
Classification is going to be determined
by several factors. Again, it does not
generally matter which side is the face
when working with plastics combined with
nonwovens. Chapter notes and
explanatory notes will control and
assist here. However, lacking certain
facts, which were known to the previous
fabric, this fabric was forwarded to the
New York custps and border protection
laboratory. Some of the facts just
simply were not known and was not able
to ascertain them from basic questions.
One of the facts is whether or not the
nonwoven contained raised fibers. You
can look at what that arrow basically
says. Is there an appearance of raised
fibers here? And you know, I would say
personally, it's hard to tell. It's
difficult to tell from just looking at
that photo. And I was able to look at
this material in my hand and it's very
difficult to tell even at an arm's
length whether this material contains
raised fiberor not because that process
is a mechanical process.
So the simple appearance of what I might
have believed to be raised fibers
doesn't mean they are, especially as it
relates to the brushing process. Also,
we didn't know the material composition.
For example, we need to confirm if the
face is indeed a plastic and whether
it's cellular or not. You know,
otherwise known as compact. And we also
generally need to know the composition
of the text tile material if that's
going to apply. So you can see that I
have a question mark next to note 3B and
C, as it is possible we may need to
reference one or the other or none.
So the New York laboratory was kind
enough to provide me with some of the
images that they took of this material.
So utilizing a digital microscope you
can see these images are provided
roughly at 200 times magnification.
While it's difficult to ascertain
exactly what you're looking at, it's a
close-up of the face side of the foe
material. At the bottom image you get a
more interesting look at the material.
It's at this point we realize maybe my
initial observations where I thought
they may be raised fibers may not
necessarily be as accurate because it
seems as though we have fibers embedded
in the plastic. So this could result in
us working, I don't know, maybe with
Note B instead of note 3C. Note 3B
indicates basically that nonwovens
completely -- and I emphasize that word
-- completely embedded in plastic are
not classifiable in Chapter 56.
At roughly the same magnification, the
New York lab provided a cross sectional
image. And we can now confidently state
that the nonwoven is embedded in
plastics. There's no doubt about that.
In the case of this material, we've been
-- it has been confirmed to have a
single layer of compact plastic. So
that's that top layer. The top left is
the face of the fabric, the faux
leather. And you can see how thin that
compact leather is. That blue arrow is
pointing to that thin compact layer of
plastic. All the rest of the material
is the nonwoven combined with the
plastic layer.
So at first, I didn't know whether
perhaps we're going to use note 3B and
classification might be precluded from
Chapter 56. Maybe it would end up as a
product of Chapter 59. But we have yet
to confirm as the date of this
presentation if the layer of plastic in
which the nonwoven partially resides is
actually a cellular layer of plastic.
So this is a true work in progress. And
I fully intended today to present this
material knowing that I cannot provide
you with a classification at this time.
So I can't even tell you what chapter
this is going to fall into until we have
a little bit more information. But feel
free to e-mail me, like I said, with
your thoughts on this material, where
you think it might end up, and tell me
why you think it may end up there. And
then what I'll do is I'll keep your
e-mails, and I'll set them aside to be
replied to when I have all the facts,
and I'll tell you the outcome.
Real quick, I'm just curious, go ahead
and hit the chat box. Who thinks the
isis going to 56 and who thinks this is
going to 39? Oh, lots of 39's. Great.
I'll go ahead and answer that question
real quick because I did catch it. The
reason why we don't know it's going to
39 yet or if it is, is because we don't
know if 3B is going to apply. We don't
know if -- we know that we can see
fibers. We know that we can see fibers
sticking out on the bottom left. So
those fibers are not completely
embedded. 3B will not play a role here.
So we're going to have to learn a
little more about the material.
75 percent 56. I like that.
[Chuckling]. All right. Oops went
forward by accident there. All right.
So that was a few of the things I wanted
to go over for 56. I look forward to
getting some e-mails on where you guys
think that's going to go. And I'll
follow up with you once I have all the
facts.
So I'm going to go over some of the stuff
that's classified in Chapter 59. And
what I have for you today is I have
three examples of three materials that
are all very different that may look
similar and that we see quite often come
across our desk as something that's
possibly classified in Chapter 39 --
sore, 59. I'm so used to saying 39 and
seeing it. . Again, 59 guided very much
classification by the relevant section
and chapter notes, the explanatory
notes, rulings and cross and previous
litigation. This is a knit material
that's open work, and the face and
reverse are considered visibly coated.
You have the ruling number on the top
left. So this is an actual material we
worked with not too long ago.
You can see the facts there. Some of
them which I've already gone over. The
fabric is entirely coated with PVC after
it was constructed, entirely covered
under both sides, and the total weight
is 340.9 grams per meters squared.
So -- sorry, note 1 to Chapter 59
provides that -- it basically tells us
what is included in Chapter 59. So for
the ppurposes of this chapter, it
applies to the woven fabrics of 50 to #
58. Trimmics, 5808 and then it goes on
to the heading, knit fabrics heading
6002 to 6006. So we know we have a
knitted fabric falling within 6002 and
6006 here. So after that, we need to
continue on past note 1. And then we
begin to go down the list. And we see
instead of the inclusions of note 1
chapter 59. We go to note A for the
exceptions. And note 2A3 states
basically that if a material similar to
what we were just going over to with
Chapter 56 is embedded in plastics or
visibly entirely coated or covered on
both sides with plastics, that it would
be excluded from Chapter 59. So at this
point, where do you believe that this
material would fall? In which heading?
590 # or 3926? I see all those -- lots
of 3926's. I saw only a few 5903's.
And that is correct because this fabric
is entirely coated or covered on both
sides. Essentially, this fabric has
been dipped in plastbes. Therefore, it
is entirely coated or covered. Yes, it
is visible to the naked eye. All you
see is coating. You cannot see textile
here. Not 3921 because it's not
considered to be a sheet of plastic
because of the holes. I can't get into
more of that right now but that's the
clause there.
Okay. So here, we have another material.
Doesn't look exactly like the last
material, but it's very similar. So
this is a woven fabric, which would be
included in -- it said Note 1 covered
Chapters 50 to 55. These particular
yarns are sheathed in plastic. The
ruling number is noted up on the top
left. So we knethat the one includes
this fabric. And we know that note 2A,
if the fabric -- oops, I went forward.
If emdeaded in plastics or visibly
entirely coated or covered on both
sides, it's excluded. But here we have
an open woefrben fabric with yarns
coated with PVC prior toprieving. 72
percent PVC, 25 percent pall yester,
total weight, 410.7 grams per meterers
squared.
