&&The Charentais slipper is a French-style “cousu retourné” slipper with textile upper and sheep’s wool interior and lining. The four models, which differ only in colour and/or size, all have a non-slip sole made of five-wire woven wool felt with a plasticized strip covering the entire last layer of felt.&&&&The four models to be imported that are the subject of this application are the Caillavet P Beige, the Calais P Rouge, the murmure P Fuchsia and the Carvin P Bleu. All are from the Rondinaud brand and are available in a number of sizes. They differ only in colour and/or size.

&&Section 10 of the Customs Tariff directs that classification of imported goods shall be determined in accordance with the General Rules for the Interpretation of the Harmonized System. Section 11 of the Customs Tariff states that in interpreting the headings and subheadings, regard shall be had to the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Explanatory Notes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System.&&&&General Interpretative Rule 1 (GIR 1) directs that titles of Sections, Chapters and sub-Chapters are provided for ease of reference only. For legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the heading and any relative Section and Chapter Notes. Similarly, General Interpretative Rule 6 (GIR 6) directs that classification shall be determined according to the terms of those subheadings and any related Subheading Notes.&&&&In your application for an Advance Ruling, you proposed tariff classification under 6402.99.90.10. This tariff classification number is incorrect.&&&&Heading 64.02 includes Other footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics, but the upper of the footwear to be imported is of textile material.&&&&The Charentais slipper is a slipper with a textile upper and a wool felt sole covered on its outer layer with a non-slip plastic material.&&&&For the purposes of Note 3 to Chapter 64, plastics include woven fabrics or other textile products with an external layer of rubber or plastics being visible to the naked eye and, according to Note 4 to the same Chapter, the constituent material of the outer sole shall be taken to be the material having the greatest surface area in contact with the ground.&&&&Explanatory Note F) to Chapter 64 adds that textile materials include, among other materials, felts.&&&&Heading 64.04 includes Footwear with outer soles of plastics and uppers of textile materials. The Explanatory Note to this heading states that it covers footwear with outer soles of the same material as the footwear of heading 64.03, and the Explanatory Notes to heading 64.03 state that these materials include, inter alia, woven fabrics or other textile supports with an outer layer of plastic material visible to the naked eye.&&&&Consequently, in accordance with Notes 3 and 4 to Chapter 64 and the Explanatory Notes to Chapter 64 and headings 64.03 and 64.04, the Charentais slippers which are the subject of this application are classified under 6404.19.90.10 as Other Footwear with outer soles of rubber, plastics, leather or composition leather and uppers of textile materials, Slipper, in accordance with GIR 1 and 6.