CAFC Finds Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinnerware Not Used in Rituals, Not Duty Free
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 2 affirmed a lower court ruling that dinnerware decorated with Christmas or Thanksgiving themes are not classifiable in a special duty-free subheading for articles used in religious or cultural rituals. Though it faulted the Court of International Trade’s narrow interpretation of what constitutes a ritual, it still found WWRD’s Christmas and Thanksgiving dinnerware should not be classified alongside items with more specific purposes like menorahs and communion cups.
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WWRD had argued for classification in subheading 9817.95.01, which covers certain “utilitarian articles of a kind used in the home in the performance of specific religious or cultural ritual celebrations for religious or cultural holidays, or religious festive occasions, such as Seder plates, blessing cups, menorahs or kinaras.”
The Federal Circuit agreed with CIT and CBP that the articles of dinnerware, which included decorative plates, mugs, gravy boats, crystal flutes and punch bowls, and lamps, were instead classifiable according to their constituent materials as either ceramic dinnerware in heading 6912, lead crystal glassware in heading 7013, or non-electrical lamps in heading 9405, at duty rates ranging from 3 percent to 6 percent.
For an article to be used in rituals as defined in subheading 9817.95.01, it must satisfy two underlying requirements, CAFC said: “First, a ritual must have some prescribed acts or codes of behavior. … Second, a ritual, in the context of this subheading, must have some cultural or religious meaning.” The ritual must be “specific,” with “well-defined prescribed acts or codes of behavior having an unambiguous cultural meaning.” And the article being classified must be “used in the performance” or the ritual.
The Thanksgiving and Christmas rituals of “gathering together” and “enjoying a meal” are too ambiguous to meet the requirement for a specific ritual, CAFC said. “Families celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners do so in a variety of ways, using a variety of foods, and even at a variety of times in the day. The ‘prescribed and specific acts’ promised by WWRD’s general description of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are missing,” CAFC said.
And even if Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners could be considered rituals, the dinnerware is not used in these purported rituals’ performance, CAFC said. “It is not enough that a utilitarian article is merely used during the ritual. Instead, the use must advance or serve a particular purpose in the ritual,” as is the case with Seder plates, communion cups, menorahs and kinaras. “Assuming arguendo that Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners are specific rituals, the ritual of dinner will continue whether the serving trays and cups have festive motifs or not; the motifs themselves do nothing to further the ritual of dinner,” the Federal Circuit said.
But though it came to the same result, CAFC took issue with part of CIT’s decision. CIT had ruled that rituals mentioned in subheading 9817.95.01 must be marked by formality or solemnity. CAFC instead said that those characteristics are secondary “suggestive but non-dispositive factors,” among which are also “how widely recognized the prescribed acts or underlying meanings are, how established the organization performing the ritual is, what purpose the prescribed acts have in serving the organization or representing the cultural or religious meaning, among other considerations.”
(WWRD v. U.S., CAFC # 2017-1945, dated 04/02/18, Judges Taranto, Clevenger and Chen)
(Attorneys: Daniel Gluck of Simon Gluck for plaintiff appellant WWRD US LLC; Beverly Farrell for defendant-appellee U.S.)