Like I said, no 1 to Chapter 59, we know
that this fabric will be -- note 2A
excludes, is the plastics or visibly
entirely coated or covered on both
sides. But we need to examine note 2B,
which may be applicable. So note 2
states to Chapter 59 that heading 5903
applies to fabrics made from yarn,
strip, or the like, impregnated, coated,
covered or sheathed with plastics of
heading 5604. So Note 2B goes on to
essentially specifically include this
material. So I don't think I need to
ask you where you think this goes
because basically we've already went
over that this is clearly a material
where the yarns have been coated after
-- coated prior to construction, and
it's going to be -- yup, that's correct.
Chapter 59. This ended up in
5903.10.2010. The ruling numbers on the
top left for your reference. I should
note that in the facts, it does say
fabric coated with PVC after it was
constructed. That is my mistake. That
is not the fact here. The fact here is
that the yarns were coated with PVC
prior to construction.
Here, we have a white mesh material that
-- this is something that we see quite
often, come across our desk and people
think that, hey, it looks like something
that is plastic coated. May be
classifiable on Chapter 59. What this
is, this is a filtration media. They're
often constructed in different types of
manner. This happens to be a white mesh
type material.
So this one's a little more straight
forward type of thing that you look at
often. If it's not something you look
at often, it could throw you for a loop.
The ruling number is listed on the top
left. In particular, this material was
classified as a part to a machine in the
reference ruling. However, we're not
going to take a look at it as though it
was considered to be part of a machine.
If it was not considered to be part of a
machine, we then need to consider
whether it would be something in 59 or
whether it might go to plastics.
So here, we have a material, the
construction of which is an open wood
work mesh plastic material. The weight
of the material is approximately similar
to the previous two examples. The
material is completely of plastic. So
based on just what I told you already,
those simple facts, do you think that
note 1 to Chapter 59 includes this
material? Remember, I said it -- so
this material is entirely of plastic.
And what does Note 1 to Chapter 59
include? It applies to the woven fabric
of 50 to 55. 5803 and 5806, braids,
trimmings, 5808. And then 6002 to 6.
That's correct. This material is not
provided for -- considered as a tex time
fabric as it relates to Chapter 59. And
in fact iffee were to take a look at
section notes -- again, it's so
important to go back and check the
notes, familiarize yourself with them,
and just when you think you're familiar
with them, go back and familiarize
yourself again because I forget one
word, something simple. But when you
take a look at Section 11 Note 1 -- I
might be wrong. Yeah, it is. Note 1h.
This section does not cover woven
knitted, crocheted -- we basically
skipped to the end of that one. Or
articles thereof. Basically, this is
going to be considered an article
thereof of Chapter 39 because it's not
clearly not a woven knitted, crocheted
fabrics, felt nonwovens, impregnated,
coated, covered or lminated with
plastic.
I'm briefly going to review the really
not so new note to Chapter 59 which was
effective January 27, 2022. I know
we've gone over this a lot, that's why
I'm going to keep it relatively brief
just to reintroduce it to everyone and
keep this in the back of your head as
something important. And basically, it
states that for the purposes of heading
5903 textile fabrics laminated with
plastics means products made by the
assembly of one ormore layers of fabrics
with one or more sheets of film or
sheets of -- sheets or film of plastic
-- I'm sorry -- which are combined by
any process that bonds the layers
together. And the big part of this is
whether or not the sheets or Phillips of
plastics are visible to the naked eye in
the cross section. So there's that
important part list odthen left. And
you is can see, the middle picture --
left picture is a rendering of a two
layer material, which is a woven and a
plastic p. And then you have on the
right side, a three-layer material where
there's a plastic in the center. That's
a preexisting plastic film. And they
can be combined by any means, and it no
longer needs to be invisible to the
naked eye kwb which prior to January 27,
2022 was the case.
Here again, we have photos, courtesy of
the New York laboratory. And these
photos just -- I'm showing you the face
and the reverse. And here, you can
argue which one is the face of the or
the reverse. They're interchangeable.
One is red, one is black. But those
fabrics are laminated together, which
you could see that little white
lamination layer in the middle. We're
able to confirm there's a preexisting
layer of white plastic in the middle,
and it doesn't matter how that's bonded.
Of course we can see it, but that's
irrelevant with this new note. Of
course we won't always be able to see
it. Sometimes you're going to have to
rely on statements from, you know, your
manufactures, your middlemen, et cetera.
And then here's my last example for the
day. This is an actual laminated
fabric. A real world example, photos
courtesy of NIS357. DeAnna bolt. This
is N333987. On the right, you can see
the plastic layer and the bottom left,
the remaining portion of that photo is
the woven fabric layer. So this is only
a two-layer material.
So we have a woven fabric laminated to a
plastic film. And the pabric being 65
percent pall yester, 30 percent woop
wool, a little bit of nylon and acrylic.
Once that woven fabric which is covered
by note 1 of Chapter 59 is laminated to
that plastic film, we now have something
that meets the criteria of note 3 to
Chapter 59.
So this ended up being a fabric
classifiable under 6210.20.5010 which
provides for garments made up of fabrics
of heading 5903 among others.
So I thank you guys for being so involved
with me during my part of the webinar.
Again, send me your thoughts on the
fabric I don't have answers for for you.
And I'm just briefly going to hit on
something to remember about cross is
that some things frequently requested as
-- regarding at least confidentiality
include an importer's name, fabric
style, fabric name, that is, or fabric
number. And if you wish to request
confidentiality, you should demonstrate
how, if released, certain things might
cause substantial harm to a competitive
-- for example if it might harm your
competitive position, instead of stating
that the fab, contains 50 percent
palliastic, 30 percent niconu lawn and
10 percent ( ) niebers, CBP may indicate
in a ruling that the material's made of
man made fibers. However, we do have to
be able to include certain relevant
facts to reach a classification
decision.
So I'm going to turn it over to Nicole
Rosso, NIS352.
>> NICOLE ROSSO: Thank you, Mike. As
Mike mentioned, my name is Nicole Rosso,
NIS352 and I'll be presenting this
portion of the presentation on uncoated
fabrics. For this section, you will
need the tariff so you may want to pull
it up now online. My chapter
assignments are on the screen. And as
Mike mentioned earlier, I handle the
uncoated, knit, and woven fabrics which
include pile,tia meal, terry and
embroidery as well as tulle, lace,
netting, and gauze. Next slide.
In this portion of the presentation, I'm
going to be talking about knit and woven
fabrics in Chapters 50 to 55, 58 and 60.
I will be discussing different types of
fabrics and key aspects of the fabrics
that my team and I look at to determine
the classification of these fabrics.
