Eligibility under 9802.00.50 of crust leather from Argentina.
Active· CBP ruling HQ d85361· Issued 1998-12-31
Ruling text
NY D85361
December 31, 1998
CLA-2-98:RR:NC:3:353 D85361
CATEGORY: Classification
TARIFF NO.: 9802.00.50
Mr. Donald S. Stein
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
1501 M Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-1702
RE: Eligibility under 9802.00.50 of crust leather from
Argentina.
Dear Mr. Stein:
In your letter dated December 1, 1998, on behalf Lackawanna
Leather Company, you requested a determination regarding tariff
classification under 9802.00.50.
The merchandise in question is U.S. origin raw hides which
will undergo salt preservation in the United States and will be
sent to Argentina for further processing. In Argentina, the
tannery will process the hides to the crust stage and send them
back to the United States. In the U.S., the crust leather will
be processed into a finished leather product. For purposes of
this response we assume the hides are from a bovine animal. The
raw hides would be classified under heading 4101; the crust hides
are considered crust leather and would be classified under
heading 4104.
You request a ruling as to the eligibility for a partial
duty exemption under 9802.00.50, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (HTS), which provides for "Articles returned to
the United States after having been exported to be advanced in
value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or
other means: Articles exported for repairs or alterations:
Other."
Subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, provides a partial duty
exemption for articles returned to the United States after having
been exported to be advanced in value or improved in condition by
means of repairs or alterations. Entitlement to this tariff
treatment is precluded in circumstances where the operations
performed abroad destroy the identity of the articles or create
new or commercially different articles. Tariff treatment under
subheading 9802.00.50, HTSUS, is also precluded where the
exported articles are incomplete for their intended use prior to
the foreign processing. The processing makes crust leather of
raw hides. Furthermore, the raw hides cannot be used as leather
prior to the processing in Argentina. The tanning process in
question clearly creates a new and commercially different article
and the article is incomplete for its intended use prior to such
processing.
Raw hides shipped from the United States to Argentina where
they are processed into crust leather are not eligible for
treatment under 9802.00.50. The crust leather will be dutiable
at full value when imported into the United States.
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 Kenneth
Reidlinger at 212-466-5881.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division
Source: rulings.cbp.gov — ruling d85361, retrieved 2026-10-12T05:38:50Z, republished verbatim. This digest is informational; only CBP issues binding rulings.