Country of Origin Marking for a woman’s imported pullover from Bangladesh

N261166 February 23, 2015 MAR-2-61:OT:RR:NC:N3:359 CATEGORY: Marking Mr. Harry J. Gonnelly Import Commodity Group LTD. 500 Merrick Road Lynbrook, NY 11563 RE: Country of Origin Marking for a woman’s imported pullover from Bangladesh Dear: Mr. Gonnelly, This is in response to your letter dated, January 22, 2015, on behalf of your client NTD Apparel Inc., requesting a ruling on whether, the proposed method of marking and location of the origin label is an acceptable country of origin marking for an imported woman’s pullover. A sample was submitted with your request for review and will be returned. The sample, style QE856, which you refer to as a “crop top”, is a woman’s pullover constructed from 60% cotton and 40% polyester interlock knit fabric. The outer surface of the garment’s fabric measures more than nine stitches per two centimeters counted in the direction that the stitches were formed. The pullover features a capped scooped neckline, a “show me your #SELFIE” heat transfer on the front panel, long hemmed raglan sleeves, a straight front hemmed bottom that reaches the waist and a hemmed shirt-tail rear bottom extending to below the waist. The pullover has two labels. There is a top fabric label (#1) sewn inside the center of the neck on the rear panel midway between the shoulders which is printed with a heart symbol and the word 2KUHL. Immediately below and sewn to this label is a second label (#2) of synthetic film printed with the importers name on the first line and the country of origin “Made in Bangladesh” on the second line. The county of origin is not obscured by any other print or label. The marking statute, 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 U.S., shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanent as the nature of the article (or 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. As provided in section 134.41(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(b)), the country of origin marking is considered conspicuous if the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. is able to find the marking easily and read it without strain. Section 134.1(d), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(d)) defines the “ultimate purchaser” generally as the last person in the United States who will receive the article in the form in which it is imported. Since the garment is intended for retail sale, the retail customer is considered the ultimate purchaser for the purpose of country of origin marking. In Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 733940 dated October 24, 1991, Customs stated that the location of the marking should be in a place where the ultimate purchaser could expect to find the marking or where he/she would easily notice it from a casual inspection. Treasury Decision (T.D.) 54640(6) (1958) provides, in pertinent part, as follows: Subject to the exceptions from marking provided for under section 304(a), Tariff Act of 1930, as amended…, wearing apparel, such as shirts, blouses, coats and sweaters, etc., must be legibly and conspicuously marked with the name of the country of origin by means of a fabric label or label made from natural or synthetic film sewn or otherwise permanently affixed on the inside center of the neck midway between the shoulder seams or in that immediate area or otherwise permanently marked in that area in some other manner. The proposed marking and label location of style QE856 , described above, is acceptable under 19 U.S.C. 1304 and 19 CFR Part 134. 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 Renee M. Orsat at renee.orsat@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Gwenn Klein Kirschner Director National Commodity Specialist Division