The majority of my rulings are for
upholstery fabrics. So the fabrics
you'll see today are mainly from rulings
for some type of upholstery, including
sofas, pillows, cushions, window
treatment or even outdoor umbrellas and
furniture coverings. We have fabric
trends. While 2023 is already halfway
over, this year's fabric trends focused
on the beauty of organic materials,
mechanical prints and sustainable fabric
choices. Our homes show case our
personal style with fabric choices from
everything from the sofa to the curtains
and the cushions. These fabric trends
are prevalent throughout our homes and
enrich our living spaces with eye
catching colors, cozy textures, and
beautiful patterns and prints. Today, I
will be exploreering these fabrics with
you. Next slide.
Before we start looking at the different
fabrics in chapt Chapter 50-60, I'd like
to define what a fiber and fabric are.
A fiber is the fundamental unit used in
the fabrication of textile yarns and
fabric. And a fabric is a cloth that is
woven, knitted, braided, netted, felted,
or pleated with any textile fiber or is
a bonded web. Next slide.
So what do we specifically look at when
determining classification of fabrics
that come into our office? That is a
difficult question to answer. There are
a lot of different factors. Beutthe one
ozthen screen are just some of the
simple determinations that we make when
we look at the fabrics that come into
our office. First off, we decide if the
fabric is knit or woven. We look at
what the fabric is made of, meaning kb
is it cotton, linen, man made fiber, et
cetera. We need to know if the fabric
is made of yarns or different colors, if
it is breached, dyed or printed design.
Is it bonded? Because we need to
determine the essential character of the
fabric. We need to see if there's a
coating applied to the face or backing
fabric and if that coating is visible to
the naked eye. It if it is visible we
need to know if the fabric is
constructed with pile yarns. When we
have a plain weave fabric of cotton or
man made staple fibers we need to know
the numbers of ends and picks per square
centimeter because we'll need to
determine the average yarn number to
classify the fabric. If we have a man
made woven fabric, we look to see if the
fabric is constructed of filament or
staple fibers and are they synthetic or
artificial fibers? If filament fibers,
does the fabric contain 85 percent or
more of filament fibers? And are those
filament fibers textured or nontextured?
Next slide.
Since fibers can be difficult to classify
we often review the chapter notes,
subheading notes, additional US notes
and the statistical notes which can be
found at the beginning of each of the
chapters. They provide insight into
many terms and typically, you can find
information to help classify the
different fabrics that you may have a
question about. Next slide.
We typically reference Section 11 of the
tariff because it does provide guidance
on classifying textiles and textile
articles. Because of the time
constraints today it may be helpful to
refer to Section 11 on your own time for
more information concerning the textile
chapters. If you are looking online at
the tariff, section 11 can be found at
the beginning of Chapter 50. On this
slide, you can see the breakdown of
Section 11 concerning Chapter 50-60. I
normally use the online version but if
you have the paper version, it's in the
same place, which is at the beginning of
Chapter 50. Today I'll be showing you
samples of each of the chapters I handle
from 30 rulings. So let's get started.
So what is a woven fabric of chapters 50
to 55? When we think of woven fabrics
we think of warp and weft. Warp is
vertical and weft is horizontal. Woven
fabrics are formed by interlacing
fabrics on a warp and weft loom. Next
slide.
So again, when talking about chapters 50
to 55 a woven fabric is cup posed of two
basic series of yarn. The warp and the
weft. Weaving is the interlacing of
these two yarns to form a fabric and the
specified matter in which the two sets
of yarn are interlaced sets the weave.
On the slide you can see the warp and
weft on the loom compared to the genes
on the right. The warp yarns are
vertical. The warp is the same as the
ends and weft is same as filling picks.
They are used interchangeably. When you
hear warp and wepts, it's the same as
ends and picks. Next slide.
For anyone few to fabrics, I found this
short video that defines the terms warp
and weft and provides insight. Let's
watch and learn.
[Video] warp and weft is a technical
terms. Warp yarns and weft yarns. The
yarn is the warp. Warp threads are the
support for the weft. This is also
known as the machine direction because
it's the direction of the threads on the
loom. Yarn lies perpendicular to the
edges is weft yarn. The single thread
of yarn that goes across the warp is
known as a pick. During fabric
formation, first warp yarns are drawn
from a warp or beam and a loom shed is
formed. Warp is interfaced by passing
it through warp yard shet from one yarn
to another one by one. They are
prepared separately. Normally stronger
yarns are used in fabric compared to the
warp yarn. The fabric is strengthen
length wise compared to width wise.
Normally different kind of warp and weft
yarns are used. To identify warp and
weft properly, it's look at a woven
fabric in a ready made garment.
[Music playing].
[End of video].
>> NICOLE ROSSO: I hope that video was
helpful. I thought it was interesting
on how to identify warp and weft
directions. If you're new to fabric,
there are so many videos online for you
to view. Please let me know if you
liked the video in the chat box so I can
keep it in mind for future webinars. I
see that some people liked it, so that's
good. I thought was interesting for a
short video.
Okay. So now we're at the natural
fibers. Many people want to incorporate
environmentally friendly textiles and
fabrics in their homes, opting for
natural fibers would be the first step
when it comes to looking for sustainable
fabrication. They include chaptders 50
to 53. Here we can see pictures of the
actual fibers under a microscope. In
Chapter 50 you'll find silk fabrics.
Chapter 51 is wool, and that is a fine
or course animal hair. Chapter 52 is
cotton. And Chapter 53 are the other
vegetable fibers like flax. While
sustainability is a hot topic I do not
get many requests that contain natural
fibers. But I try to include some
samples for you to view which will be on
the next few slides. I don't want you
to think that upholstery fabrics are
aren't offered in natural fibers. They
are and many people prefer them. They
have great properties and you will find
many beautiful patterns and styles, but
you may not find as many varieties
offered and they nay be more expensive
than man made versions. Next slide.
Silk is a natural protein fiber. It is a
luxurious fabric produced by thearvy of
various inskts when constructing
cocoons. They are known for strength
and softness and is primarily used for
garments and household garments. Due to
its light weight attributes, they are
used for longray. They may be used for
pillow cases or sheets. Next slide.
In Chapter 50, willic and willic waste
are classified in heading 5007. Fabric
samples are from 2002 and 2006. And
actually, they are the only three
samples we have so you can see we do not
get many requests. They are all plain
weave fabrication of 100 percent silk.
There are numerous reasons that we not
get many silk fabrics. Fist, it is an
expense positive textile. It is also
very difficate to care for. Easily
susceptible to damage from the
environments like sun and water. Just a
tiny bit of water on silk can leave a
visible stain that is impossible to get
rid of. It is also known for showing
wear and can tear easily so it would not
be the best for upholstery.
