CBP Finds Dog Toys Amuse Dogs, Not Humans
Throwable dog toys imported by Canine Hardware are excluded from classification within Harmonized Tariff Schedule Chapter 95 because the principal use is to amuse pets, said CBP in a Feb. 10 ruling. While the company argued that the goods are eligible for the chapter because they are designed for interactive play, CBP headquarters disagreed in its protest review, HQ H240490.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Canine Hardware imported ten types of dog toys in 2012 through the port of Seattle. While the port liquidated the merchandise under three different classifications, the company said in its protest they should be classified under 9503.00.00 for toys, scale models, and puzzles. CBP said a further review is allowable because new legal arguments were raised and that while CBP has previously ruled on pet toy classifications, it "has not yet ruled on whether toys designed for interactive play between people and pets are designed principally for the amusement of adults or kids and therefore are classifiable as toys of heading 9503." The explanatory notes to heading 9503 says "toys which, on account of their design, shape or constituent material, are identifiable as intended exclusively for animals, e.g., pets, do not fall in this heading, but are classified in their own appropriate heading."
The company argued that the exclusion applies only to toys intended exclusively for animals and "that the subject merchandise is designed for interactive play between humans and their dogs, thus making it designed for the amusement of adults or children as well as their pets." The merchandise in question is also principally for the amusement of adults or children, therefore satisfying the principle use provision of heading 9503, said Canine. The company also pointed to a 2003 ruling on similar merchandise, though CBP said that ruling was "not binding because it did not consider evidence of principal use by humans; nor did it perform a principal use analysis to determine whether classification in heading 9503."
The dog toys are "designed differently from similar toys that are for the amusement of humans," said CBP. For example, while the company compares two of the toys in question, the Zipflight and Paraflight, to a Frisbee, "the Zipflight and Paraflight are made of rubber that is completely covered with textile" and have round holes in the middle. "This is in direct contrast to Frisbees, which are of a simple plastic construction and are round discs without openings in the middle. Furthermore, part of the textile of Zipflight and Paraflight forms a lip that makes it easier for pets to handle." Additionally, the products are sold as pet toys, CBP said. "We also note that the name of the importer is “Canine Hardware,” which speaks to its business in pet toys."
The toys should be classified according to their constituent material, as CBP has found in prior rulings, the agency said. The goods are classifiable in heading 6307 (Other made up articles, including dress patterns: Other: Toys for pets, of textile materials), with a duty rate of 4.3 percent, said CBP. Because that duty rate is more than the liquidated rate for two of the entries and the same for the rest the protest is denied in full, the agency said.