COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED COFFEE

NY M84868 July 28, 2006 MAR-2 RR:NC:SP:232 M84868 CATEGORY: MARKING Mr. Prem K. Bhandari Mountain High Coffee Company P.O. Box 3043 Brentwood, TN 37024-3043 RE: COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED COFFEE Dear Mr. Bhandari: This is in response to your letter dated July 7, 2006, requesting a ruling on whether the proposed method of marking the container in which the coffee is imported with the country of origin in lieu of marking the article itself is an acceptable country of origin marking for the imported coffee. A marked sample container was not submitted with your letter for review. A sample package of an individually wrapped 1.75 ounce ground roasted coffee pack was submitted with your request. You state that 1.75 ounce or 2 ounce coffee packs will be imported in cartons, which will contain 24, 36, 40 or 96 packs of coffee. The cartons will be sold to institutional buyers such as hospitals, nursing homes, office cafeterias, etc. You indicate that only full sealed cartons will be sold to the institutional customers. The cartons will be marked with the country of origin, which is Vietnam. Your request asks whether the individual 1.75 ounce or 2 ounce coffee packs must be marked “Made in Vietnam.” The marking statute, section 304, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the U.S. 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 the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article. Section 14 of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-295, 110 Stat. 3514 (October 11, 1996) amended the country of origin marking statute (19 U.S.C. 1304) to exempt imports of certain specified coffee, tea and spices from the marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304 subsections (a) and (b). The individually wrapped 1.75 ounce and 2 ounce ground roasted coffee packs are among the products included in this statutory marking exemption. Therefore, neither the 1.75 ounce and the 2 ounce coffee packs nor their container(s) are required to be marked with the foreign country of origin. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 177). A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist John Maria at 646-733-3031. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director, National Commodity Specialist Division