Now we have wool fabric. Before I
started I added a jec on the screen.
What is a sheep's ultimate goal? If you
want to take a stab at it, you can type
an answer in the chat box. I don't know
if anyone's going to -- I see somebody
has -- somebody said wool. We have some
good ones. Let's see the answer. So
the answer was to wool and world. I
thought that was cute, so I just threw
it in. Wool is a natural material made
from the hair of various animals such as
sheep, goat, lamas, camels and more.
Most wools produce clothing but is also
used for so many other things like
blankets, upholstery and different types
of insulations, just to name a few.
Wool has good properties. It is a
flexible and durable fabrics and also
has odor and fire resistant properties
which makes it suitable for many
purposes both decoratively and
functionally. Some bad things is that
it is also expensive and can easily
stain. Next slide.
Note 1 to Chapter 51 defines the terms
between wool, fine animal hair and
course animal hair. Wool means natural
fiber grown by sheep or lambes. Fine
animal hair is the hair of alpaca,
camel,iac, did know, Tibetan, cashmere
or other goats. Rabbit, including an
gora, beaver, nutria, which is a large
rodent. I don't know how many people
would want a sweater made of that but I
guess it's possible. Or rusk rat.
Course animals mean animals not
mentioned in fine animal hair including
brush making hair and horse hair heading
0511. Here is an example of 100 percent
wool fabric. Plaid designs are commonly
seen in wool fabric. This is a two up,
two down twill which is written as
fraction 2/2. In weft floats across the
warp yarns in a progression of
interlacings to the right or left,
forming a pattern of distipth diagonal
lines. In a two up twill, you have two
warp threads crossing every two weft
threads. Import issers are looking for
classification as a tapestry or
upholstery fabric boss the duty rate is
much lower. In order to be classified
as such, the fabrics would need to meet
certain tests to meet the minimum
surface abrasion requirements for light
duty upholstery fabric. So we would
send a fabric to the lab to determine
this information. So in this instance,
the fabric did not meet the requirements
and the duty rate was 25 percent.
This is another sample of a wool fabric,
also a plaid design. This is a woven
twill fabric of yarns of different
colors. The fabric is also a two by two
twill weave, composed of 65 percent
carded wool, 19 percent nylon staple,
and 15 percent rion. It is not a finest
grade but still a good grade that is not
suitable for combing because the staple
lens vary. As you can see in the
sample, it's not as fine as the previous
sample. It has a courser appearance and
feel. There is also no coating applied
to the back of the fabric so we do not
need to consider any other chapter but
51. In this instance, the importer did
not request classification for this
fabric as up holstery fabric but I felt
that since the importer is an upholstery
manufacturer and carded wool is long
lasting with I decided to have it
tested. So I sent it to the lab to see
if it met the requirements. The CBP
laboratory determined that the wool
fibers had an average diameter greater
than 18.5 microns so it did meet the
criteria for light duty up holstery and
were able to get the lower duty rate at
7 percent. Next slide.
Let's move to 52. In this chapter we
have cotton fabrics. Cotton is made
from the fibers surrounding the seeds of
cotton plants which emerge in a round,
fluffy formation once the seeds are
mature. As a natural fiber, cotton
provides good resistance to wear,
fading, and pilling. It is also easy to
clean and breathable so it is a good
choice for warm were climates. That
property makes it a good choices for up
holstery as well because it allows heat
and moisture to pick away from the sin.
Cotton is a strong fabric but the fibers
must be woven tightly to be considered
durable. With both cotton and linen the
manufacturers may apply some kind of
back coating to help increase the
durability of the fabric. Since they
both tend to wrinkle they may
incorporate another fiber to prevent
wrinkles. Cotton fabric can be tricky
to classify, especially if it is a plain
weave fabric. In order to classify a
plain weave fabric, we need to have the
average yarn number. If there's no
average yarn number you need to
determine the number on your own in
order to classify the fabric correctly.
This is where the notes help you to
classify the fabric. Additional note 3A
to Chapter 52 defines the average yarn
number and tells you how to compute the
yarn number with different formulas.
There's four different formial ozon the
specification sheet. Additionally,
statistical note 1 to Chapter 52 defines
the terms of different types of plain
weave fabrics as well as some of the
terms you may not be familiar with such
knapped, combed, not combed and
discharge printed to just name a few.
Next slide.
The fabric on this slide is a plain weave
with a printed design. It weighs 285
grams per square meter and is composed
of 54 percent cotton staple fibers and
46 percent pall yesterfilament yarns.
There is no coating on the front or back
of the fabric so we know it gets
classified in Chapter 52. I have a
question now. Do we have enough
information to classify the fabric with
the specifications provided snd I will
give you a minute to type yes or no in
the chat. I see a lot of no's.
Everyone knows apparently a lot about
fabric, yeah? So that's good. I don't
think I saw one yes. Oh, maybe one
person did say yes now. Well, the
answer is no. We cannot classify the
fabric with just the information on the
screen. Since this is a plain weave
fabric, we need the average yarn number.
If I would have provided the total
number of yarns per square centimeter we
would have been able to figure out the
average with yarn number using one of
the formulas provided under additional
note 3A. This fabric is from N332037,
if you want to jot it down. There will
be a screen at the end also which will
have all the rulings that Mike and I
went over so you can wait until we get
to the end as well. Next slide.
On this slide we have a sample of
jacquard weave construction. The fabric
is made of 87 percent cotton staple
fibers, 10 percent poly ester fibers,
and 3 percent linen. There's 5.1 picks
per square centimeter. The fabric
weighs 253.71 grams per square meter.
Synthetic latex and acrylic coating has
been applied but it's not visible.
Since the coating is not visible we know
the fabric will not be classified in
Chapter 59. I have another question
now: Will we need to calculate the
average yarn number to get the
classification? Please type yes or no
in the chat box. I see a lot of yes's.
I saw a maybe. No, somebody has no. I
see maybe two no's. I see a few no's.
No, somebody said jacquard weave. So
the answer is no. We do not need the
average yarn number with this fabric
because it's not a plain weave. Most of
the time if you have a fancy weave like
a jacquard you can classify without
having that information. But there are
some instances when that may not be the
case.
Okay. Let's move to the next slide.
