GRI Application

A basket provision — also called a catch-all or residual provision — covers goods not specifically described elsewhere in the heading or subheading. Basket provisions are worded as

GRI 2(a) provides that a heading covering a complete article also covers that article incomplete or unfinished, provided the incomplete article has the essential character of the complete article. It also covers complete articles presented unassembled.

GRI 3(c) is the final tiebreaker under GRI 3: when goods cannot be classified under GRI 3(a) or 3(b), they are classified under the heading that appears last in numerical order among those that equally merit consideration.

GRI 2(b) extends heading coverage to mixtures and combinations of the described material with other materials. When GRI 2(b) extends coverage to multiple headings simultaneously, GRI 3 must be applied to resolve which heading governs.

The most specific description is the GRI 3(a) standard for choosing between competing headings: the heading whose description most precisely covers the goods controls over headings that describe them only broadly or partially.

The Order of Inquiry describes the systematic and conditional application of the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI) to classify goods under the HTSUS, ensuring each rule's specific function is correctly applied.

Relative specificity, under GRI 3(a), is the principle that the heading providing the most specific description prevails, determined by comparing provisions in context, including legal notes.

A retail set under GRI 3(b) consists of two or more different articles put up together for retail sale and adapted for use together, classified according to the component that gives the set its essential character.