Report on Classification of Spectacle Cases
May 10th, 2001
Prosyma Research Ltd report to Optoplast Manufacturing Company Ltd.
S F Bush
Introduction
Optoplast Manufacturing Company Ltd are seeking to overturn a ruling by HM Customs & Excise which classifies all Optoplast’s spectacle cases in code 4202 32 10. This code is a subcode of 4202 32 whose description is:
“Articles of a kind normally carried in the pocket or handbag of plastic sheeting or of textile materials” (Ref 1).
Code 4202 splits the articles it covers into four groups, of which the third “Articles of a kind normally carried in the pocket or in the handbag” is the one to which it has been agreed by both parties the spectacle cases should be assigned (Ref 2).
The fifth and sixth digits in the codes 4202 are used to denote specific materials, while the seventh and eighth are variously used to denote either subcodes of the materials or subsets of the articles (Ref 1).
In the present case, the code 4202 32 10 is obtained according to HM Customs because the spectacle cases come under subcode 4202 32, and sub-subcode 10 “plastic sheeting” applies. The other possible sub-subcode is 90 “textiles” and it is agreed by the parties that this does not apply to Optoplast cases (Ref 2).
Optoplast maintain, correctly in my view, that their coverings cannot be described in either day-to-day terms or in technical language as plastic sheeting in fact or in appearance, and should, therefore, be classified under the material category “other” which is 4202 39. So far as classification is concerned, the various supplementary and explanatory notes (Refs 1, 2, 3) make clear that it is the appearance of the outer surface(s) of the articles which matters.
References
Ref 1: Official Journal of the European Communities (Ch.42), 28.10.99, p.354-365; Explanatory Note for CN code 4202 32 10 (OJ 98/C287 15 Sept 98)
Ref 2: HM Customs & Excise (Linda Chandler) to Malachy Cornwell-Kelly, 2.6.2000.
Ref 3: Additional Note to Ch.42: Commission Regulation (EC) 1624/97, Pub. Official Journal L224, 14.8.97
Ref 4: I C Cohen Witness Statement. Laboratory of the Government Chemist, Ref.ECN/043/00, 20.11.2000
Ref 5: Explanatory Note to Ch.59, Section XI 59.03