Here we have a satchel of a cotton
fabric with a simple design. According
to the information provided, the fabric
is a plain weave construction, weighed
285 grams her square meter and composed
wholly of staple fibers of which 59
percent is cotton and 41 percent is poly
ester. There's no coating applied to
this fabric. Additionally, the fabric
has 24.4 warp ends per square centimeter
and 12.6 filling picks per square
centimeter. First question: Do we need
to calculate the average yarn number to
determine the full ten-digit
classification? Please type yes or no in the chat.
I see a lot of yes's -- I see yes and
no. I see mostly yes's. I see mostly
yes's. The quick answer here is yes,
because it is a plain weave. And as you
go through chapter 52 you'll see that
you need to determine what type of plain
weave this is. And you can't do that
without computing the average yarn
number. So Question 2. Now that we
know we need the average yarn number can you compute it with the information provided? I give you a few minutes. Please type your answer in the chat.
For this question, I'm actually looking
for you to figure out if you can answer
it with a number. I see everybody
stopped typing. Somebody wrote need to
see if poplin/broad cloth, sheeting.
All right. So we have enough
information. We can compute it. I
thought you might want to try and
compute it, but maybe that'll take too
much time for everybody to compute it.
So I'll tell you the answer. The answer
is 12.98 for the average yarn number.
Based on the spec sheet we can use the
following formula: N = 100 * t divided
by Z prime, which is 100 times the total
single yarns per square centimeter
divided by the fabric weight. So you
would need to at the numbers of ends and
picks together, which is 24.4 plus 12.6
which equals 37 total single yarns per
square centimeter. Next, we multiply
100 times 37, which equals 370. And we
divide that by 285, which is the fabric
weight. And the average yarn number is
12.98 for this fabric.
The full classification for this fabric
is 52110030. It's N332037. Thank you
for participating.
Next slide. 53, which are the other
vegetable textiles. Linen is a
comfortable fabric, so it is naturally a
smart choice for upholstery fabric. It
is moisture resistance and has strong
fibers. But they must be woven tightly
to be considered durable. Linen resists
soiling and pilling but it does wrinkle
easily. Acrylic or latex may be applied
to help reduce or eliminate wrinkles.
Next slide.
So now we have some fabrics in Chapter
53. Here, we have a printed fabric of
plain weave construction, composed
wholly of linen staple fibers. The
fabric has no coating applied to the
back side of the fabric, as you can see
in the picture. Since there was no
coating applied to this fabric, the
classification is in Chapter 53icize an
uncoated fabric of linen. On the slide,
I've highlighted the fabric width
because this information is needed to
classify the fabric to the ten dinlt
level. With this sample, we were
provided the width in inches but we
needed to know the width of the fabric
in centimeters so we converted the ifrps
to centimeters in order to get the
correct classification. Most of the
time, the widding of the fabric is not
necessary to determine the
classification, but this is just one
example of how intricate fabric can be
to classify and how each fabric should
be examined separately. This fabric was
classified under 5309190010 which is for
woven fabrics of flax 80 percent of way
of a width of 138 sent meres and the
weight of duty was free. Next slide.
Here we have another linen fabric. This
is a printed fabric of dauby weave. It
is composed of 55 percent linen and 45
percent ray on. It is common to see a
back coating to increase durability or
wearability. This fabric has an acrylic
coating applied to the backsoid of the
fabric. But as you can see in the
picture, the coating is not visible to
the naked eye. While the fabric does
have a coating applied, it's not visible
so the class ification is in Chapter
53icize an uncoated fabric of linen. In
this example we also need the width of
the fabric to classify so we converted
the inches to centimeter said. This
fabric was classified under 53
po#.29.4010 which provides for woven
fab,s of flax containing les than 85 by
weight of fax of a width of 180 sent
moors. This duty is also flee for this
member.
Now we will move on to man made fibers
oob. Most of the samples we receive for
up holstery are man made. Chapter 54
are the filament and 55 for staple
fibers. As you can see in the diagram
above, filaments are long thin strands
while staple fibers are chopped
filaments. Next slide.
Note 1 to Chapter 54 in HTSUS defines man
made fibers. Depending on the process,
we have either synthetic or artificial
fibers. The process by polymerization
of organic monamors pequal synthetic
fibers. An example is poly ester. The
process by chemical transformation of
natural polymers equals artificial
fibers. An example is ray on. Next
slide.
The explanatory notes to Chapter 54
provides a list of most common man made
fibers. First, we have a synthetic
fibers, and here's a list of common
synthetic fibers. Then we have the
artificial fibers. Among the artificial
fibers are three subclasses, depending
on the form they are derived from. The
first is cellulosic fibers. The second
is protein fibers. And the third is
alginate fibers. Note 1 to Chapter 54
also mentions when the term man made
fiber is used in the tariff, that
terminology includes both staple and
filament fibers no matter the production
process. It is also important to note
that throughout the tariff, the terms
man made, synthetic, and artificial will
have the same meanings when used in
relations to textile materials. Now I'm
going to gethrough a few different
samples from Chapters 54 and 55.
Here we have a woven fabric of yarns of
different colors. The fabric is of
twill weave construction and is composed
of 100 percent textured poly ester
filament fibers. The fabric weighed 420
grams her square meter. There's a
synthetic latex coating applied to the
reverse side of the fabric. But as you
can see in the picture, the coating is
not visible to the nick udeye. So what
do we look at to come up with the
correct classification? First, we know
that the fabric coating is not visible
so it will not be classified in Chapter
59. We know that this fabric is woven
and composed wholly of filament fibers
ppz so now we know that the
classification is in Chapter 54. Next,
since this is filament, we want to know
if those fibers are textured or
nontextured fibers. Based on the
specification sheet, we know that the
fibers are 100 percent poly ester and
are wholly of the textured filament
fibers. With that information, we can
come up with a classification. We do
not need the miding of a fabric in this
case. The classification for this
fabric is under 54 po7.53.2060 which
provides of woven fabrics of synthetic
filament yarn including woven fac,s for
5404. By weight of texture filaments of
yarns of different colors, other
weighing more than 170 grams her square
meter. And the rate of duty is 12
percent. Next slide.
Here we have a bonded fabric. The face
fabric is woven and the backing fabric
is knit. The face is a plain weave
constructed wholly of poly ester
filament yarns of different colors. The
weight of the face fabric is 265 grams
her square meter. The knit backing
fabric weighs 60 grams her square meet
and the total weight of the bonded
fabric is 320 grams her square meter.
So since this is the bonded fabric we
have to determine if the front or back.
