Tariff classification of paper-based laminate affirmed under Chapter 48, with Heading 39.12 excluded for primary-form materials

Paste coated paper or film laminate remained classifiable under Chapter 48 because the goods were paper-based with a chemical coating on one side, and the Chapter Note 1(f) exclusion for layered paper or paperboard coated with plastics did not apply where the material was not a layered product and thickness predominance was irrelevant. Classification under Heading 39.12 was also rejected because the goods did not constitute cellulose or its chemical derivatives in primary forms, which refers to bulk primary-form materials such as liquids, pastes, dispersions, solutions, blocks, lumps, powders, granules or flakes. The goods were therefore classified under Chapter 48, not Heading 39.12.

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Issues: Whether paste coated paper or film laminate was correctly classifiable under Chapter 48 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 or was liable to be classified under Heading 39.12 as cellulose and its chemical derivatives in primary forms.

Analysis: The imported goods were described as film laminate or paste coated paper and were found to be paper based with a coating of chemicals on one side. The exclusion under Chapter Note 1(f) to Chapter 48 depended on one layer of paper or paperboard being coated or covered with a layer of plastics where the plastics constituted more than half the total thickness, but the goods in question were not layered materials and the test of thickness-based predominance did not apply. The goods also did not answer the description of cellulose and its chemical derivatives in primary forms under Chapter Note 6 to Chapter 39, since they were not liquids, pastes, dispersions, solutions, blocks, lumps, powders, granules or flakes in bulk form.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly classified under Chapter 48 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and not under Heading 39.12.

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