THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF INDIAN BLACK PEPPER THAT HAS BEEN GROUND IN VIETNAM

N030426 June 20, 2008 MAR-2 RR:E:NC:SP:231 CATEGORY: MARKING Mr. Richard S. Pecora Pecora Consulting LLC 51 Sunnywood Drive Westfield, NJ 07090 RE: THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF INDIAN BLACK PEPPER THAT HAS BEEN GROUND IN VIETNAM Dear Mr. Pecora: This is in response to your letter dated June 9, 2008, submitted on behalf of Malagasy Agencies, Inc., requesting a ruling on the country of origin, for marking purposes, of certain Indian-grown black pepper subsequently processed in Vietnam. Samples were not submitted with your letter for review. You have outlined a scenario in which “whole Malabar black pepper” will be grown in India, where it will be packed and then exported to Vietnam. (For the purposes of this ruling, we assume that the referenced “whole Malabar black pepper” being exported to Vietnam will consist of peppercorns of the genus Piper.) In Vietnam, the whole black pepper will be steam-sterilized and ground. The ground, sterilized product will then be shipped to the United States and imported through the port of Los Angeles. Your letter does not specify the nature and size of the packaging for either the whole or the ground product. You ask whether the grinding/sterilization processing done in Vietnam would constitute a “substantial transformation” of the merchandise, thus requiring the ground pepper to be marked “Product of 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 134.1(b) of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(b)) provides that the “[c]ountry of origin” means the 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 Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134). Substantial transformation requires that “[t]here must be a transformation; a new and different article must emerge, ‘having distinctive name, character, or use.’” Anheuser-Busch Brewing Ass’n v. United States, 207 U.S. 556, 28 S. Ct 204 (1908). Based on previous Customs and Border Protection decisions involving analogous situations, we find that the Vietnamese processing in the instant case does not effect a substantial transformation, meaning that the country of origin remains India. See C.S.D. 86-28 (HQ 729365, June 25, 1986), plus Headquarters Rulings 084928 (Sept. 19, 1989), 734989 (June 23, 1993) and 560274 (May 16, 1997). However, in the final analysis, the substantial-transformation issue in this case might be regarded as moot. That is because 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). Crushed or ground black pepper of the genus Piper, classifiable in subheading 0904.12 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), is among the products included in this statutory marking exemption. Therefore, neither the imported ground black pepper nor its containers 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 Nathan Rosenstein at 646-733-3030. Sincerely, Robert B. Swierupski Director, National Commodity Specialist Division