For this fabric we have determined it is
the face fabric which imparts with. The
knit backing is used to reinforce the
fabric. So we will classify based on
the face fabric specifications. Next,
for fabrics in Chapter 54, we're looking
to see if they are composed of more than
# 5 percent of filament yarns. We know
that the fabric is compossessed of 100
percent textured poly ester filament
yarns of different colors, so we have
enough to classify. This fabric is
classified under 5407.53.2060 which
provides for woven fabrics of synthetic
filament yarn, krooug woven fabrics
obtained from materials of heading 5 #
04, other woven fabrics containing # 0
percent or more by weight of textured
poly ester filaments of yarns of
different colors, weighing more than 170
grams per square meter and the duty rate
is 12 percent. Next slide.
Here we have another plain weave of 100
percent poly ester textured ilments of
yarns of different colors. According to
specification sheet, acritic has been
applied to the back side of the fabric.
However as you can see from the picture,
the coating is not visible to the nick
udeye. So I have a question: Is this
fabric classified in 54, 55, or 59 since
the fabric has acritic coating applied?
Type your answer in the chat. I saw a
55. I see a lot of 54's. I just saw a
59. I'm seeing 59's now. I see a few
different answers. I see 54 again.
All right. So since the coating is not
visible, the fabric is classified in 54.
And I saw some people type 55, but this
is poly ester textured filament, so that
is classified in 54. Staple would be
classified in 55. And this fabric, if
you want to jot it down, is from
N332036. Next slide.
Here we have a sample of a woven fabric
of man made filament fibers. It is
jacquard weave fabric composed of 95
percent poly propylene textured filament
and 5 percent poly ester textured
filament warns of different colors. The
face weighed 478 grams per square meter.
Synthetic and acrylic coating has been
applied to the reverse side of the
fabric. What are we going to look at to
determine the classification? We
examine the fabric and look at the
classification sheet for the detailed
information regarding the fabric
composition. Based on visual
observation, we see the fabric is woven.
And it is a jacquard weave. Next, is
there a coating on the fabric?
Sometimes we can see it, and sometimes,
it is invisible. On this fabric, there
is a synthetic and acritic coating
applied to the back side of the fabric.
So we look to see if the coating is
visible or not to the naked eye. In
this case, the coating is not visible,
so we know that the fabric will be
classified as an uncoated fabric. So it
is not going to be in Chapter 59. Next,
we know that this fabric is composed
wholly of man made filament fibers, so
we know this fabric is classified in
Chapter 54. Now we can narrow it down
even further. Since we know that poly
propylene and poly ester are synthetic
fibers, does this fabric contain # 0
percent or more by weight of synthetic
filaments? Based on the specification
sheet, the fabric is made of 100 percent
synthetic textured filament fibers.
Whatulse do we know about the fabric?
Based on the spec sheet, we know it is
yarns of different colors and weighed
478 grams her square meters. We can
classify it under 5407. 73.2060,
including woven fabrics containing # 5
percent or more by weight of yarns of
different colors, weighing more than 170
grams her square meter. And the duty is
8.5porous. Next slide.
Here we have a plain weave fabric of 100
percent poly ester nontextured filament
yarns of different colors. There's an
acrylic coating that has been applied to
the reverse side of the fabric. So I
have a question: Since the fabric has
an acrylic coating will this be
classified in Chapter 59? Please type
your answer in the chat. I'm seeing a
lot of no's. Somebody said yes because
it appears to be visible. I'll give you
the answer. So the answer is no. As
you can see from the picture, the
coating is not visible to the nick
udeye. Since the coating is not
visible, the fabric is uncoated and
class foid in Chapter 54. For your
reference, this ruling is N331249. And
the classification is under
5407.61.9955. Next slide.
I've provided the composition of the
fabric on the slide. We have a plain,
woven fabric of warns of different
colors composed of 95 percent poly ester
textured filament yarns and 5 percent
nylon textured filament yarns. A latex
coating has been applied to the reverse
side of the fabric. As you can see from
the picture on the left, the coating on
the back of the fabric is not visible to
the naked eye. So next question now:
What would be the full classification
for this fabric? I will give you a few
minutes to figure it out.
I'm not sure if everyone's going to
figure it out or not. I'll give you
another minute. I'll see if there's any
answers because I was pulling up through
the answers in the chat. Okay. I see
some answers now. 5407, 53 I see. A
few people got that. Somebody got
5407.43. I see 5407.61. 5407.53. The
correct classification is 5407.53.2006
which provides for woven fabrics of
filament yarn including woven fabrics
obtained from materials heading 5404,
other contains 85 percent or so by
weight of poly ester other weighing more
than 175 gram per square meter. The
duty rate is 12 percent. And if you
want to reference this ruling, it's
N331337. Next slide.
On this slide, we have a woven fabric of
yarns of different colors composed of
synthetic filament yarns and acrylic
coating has been applied to the reverse
side of the fabric. As you can see on
the picture on the left, the coating on
the back of the fabric is visible. So I
have another question. Would this
fabric be classified in Chapter 54?
Please type your answer in the chat box.
I see people writing 59, no, no. I see
a lot of no's. I saw somebody said yes,
54. Somebody went -- 59 since the
coating's visible. I see most people
are saying no. Somebody said they can't
see the -- can see the coating so it's
54. I feel like the coating is pretty
visible on this. And it's white fabric,
so they can be hard to see the coating,
but you can see it here. So the ander
is no. In this case, since the coating
is visible to the naked eye it is
precluded from Chapter 54 and correctly
classified in Chapter 59 as a coated
fabric. And this is from N310781. Next
slide.
Letsz look at some fabrics now in 55.
This is a woven fabric of man made
staple fibers of yarns of different
colors. It is composed of 92 percent
poly ester staple fibers and 8 percent
linen staple fibers. This is a bonded
fabric. If you look closely at the
bickture on the left, you can see the
backing fabric is a knit. Since this is
bonded we're classifying this based on
the face fab, since the face product
imparts the character. This would be
classified in 55 because it is uncoated
fabric of man made staple fibers. Next
slide.
Here we have a satin weave fabric of
yarns of different colors. Fabric is
composed of 25.48 poly ester filaments,
23.52 poly ester staple, 22 percent
acrylic staple, 22 percent poly
propylene filament, and 7 percent rayen
staple. This fabric's a little tricky
because of the composition. So what do
we look at first? We know there is a
coating applied. But is that -- but
that coating is not visible, so it will
not be classified in Chapter 59. Next
we know the fabric is woven. But in
order to classify, we need to determine
if it is filament or staple that
predominates. For staple, we have 23.53
poly ester plus 22 for acrylic plus 7
for rayen, which equals 52.52 staple.
