Tariff classification of imported glass rings turns on their condition as imported, not their eventual use as insulators.

Imported glass rings were assessed in the condition in which they were presented, and because they required further processing before they could function as insulators, they were not classifiable as electrical insulators under Heading 8546. Their mere glass composition and the material's poor conductivity did not make them completed insulators, and they lacked any special shape or design making them suitable only for that use. Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for Interpretation was held inapplicable because the goods, as imported, were only raw material for manufacture of insulators. They were therefore classifiable as articles of glass under Heading 7020, and the appeal failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether imported glass rings, as presented at the time of import, were classifiable as electrical insulators under Heading 8546 of the Customs Tariff or as articles of glass under Heading 7020 of the Customs Tariff, and whether Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for the Interpretation of the Tariff supported classification as insulators.

Analysis: The imported goods were glass rings which required further processing before they could function as insulators in miniature bulbs. In the form imported, they were not capable of being used as insulators and lacked any special shape or design rendering them suitable only for that purpose. The fact that glass is a bad conductor of electricity was held insufficient by itself to treat the goods as electrical insulators. The goods had to be assessed in the condition in which they were imported, and in that condition they were only raw material for manufacture of insulators. Rule 2(a) was found inapplicable because the intrinsic property of the material did not convert the goods, as presented, into completed insulators.

Conclusion: The imported glass rings were correctly classified under Heading 7020 as articles of glass and not under Heading 8546 as electrical insulators; the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Classification must be made on the condition of the goods as imported, and a product requiring further manufacture before it can perform the claimed function is not classifiable as the finished article merely because it possesses the material quality associated with that function.

---