Country of origin marking requirements for medical and dental instruments

HQ H186975 November 28, 2011 CLA-2 OT:RR:CTF:TCM H186975 GC CATEGORY: Marking TARIFF NO.:N/A Marian E. Ladner, Esq. Ladner and Associates, PC 2000 Smith Street Houston, Texas 77002 RE: Country of origin marking requirements for medical and dental instruments Dear Ms. Ladner: This is in response to your request on behalf of J&J Instruments, LLC (J&J Instruments), dated September 2, 2011, for a binding ruling on the country of origin marking requirements for medical and dental instruments imported from Pakistan via a consumption entry but destined to be repackaged and exported. FACTS: In your submission, you indicate that J&J Instruments intends to import unspecified medical and dental instruments manufactured in Pakistan by various suppliers via a consumption entry. You assert that the sole purpose of the importation is to allow J&J Instruments to perform inspection and quality control in its warehouse, where the subject instruments will be stored separately from products destined for sale in the U.S. until they are repackaged for export to Europe. You also note that the packaging for the items destined for re-export to Europe is distinct from the packaging for the items that J&J sells in the United States, including differences in item numbers, distribution information, and brand names. J&J Instruments imports the subject medical and dental instruments in cartons containing between eight and sixty smaller boxes, which contain between eight and twelve of the individual items. Only the cartons are marked with Pakistan as the country of origin. In your ruling request, you suggest that marking the subject products in this manner satisfies the marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. §1304 because the boxes containing the subject medical and dental instruments fall under one of the general exceptions to the marking requirements set forth in 19 C.F.R. §134.32. Specifically, you inquire about whether the marking exception set forth in 19 C.F.R. §134.32(d) applies to the above facts. ISSUE: Whether the medical and dental instruments are excepted from the marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. §1304 by application of 19 C.F.R. §134.32(d)? 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 United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States, the English name of the country of origin of the article.See also 19 C.F.R. §134.11. 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). Title 19 C.F.R. §134.1(b) defines “country of origin” as: [T]he country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the “country of origin” within the meaning of [the marking regulations]… The “ultimate purchaser” is defined in 19 C.F.R. §134.1(d) as the “last person in the U.S. to receive the article in the form in which it was imported”. The general exceptions to the marking are set forth in 19 C.F.R. §134.32, which states, in pertinent part: The articles described or meeting the specified conditions set forth below are excepted from marking requirements…: * * * (d) Articles for which the marking of the containers will reasonably indicate the origin of the articles. We note that CBP (then the U.S. Customs Service) discussed the applicability of 19 C.F.R. 134.32(d) to a fact pattern similar to the instant matter in Headquarters Ruling Letter (HQ) 732851, dated January 26, 1990. HQ 732851 pertained to unmarked screwdriver bits and sockets imported in bulk in sealed containers labeled with the country of origin. The screwdriver bits and sockets were then purchased by a U.S. company that combined them with battery-operated hand tools destined for export to Europe. Because this U.S. company was deemed the “ultimate purchaser”under the facts presented, the screwdriver bits and sockets were excepted from marking per 19 C.F.R. §134.32(d) so long as the importer could certify to the port that all of the imported products would be exported in the manner described in the ruling. Inasmuch as your client is the only entity to handle the subject medical and dental instruments in the U.S., we find that HQ 732851 controls the instant matter. J&J Instruments is the “ultimate purchaser” under the facts presented. Accordingly, the marking of the cartons containing the medical and dental instruments will thus reasonably indicate their country of origin per 19 C.F.R. §134.32(d) presuming your client is able to verify the above facts with the CBP officials at the port of entry. We note that it is possible to avoid such verification by importing the subject merchandise in bond and thus applying 19 C.F.R. §134.32(j), which excepts from marking articles entered or withdrawn from warehouse for immediate exportation or for transportation and exportation. HOLDING: The instant medical and dental instruments areexcepted from the marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. §1304 per 19 C.F.R. §134.32(d) where the importer is the only entity to handle the imported merchandise prior to re-exportation. Sincerely, Ieva K. O’Rourke, Chief Tariff Classification and Marking Branch