COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED PLASTIC DRINKING VESSELS

N247927 November 25, 2013 MAR-2 OT:RR:NC:N4:422 CATEGORY: MARKING Mr. Edmund Yan ClearFreight, Inc. 880 Apollo Street El Segundo, CA 90245 RE: COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED PLASTIC DRINKING VESSELS Dear Mr. Yan: This is in response to your letter dated November 4, 2013, on behalf of Progressive Specialty Glass, Inc., requesting a ruling on whether the proposed marking of plastic drinking vessels with the country of origin on the bottom of each vessel is an acceptable country of origin marking for imported plastic drinking vessels if another marking appears on the article which is a country or locality other than the actual country of origin of the article. Two marked samples were submitted with your letter for review. One of the submitted samples is a lidded drinking tumbler that has a big sticker that is adhered to the front which has the words “Rainforest Café” printed on it, with pictures of different forest animals. The second tumbler is in the shape of a boot, without a lid. This tumbler has the following words printed on each of two opposing sides: “Angelo’s Home of ‘Big Gus’ The 20,000 LB. Steer (Est. 1958) Steak Pit Steaks Ribs Seafood Panama City Beach, Florida”. Both tumblers are made of clear plastic and both have the words “Made in China” and “Plainville CT U.S.A. molded into the bottom of the tumbler. 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 134.46, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.46), deals with cases in which the words “United States,” or “American,” the letters “U.S.A.,” any variation of such words or letters, or the name of any city or locality in the United States, or the name of any foreign country or locality other than the country or locality in which the article was manufactured or produced, appears on an imported article or its container, and those words, letters or names may mislead or deceive the ultimate purchaser as to the actual country of origin. In such a case, there shall appear, legibly and permanently, in close proximity to such words, letters, or name, and in at least a comparable size, the name of the country of origin preceded by “Made in,” “Product of,” or other words of similar meaning. In order to satisfy the close proximity requirement, the country of origin marking must generally appear on the same side(s) or surface(s) in which the name or locality other than the actual country of origin appears. The proposed marking of the lidded Rainforest Café tumbler, as described above, satisfies the marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304 and 19 CFR Part 134 and is an acceptable country of origin marking for the imported lidded tumbler. However, the proposed marking of the boot shaped tumbler does not satisfy the requirements because the words “Panama City Beach, Florida” appears on each of two sides without the country of origin name in close proximity. For the country of origin marking to be acceptable for the boot shaped tumbler, the country of origin name would have to be visible on each side in which the place name in Florida is visible, without moving or turning the tumbler and in lettering as large, if not larger, as the lettering for the place name in Florida. In each location, the name of the country of origin must be preceded by the words “Made in,” “Product of,” or other words of similar meaning. You have asked whether or not the samples of marking provided here “would be allowed to be used on all the drinking vessels made by Progressive Specialty Glass.” Since the labeling of each of your drinking vessels appears to be made for a specific customer or venue and the two submitted samples have very different personalized labeling, it would not be possible to answer this question. The molded country of origin marking on the bottom of each of the two submitted drinking vessels is acceptable but if additional labeling appears on a specific drinking vessel and the labeling has a place name that is other than that of the country of origin, then the name of the country of origin would have to appear in a place that can be viewed without moving or turning the item and in lettering that is as large, if not larger, than the lettering of the place name that is other than the country of origin. In each location, the name of the country of origin must be preceded by the words “Made in,” “Product of,” or other words of similar meaning. 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 Gary Kalus at (646) 733-3055. Sincerely, Gwenn Klein Kirschner Acting Director National Commodity Specialist Division