For filament, we have 25.48 poly ester
plus 22 poly propylene, which equals
47.48 filament. So the staple fiber is
the greater portion of the fabric. We
now know the fabric will be classified
in Chapter 55. So now that we know the
chapter, can you find the ten digit
classification? I'll give you a few
minutes to look in the tariff and you
can type your answer in the chat. I did
all the hard work. Somebody had the
answer -- got an answer fast. Somebody
knows the ruling number. I guess -- so
the answer is 5515.12.0040 which
provides for other woven fabrics of
synthetic staple fiber of poly ester
stapem fibers mixed solely with man made
elements, satin weave, or twill weave.
The rate of duty is 12 percent. And the
ruling number is N332037. So thank you
for typing that in for me. Next slide.
Here we have a jacquard woven fabric of
yarns of different colors composed of 69
percent poly ester staple and 31 percent
poly ester nontextured filaments. An
acrylic coating has been applied to the
reverse side of the fabric. However,
the coating is not visible to the naked
eye. So I have another question: Is
this a woven fabric of Chapter a 55?
Type your answer in the chat. I see
yes's. Everyone's typing yet. Okay,
yeah. 69 staple. Yes. Okay. That's
good. The answer is yes. Since the
coating is not visible to the naked eye,
the fabric is classified in Chapter 55
as a woven fabric of synthetic staple
fibers. The full classification is
55.15.120090 which provides for other
woven fabrics of synthetic staple
fibers, poly ester, mixed solely of man
made. The rate of duty is 12 percent.
And the reference number is N320265.
Someone typed it in for me. Next
slide, thank you.
We have a woven dauby fabric of 9 #.5
percent poly ester staple fibers and 2
percent linen staple fibers. The fabric
is printed and weighed 329 grams her
square meter. The fabric has a
synthetic and acritic -- latex coating
applied to the reverse side of the
fabric but is not visible to the naked
eye. Since the coating on the fabric is
not visible, the fabric will be
classified in Chapter 55. So can you
classify this fabric to the full ten
digits? I'll give you a few minutes to
type it in. I'm going to have to be
quick with this. So I guess I'm going
to have to run through this pretty fast.
So since this is dauby and not a plain
weave, we do not need to worry about
figuring out the average yarn number.
We know the fabric contained more than
85 percent poly ester staple fiber. So
the answer is 5512.19.0090 which
provides for woven fabrics of synthetic
staple fibers containing 85 percent or
more by weight of containing # 5 or more
by weight of poly ester staple fibers,
other. Duty rate is 13.6 percent.
Thank you for participating. Next
slide.
Here we have another satchel of a woven
fabric of yarns of different colors.
The fabric is of jacquard weave
construction. It is composed wholly of
poly ester and the breakdown is 70
staple fibers and 0 percent filament
yarns. There's synthetic latex coating
on the reverse side of the fabric. Is
this 55 or 59? Okay. The answer -- I'm
going to have to be faster. So the
answer is 55 since the coating is not
visible to the naked eye. And ruling
number is N331336. And the full
classification is 5515.12.0090. Next
slide.
Now we have a woven fabric of yarns of
different colors composed of 51 percent
staple, poly ester, and 49 percent poly
ester filaments, synthetic latex coating
is applied to the reverse side of the
fabric. I have a question: Would this
fabric be classified in Chapter 54 or
55? If you can answer it fast. People
are writing 55. So the coating is
visible to the naked eye. It is
precluded from classification in 54 and
55 and is classified in 59. If the
coating was not visible, it would be in
55 because the fabric is 51 percent
staple fibers. Next slide.
This is the last fabric for man made
fibers. We have a woven jaw card
fabric. 56 percent poly ester staple
fibers and 44 percent textured filament
yarns of different colors. A synthetic
latex coating has been applied to the
reverse side of the fabric. What
chapter do we classify the fabric? I'm
seeing everyone type 59. That is the
correct answer. As you can see from the
picture, the coating is visible to the
naked eye and therefore be precluded
from Chapter 55. And the fabric is
classified as a coated fabric of 59.
Next slide.
Now we have the special woven fabrics
classified in Chapter 58. We have woven
file fabrics and chenille fabrics which
include warp and weft pile. Cutting
raised loops and cut into lacings of
double pluauts or other fibers
deliberately plused to stand away from
the surface of the fabric which may form
all or part of the fabric surface. This
fabric sample is an example of a cut
corduroy. Corduroy is a type of pile
made by an extra weft or slit call
causing ppile to stand up. We usually
send these to the lab for analysis.
While we may be able to determine it is
a pile fabric we are not able to
determine if it is a weft cut or warp
cut. The spec sheet is not accurate and
we cannot confirm if the fabric is a
woven pile or woven with chenille yarns
which is why we send these types of
fabrics to the lab. Next slide. On
this slide, we have another fabric of
heading 5801. Looking at the front of
the fabric, it does not look like
chenille. The specification sheet
indicated it is nushe yarn on one side
only. So we did send this to the lab to
confirm that it contained chenille yarns
on both sides. In this sample, the CBP
laboratory determined that the plain
woven fabric was composed of two yarns,
one blended and one chenille. As you
can see from the picture, when you
separate the yarns, you can see the
chenille yarn. The lab also confirmed
that the chenille yarn was visible on
both sides of the fabric. Since the
chenille yarns are visible on both sides
of the fabric, the classification is
5801.36.0020. Next slide.
I have a question: Here we have a woven
fabric constructed with chenille yarns.
There's also a coating applied to the
reverse side of the fabric that is
visible to the naked eye. What chapter
would this be classified in? Would this
be 59? I'm seeing a lot of different
answers. 58, 59. I'm going to tell you
the answer is no. Although the fabric
has a visible coating on the reverse
side of the fabric, the fabric is
constructed with chenille yarns, which
through virtue of note 1 to Chapter 58,
such fabrics may not be classified in
Chapter 59 of the HTSUS. I also want to
mention that if you had a knitted or
crocheted pile fabric that had a visible
coating, that it would remain classified
in Chapter 6 o# and would not be
classified in Chapter 59 since note 1C
to Chapter 60 says that knitted or
crocheted pile fabrics impregnated,
coated, covered or laminated remain
classified in heading 6001. Next slide.
Here we have the three notes that address
pile fabrics. Note 1 to Chapter 58,
note 1C to Chapter 60, and statistical
note 1 to Chapter 60. Note 1 to Chapter
58 states that this chapt chapter does
not apply to textile fabrics referred to
in note 1 to chapter 59, impregnated,
coated, covered or laminated or other
goods of chapter 59. Note 1C to Chapter
60 states that knitted or crocheted file
fab,s, impregnated, coated, covered or
laminated remain classified in heading
6001. So if we had a woven file or a
knit pile fabric that was visibly coated
on the back, it would be classified in
either 58 or 60 because they are not
considered a textile fabric of Chapter
59. I have also included statistical
note 1 to Chapter 60, which for the
fabric to be classified as a velour
under the statistical reporting numbers
of 6001.92.0010 and 6001.92.0030, the
fabric must contain 12 or more stitches
in the vertical direction. If that is
not provided to us on the specification
sheet it would be sent to the lab
because our office cannot determine the
information. Next slide.
