## Facts

- Better Home Plastics Corporation imported low-priced shower curtain sets sold as a single retail unit.
- Each set contained: (1) a semi-transparent decorative textile outer curtain, (2) an opaque plastic magnetic liner, and (3) plastic hooks.
- The plastic liner prevented water from escaping the shower and protected the textile curtain from mildew and soap; it also contributed to privacy and decoration.
- Customs classified the sets as textile articles, resulting in a higher duty rate than classification as plastic articles.
- Better Home challenged the classification in the Court of International Trade on stipulated facts and sought classification based on the plastic liner.
- The Court of International Trade ordered Customs to set aside the textile classification and reclassify the sets according to the plastic liner.
- The United States appealed to the Federal Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether the shower curtain sets should be classified under the HTSUS by the textile curtain or the plastic liner as the component imparting the set’s “essential character” under GRI 3(b).
2. Whether GRI 3(a)’s relative-specificity rule applies to these sets, or whether the GRI 3(a) exception for headings that each describe only part of a set requires use of GRI 3(b).

## Decision

- The Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment requiring reclassification of the sets as plastic articles.
- GRI 3(a) did not control because the competing headings each described only part of the retail set; the case therefore fell within GRI 3(a)’s set exception.
- Under GRI 3(b), the plastic liner imparted the set’s essential character due to its primary functional role (water retention and protection) and its privacy and decorative contribution.
- The court upheld the trial court’s essential-character determination on the stipulated record.

## Legal Principles

- For “sets put up for retail sale” that are prima facie classifiable under multiple headings, GRI 3(a)’s relative-specificity rule yields when each heading describes only part of the set; classification proceeds under GRI 3(b).
- Under GRI 3(b), a retail set is classified according to the component that imparts its “essential character.”
- Essential character is determined through a fact-based assessment emphasizing the component’s role in the set’s function and use; decorative significance of another component does not control when a different component supplies the primary utility and privacy function.

## Conclusion

The court held that the shower curtain sets were properly classified under GRI 3(b) based on the plastic liner because it supplied the set’s essential character, so Customs had to replace its textile-based classification with the plastic classification and apply the corresponding duty rate.


Better Home Plastics Corp. v. United States, 119 F.3d 969 (Fed. Cir. 1997)