Certain Festive Articles: Recommendations for Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Investigation No. 1205-9

摘要

At issue in this investigation is the tariff treatment for certain utilitarian articles with festive designs and/or motifs and whether those articles should be dutiable at the rates applicable to articles with the same utilitarian function or be free of duty under HTS heading 9505 by virtue of their festive designs and/or motifs. Central to this issue is note 1(v) to chapter 95 of the HTS that the President proclaimed effective February 3, 2007, implementing a provision recommended by the World Customs Organization (WCO) in 2004. Note 1(v) clarified that certain goods having a utilitarian function should be excluded from chapter 95 and instead should be classified in other tariff schedule chapters according to their constituent material. Also at issue is the consideration, if any, that should be given to the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) in Michael Simon Design, Inc. v. United States (Michael Simon I), issued in September 2007, seven months after proclamation of the new note. That decision addressed the appropriate classification in the HTS of certain utilitarian goods at the time of their entry in 2003, before the proclamation of new note 1(v). Customs asserts that Michael Simon I requires the changes in duty treatment it proposes.