Okay. Now we're up to Chapter 60. We
have the knitted or crocheted fabrics.
Knitted fabrics are interlocking a
series of loops or one or more yarns by
either hand or machines. Next slide.
There are two distinct types of knit
fabrics. Warp and weft. On this slide
we can see the difference between warp
and weft. Weft knitting is the most
common knit type. It is made up with
one continuous thread running cross wise
the fabric making all the loops in one
continuous course. Weft knitses are
produced on flat and circular machines.
Weft knits are looser and stretch
easily compared to warp knits. They
also tend to unravel easily or run. The
most common type of weft knit is jersey.
A warp knit is type of knitting in
which the yarns generally run length
wise. Flatter, closer, less elastic
knit and is often run resistant.
Example would be a ( ). Next slide.
This fabric sample is a weft fabric and
as you can see from the picture it is
loosely constructed and has a lot of
pull or elasticity. Next slide.
Here is an example of a jersey knit
fabric. Jersey knit fabric is a single
knit fabric with knit such stitches on
the front and pearl stitches on the
back. It could be made from natural or
man made fibers. The main advantage of
jersey knit are versionability, wrinkle
resistance, durability, softness and
elasticity. That's why jersey is an
extremely popular pick for men, women,
and children. Next slide.
Here is an example of a trico knit
fabric. It's one of the most common and
widely produced type of warp knitted
fabric. Prico is a type of knit fabric
with a unique texture made with a flat
bed knitting machine with a smooth with
the back of a cross wise rib. It is
common for intimate wear, swim wear
because it does not run. Next slide.
Now we have the knitted pile fabrics
which are also classified in Chapter 60.
Knit pile fabrics include long pile,
looped pile and other pile fabrics like
a cut pile. A knit pile fabric is one
pile pile create a loop. And we
typically send these to the lab for
analysis. Next slide.
Here we have an example of a long pile
fabric. Statistical note 1 to Chapter
60 defines the term long pile as fabrics
made by inserting fibers from cards
sliver into the loops of the ground
fabric during knitting. On this slide
we have an example of a long pile
fabric. This fanric is bonded. The
face is a weft knit of acrylic yarns of
different colors. As you can see from
the picture, the backing fabric is just
plain weave. We're classifying this
based on the face because the face
imparts the product with the essential
character. Long pile is classified at
the six digit level under 6001.10. Next
slide.
Here we have a sample of knitted loop
pile fabric. In a looped pile
structure, there are small loops as you
can see in the picture. Classification
for knitted loop pile at the six digit
level starts at 6001.21. Next slide.
Here is another example of a knitted loop
pile fabric. In the close' up picture
you can see the raised loops. This
would also be classified at the six
digit level starting at 6001.22. Next
slide.
Last, we have the other pile fabrics that
begin with subheading 6001.9100. This
is a warp knit cut pile. Warp knit
includes velvets and velours. This
sample is a bonded fabric with a woven
backing common for knit piles to provide
durability. Since this is a bonded
fabric we are classifying based on the
face fabric because the face imparts the
product with the essential character.
The face is a cut pile fabric and
composed wholly of poly ester and does
meet the requirements for velour.
Statistical note 1 to Chapter 60
provides requirements for the purposes
of statistical reporting numbers
6001.92.0010 and 0030. The term velour
refers to fab,s containing 12 or more
stitches per centimeter in the vertical
direction. This cut pile fabric
contains 16 stitches per centimeter in
the vertical direction so it meets the
requirements to be classified as velour
under 600192.0030, which provides for
pile fabrics, including long pile
fabrics and terry fabrics, knitted or
crocheted of man made fabrication, other
velour. That was my presentation.
Let's move to the next slide.
This slide was the rulings covered in the
presentation today. Together, we
discussed over 40 rulings from -- 40
fabrics from 35 rulings. Both Mike and
I tried to provide as many samples for
you while we focused on the most common
elements are common for us. There are
certainly other factors we could not
cover because of the time constraints
today. Next slide.
On this slide, I added some websites that
may be of some interest for you. We
have the electronic ruling website. I
want to meng that we still accept paper
rulings. So if you cannot file
electronically, they can still be mailed
to our office at 201 barrack street
located in New York City. If you need
the full mailing address we can type it
in the chat. I also posted the website
request, which is the customs ruling
online search system. The next website
is ICPs. That's the informed compliance
publications. And I have also posted
the CBP home page website and the United
States international trade commission
website. Next slide.
Here is our team of associates. We both
share had same NISAS so please feel free
to reach out to them. They are omar,
Christopher, and Lewis. If you are
unable to reach me or Mike, you can also
touch base with one of them. They are
knowledgeable about fabrics. I have
included their contact information on
the screen. Next slide.
Both Mike and I would like to thank you
for joining our session. We would like
to give a big thank you to our web
masters today. They are both behind the
scenes. But without their help, the
presentation could not run so smoothly
today. We have provided our contact
information again. You can reach out to
either of us at any time by e-mail, and
I'll leave this up for a minute. I'm
sorry I had to rush at the end. So I
couldn't really go through more of what
I wanted to explain in some of the
classifications. But I didn't want to
run out of time. So that's why I tried
to cut it a little short. I hope you
still got the whole point of it mu
thanks, Nicole. I wanted to point out
that slide 73 was an export rulings.
That's not a ruling. That's published
in Cross. So that's not really going to
be something you can look up just for
your information. Also, yes, like
Nicole said, we'd like to thank our web
masters, Fung, Amy, and host Calenthia
who is going to close it up for you.
Unfortunately, we don't have time to
take questions. We really did run a
little longer than we thought. But
definitely, definitely take our e-mails
down. We are always more than happy to
address questions via e-mail. And we
work together very often. So you can
e-mail either of us on any topic, and
we'll work together to get an answer.
I'll go ahead and mute myself and turn
it over to Lynn.
>> Thank you, everyone. We hope you
found the webinar informative. The
continuing education credit code was
placed in the WebEx chat and it will be
e-mailed to all of the participants
within 48 hours. Today's webinar has
been recorded, and it will be posted on
CBP.gov under the trade outreach
webinars in the coming weeks. Thank
Have a great afternoon.