COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF HOPS GROWN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND SUBSEQUENTLY PROCESSED IN GERMANY.

N247033 October 31, 2013 MAR-2 OT:RR:NC:N2:231 CATEGORY: MARKING Ms. Samantha Pate C.H. Robinson International, Inc. 411 108th Ave. NE Suite 2150 Bellevue, WA 98004 RE: COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF HOPS GROWN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND SUBSEQUENTLY PROCESSED IN GERMANY. Dear Ms. Pate: This is in response to your letter dated October 10, 2013 requesting a country of origin ruling covering two different scenarios, as outlined below. Your request was submitted on behalf of Hopunion LLC. In both scenarios, hops will be grown in the United Kingdom, where they will be packaged as raw hops in bales and shipped to Germany for processing. (For the purposes of this ruling, it is assumed that the term “hops” refers to “hop cones,” which are the catkins or flowers of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus, and which are primarily used in brewing procedures to flavor beer.) The German vendor will then process the raw hops at his facility in Germany. In scenario 1, the German processing will consist of making “mini-bales” by removing the burlap or plastic-wrap packaging (from the original U.K. bales) and dumping set volumes of hops into Mylar foils and into cardboard boxes. In scenario 2, the German processing will consist of making “pellets” by first removing the burlap or plastic-wrap packaging and placing the hops into a mixing tank, where they will be “blended into a homogenous blend.” The blended product will then be pushed through a pellet die, yielding pellets which will then be placed into Mylar foils and cardboard boxes. 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. Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. Pursuant to 19 CFR Section 134.1(b), the country of origin is the country of manufacture, production or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the U.S. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such country the country of origin within the meaning of Part 134 of the regulations. A substantial transformation occurs when a new and different article of commerce emerges from a process with a new name, character or use different from that possessed by the article prior to processing. See United States v. Gibson-Thomsen Co., Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. 267 (C.A.D. 98) (1940). It appears that in scenario 1, the hops merely undergo repackaging, which would not constitute a substantial transformation. In scenario 2, the whole hop cones are blended, compressed into pellet form and repackaged. It is our understanding that although hop pellets may differ somewhat from whole hops in terms of stability and efficiency in use, these two forms of the product nevertheless have basically the same purpose and functionality in brewing operations. We thus find that the pelletizing and repackaging process of scenario 2 does not effect a substantial transformation either. Accordingly, we find that both the repackaged hops of scenario 1 and the pelletized/repackaged hops of scenario 2 retain their initial (United Kingdom) country-of-origin status. Therefore, all the packages of hops and hop pellets entering the United States must be marked to indicate that their contents are products of the original country, e.g., “Product of the United Kingdom.” This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 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, Gwenn Klein Kirschner Acting Director National Commodity Specialist Division