Country of origin marking for one-to-two-ounce bottles of products; hair shampoos; conditioners; soaps; lotions; bath gels; sewing kits; Hong Kong; ultimate purchaser; 19 CFR 134.1(d); 19 CFR 134.32(d)

HQ 561422 August 6, 1999 MAR-02 RR:CR:SM 561422 RSD CATEGORY: MARKING Daniel G. Murray, Esq. Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer 300 Alexander Park Princeton, New Jersey 08543-5276 RE: Country of origin marking for one-to-two-ounce bottles of products; hair shampoos; conditioners; soaps; lotions; bath gels; sewing kits; Hong Kong; ultimate purchaser; 19 CFR 134.1(d); 19 CFR 134.32(d) Dear Mr. Murray: This is in response to your letter dated June 23, 1999, on behalf of Guest Supply, Inc. regarding the country of origin marking requirements for small bottles of personal care products and other articles exported from Hong Kong that will be distributed by hotels. FACTS: Guest Supply Inc. imports one to two-ounce size bottles of personal care products such as hair shampoo and conditioners, hand and body lotions, bath gels, fabric wash products, and mouth wash from Hong Kong. In addition, Guest Supply will import shower caps, sewing kits, dental kits, shaving kits, shoe mitts, and other related accessory items from Hong Kong. These products will be purchased by hotels for use by their guests. Although not explicitly stated, we assume that these articles are provided free of charge to the hotel guests. You ask whether it is sufficient to only mark the country of origin of the imported products on the cartons in which they are shipped to the hotels. ISSUE: What are the country of origin marking requirements for the products described above which are imported from Hong Kong for sale and distribution to hotels in the U.S. and provided to hotel guests? 2 LAW AND ANALYSIS: Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. §1304), provides that unless excepted, every article of foreign origin imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article. Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. §1304 was “that the ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the product. The evident purpose is to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the ultimate purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced, be able to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should influence his will.” United States v. Friedlander & Co., 27 C.C.P.A. 297 at 302; C.A.D. 104 (1940). Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and the exceptions of 19 U.S.C. §1304. Section 134.1(d), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(d)), defines the “ultimate purchaser” as generally the last person in the United States who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported. Section 134.1(d)(4), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(d)(4)), further specifies that if the imported article is distributed as a gift the recipient is the “ultimate purchaser”. However for a good of a NAFTA country which is imported and distributed free of charge as a gift, the ultimate purchaser is the purchaser of the gift rather than the recipient of the gift. 19 CFR 134.1(d)(4). Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §1304(a)(3)(D) and 19 CFR 134.32(d), an exception from individual marking is applicable where the marking of the container of an imported article will reasonably indicate the origin of the article. This exception is normally applied in cases where the imported article(s) is imported in a properly marked container and the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. will receive it in its original marked container. In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 561318, April 26, 1999, Customs issued a ruling to Guest Supply regarding similar personal care products of Canadian origin. We held that in accordance with 19 CFR 134.1(d)(4), the hotels were the “ultimate purchasers” of the imported small bottles of personal care products from a NAFTA country, and thus the individual bottles did not need to be marked, provided they were imported and reached the hotels in containers or cartons which were properly marked with the country of origin of the personal care products. However, this case is distinguishable from the facts described in HRL 561318 because the products involved in that case were from a NAFTA country while the products here are from a non-NAFTA country. In a decision with facts that are very similar to the present case, HRL 734974, April 27, 1988, Customs reiterated a previous holding that various amenities supplied to room guests, such 3 as bottle openers, playing cards, and soap must be individually marked to indicate their country of origin. We explained that individual marking was necessitated because the room guest was considered the ultimate purchaser of the various amenities. In the case of hotel room soap, the guest was the last person in the U.S. who received the soap in the form in which it was imported. Therefore, regardless whether the room guest was considered to have purchased the soap as part of the room rental or it was considered a gift incidental to room rental, the room guest under 19 CFR 134.1(d)(4) was considered the ultimate purchaser and the soap had to be individually marked to indicate the foreign origin of the soap to the room guest. Similarly in this case, pursuant to 19 CFR 134.1(d)(4), because the products are from a non-NAFTA country, the hotel guests would be considered the ultimate purchasers of the various bottles of personal care products and the other miscellaneous articles. Accordingly, although the outermost containers in which the articles reach the hotels may be marked with their country of origin, unlike the products described in HRL 561318, the bottles of personal care products and the other assorted articles given to hotel guests must be individually marked to indicate their country of origin. HOLDING: The hotel guests are the ultimate purchasers of the bottles of the personal care products and the other products described above. Therefore, the imported products must be individually marked to indicate their country of origin to the hotel guests. A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time the goods are entered. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction. Sincerely, John Durant, Director Commercial Rulings Division