## Facts

- Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) imported deodorizer distillate (DOD), a residue generated during high-temperature, high-vacuum steam distillation used to remove odors and flavors from edible soybean oil.
- The distillation process produces refined soybean oil and DOD as a byproduct; DOD is a chemically complex solid with variable composition.
- DOD had commercial value and was primarily used as feedstock to recover tocopherols (for natural vitamin E) and phytosterols (for cholesterol-reducing additives).
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection classified DOD under HTSUS subheading 3824.90.28 (dutiable chemical products not elsewhere specified).
- ADM protested, asserting DOD should be classified as a duty-free residual product under HTSUS subheading 3825.90.
- The Court of International Trade upheld Customs’ classification; ADM appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether DOD is a “residual product” of the chemical or allied industries classifiable under HTSUS 3825.90 (duty-free) rather than a “chemical product” under HTSUS 3824.90.28 (dutiable).
2. Whether Explanatory Notes to heading 3825 may restrict the ordinary meaning and scope of “residual products” in the tariff text.
3. Under the General Rules of Interpretation, whether heading 3825 is more specific than the catch-all chemical products provision in heading 3824 for this merchandise.

## Decision

- The Federal Circuit reversed the Court of International Trade and remanded.
- The court held DOD is properly classified under HTSUS subheading 3825.90 as a “residual product.”
- The court rejected reliance on Explanatory Notes to narrow the tariff term “residual products.”
- The decision required duty-free treatment under 3825.90 rather than the dutiable 3824.90.28 classification.

## Legal Principles

- Under GRI 1, tariff classification is determined by the terms of the headings and relevant notes, informed by the ordinary meaning of the heading language.
- A product that is the residue remaining after an industrial process can fall within “residual products” even if chemically complex and commercially valuable.
- Explanatory Notes are persuasive interpretive aids but are not binding and cannot narrow the ordinary meaning of HTSUS terms.
- When one heading specifically addresses the key characteristic of the merchandise (here, residual/byproduct status) and the competing heading is a catch-all for items “not elsewhere specified or included,” the more specific heading governs.

## Conclusion

The Federal Circuit concluded that deodorizer distillate’s defining characteristic is its origin as a residue from soybean oil distillation, bringing it within HTSUS 3825.90; nonbinding Explanatory Notes could not limit that text-based classification, and the residual-products heading controlled over the broader chemical-products catch-all.


Archer Daniels Midland Co. v. United States, 561 F.3d 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2009)