Roasted areca nuts classified as roasted nuts and seeds, not dried areca nuts, due to the roasting process.

Roasted areca nuts in whole, split and cut form were classified under heading 2008 as other roasted nuts and seeds, not under heading 0802 as dried areca nuts. The classification depended on the character of the process applied: repeated high-temperature roasting was treated as distinct from drying and from the limited preservation or appearance treatments permitted under Chapter 8. HSN Explanatory Notes to heading 2008 specifically cover dry-roasted, oil-roasted and fat-roasted areca or betel nuts, and were used as a safe guide to interpret the tariff. Prior rulings on other forms of supari were treated as inapplicable because the goods here were roasted areca nuts.

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Issues: Whether roasted areca nuts, in whole, split and cut forms, are classifiable under heading 2008 as other roasted nuts and seeds, or under heading 0802 as dried areca nuts.

Analysis: The classification turned on the nature of the process applied to the goods and the scope of the relevant tariff headings and chapter notes. The process described for the goods was roasting by repeated high-temperature heating and cooling, which was held to be distinct from drying and from the limited treatments contemplated under Chapter 8. Note 3 to Chapter 8 permits only certain treatments of dried nuts for preservation or appearance, whereas roasting was found to be a more severe process producing a different product. Heading 2008, read with its HSN Explanatory Notes, specifically includes areca or betel nuts that are dry-roasted, oil-roasted or fat-roasted. The HSN Explanatory Notes were treated as a safe guide for interpreting the tariff. Reliance placed on rulings and decisions concerning other forms of supari was found not to control the present issue because the goods in question were roasted areca nuts.

Conclusion: Roasted areca nuts were held to fall under CTH 20081920 as other roasted nuts and seeds, and not under CTH 080280.

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