Further review of protest no. 3901-90-100450; plywood panelsused as flooring for cargo containers not classifiable as wood;EN 44.09; EN 44.12; timber.
Active· CBP ruling HQ 089032· Issued 1991-09-17
Ruling text
HQ 089032
September 17, 1991
CLA-2 CO:R:C:T 089032 CRS
CATEGORY: Classification
TARIFF NO.: 4412.12.2060
District Director of Customs
610 South Canal Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
RE: Further review of protest no. 3901-90-100450; plywood panels
used as flooring for cargo containers not classifiable as wood;
EN 44.09; EN 44.12; timber.
Dear Mr. Parsons:
Protest No. 3901-90-100450 dated December 3, 1990, filed by
George R. Tuttle, P.C. on behalf of protestant, Americontainer
Ltd., has been referred to this office for further review.
FACTS:
The merchandise at issue consists of 180 "sets" of plywood
flooring panels made from a nonconiferous species of wood known
as apitong (scientific name: Dipterocarpus Grandiflorus). The
panels consist of nineteen veneer plies laminated together with
phenol-formaldehyde resin treated with chlordane. The individual
plies are less than six millimeters thick. Each "set" consists
of three pair of panels, or six panels. One pair measures 1,916
mm by 1,127 mm; the second, 2,050 mm by 1,127 mm; and the third,
1,480 mm by 1,127 mm. In addition, each panel has a cut 37 mm
wide by 6 mm deep along each edge. The flooring panels are used
for cargo containers and are imported from the Republic of Korea.
The floor panels were the subject of a ruling issued to
Americontainer (Seattle DD 850215 dated March 21, 1990) and were
classified in subheading 4412.12.2060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule
of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA).
Subsequent to DD 850215, four shipments of plywood flooring
were entered by Americontainer and were liquidated under heading
4412; however, the liquidations were protested on the basis that
plywood flooring panels are properly classifiable in heading
4409.
ISSUE:
Whether the flooring panels in question are classifiable as
wood or as plywood.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Two headings are relevant for the purposes of this ruling:
heading 4409, HTSUSA, which provides for wood (including strips
and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously
shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded,
molded, rounded or the like along any of its edges or faces,
whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed; and heading
4412, HTSUSA, which provides for plywood, veneered panels and
similar laminated wood.
The flooring panels are made from plywood, i.e., a product
consisting of three or more sheets of wood glued and pressed one
on the other so that the grains of successive layers at an angle.
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, Explanatory
Notes, EN 44.12, 632. In addition, EN 44.12 provides that
products of heading 4412 may be "curved, corrugated, cut or
formed to shapes other than square or rectangular or submitted to
any other operation provided it does not give them the character
of articles of other headings." Id. at 632. The floor panels
are made from plywood, a material that is specifically provided
for in heading 4412 and which does not have the character of
articles of any other heading.
Protestant contends, however, that plywood flooring is
classifiable as wood of heading 4409, specifically in subheading
4409.20.2560, which provides for other wood flooring. In this
regard protestant argues that the term "wood" in heading 4409
should be construed broadly so as to encompass all flooring,
whether of wood, plywood, or laminated wood. We disagree.
EN 44.09, provides that heading 4409 covers "timber,
particularly in the form of boards, planks, etc." The term
"timber" refers to lumber, i.e., the product of a saw mill not
further manufactured than by sawing, resawing, passing lengthwise
through a standard planing machine, crosscutting to length, and
matching. U.S. Dep't of Agriculture, The Wood Handbook (1974) at
G-6. In contrast, plywood is a glued wood panel made from thin
layers of veneer and is therefore further manufactured beyond
that which is characteristic of timber or lumber.
In addition, the Explanatory Notes exclude certain articles
from heading 4409. EN 44.09 provides:
The heading also covers strips and friezes for
parquet flooring consisting of narrow pieces of boards,
provided they have been continuously shaped, e.g.,
tongued and grooved. If they have not been worked
beyond planing, sanding or end-jointing, e.g., finger-
jointing, they fall in heading 44.07.
Strips of plywood or veneered wood for parquet
flooring are also excluded (heading 44.12).
Thus the Explanatory Notes distinguish between wood strips and
friezes for parquet flooring, and plywood strips and friezes, the
former being classifiable in heading 4409, the latter in heading
4412. This reinforces the plain meaning of the terms of the
headings, viz., that wood is classifiable in heading 4409, while
plywood is classifiable in heading 4412. Consequently, plywood
flooring is classifiable in heading 4412 pursuant to General Rule
of Interpretation 1.
HOLDING:
The merchandise in question is classifiable in subheading
4412.12.2060, HTSUSA, under the provision for plywood, veneered
panels and similar laminated wood; plywood consisting solely of
sheets of wood, each ply not exceeding 6 mm in thickness; other,
with at least one outer ply of nonconiferous wood; not surface
covered, or surface covered with a clear or transparent material
which does not obscure the grain, texture or markings of the face
ply; other; other; other; not surface covered. The panels are
dutiable at the rate of 8 percent ad valorem.
Since the rate of duty under the classification indicated
above is the same as the liquidated rate, you are instructed to
deny the protest in full. A copy of this decision should be
attached to the Form 19 Notice of Action.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director
Source: rulings.cbp.gov — ruling 089032, retrieved 2026-10-12T05:21:28Z, republished verbatim. This digest is informational; only CBP issues binding rulings.