Tariff classification of steel ammunition boxes: storage use did not exclude them from Heading 8312.90.

Steel ammunition boxes were treated as classifiable under Heading 8312.90 because the tariff structure placed that entry as a direct sub-classification of containers of base metal. The condition that containers be ordinarily intended for packing goods for sale applied only to the separate nested packaging-based sub-heading and could not be read into 8312.90. Their use as storage containers therefore did not take them outside Heading 8312.90.

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Issues: Whether steel ammunition boxes used for storage of ammunition are classifiable under Heading 8312.90 or under a heading confined to containers ordinarily intended for packing of goods for sale.

Analysis: The tariff structure showed that Heading 83.12 covered containers of base metal, with the description concerning containers ordinarily intended for packaging of goods for sale forming a sub-classification under the main heading. The further entries under 8312.11, 8312.12 and 8312.19 were treated as sub-classifications of that packaging-based description. By contrast, 8312.90 was read as a separate sub-classification directly under containers of base metal, without importing the condition that the containers be ordinarily intended for packing goods for sale. On that construction, the nature of use as storage containers did not exclude the goods from 8312.90.

Conclusion: The impugned steel ammunition boxes were classifiable under Heading 8312.90 and not outside that heading on the ground that they were not intended for sale packaging.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the tariff structure places a particular entry as a direct sub-classification of a general description, conditions attached only to a different nested sub-classification cannot be read into it.

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