Marking of Components of Sunglasses

N267703 September 11, 2015 MAR-2 OT:RR:NC:N4:414 CATEGORY: MARKING Mr. Frederic D. Van Arnam, Jr. Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP 100 William Street Suite 305 New York, NY 10038 RE: Marking of Components of Sunglasses Dear Mr. Van Arnam: This is in response to your letter dated August 10, 2015, on behalf of Costa Inc. (hereafter Costa), requesting a ruling on whether imported sunglass components are required to be individually marked with the country of origin if they are later to be processed in the U.S. by a U.S. manufacturer. Costa requests an exemption from country of origin marking for lens blanks and for frames and frame components imported from various countries. Samples of finished sunglasses, sunglass frames, sunglass frame parts and lens blanks were furnished with the request for a ruling. The lens blanks are imported from France, Italy, Japan and Thailand. The imported lens blanks are inspected for size, curvature, distortion, color and adhesion. The lens blanks are loaded into a blocker to reduce the thickness of the blank and they are polished and coated with various coatings. Then they are loaded into an edging machine where the lens blanks are cut and edged to the specific shapes and sizes of the sunglass frames. The edged lenses are inspected for fit, edging, axis and other defects. Frames are imported from Italy, Japan, Mauritius, Taiwan and China. The frames are inspected for color, dimensions, plating adhesion, and crosshatch paint adhesion. Costa may also import frame parts consisting of temples and nose bridges from Italy, Japan, Mauritius, Taiwan and China. After inspection, the temples and nose bridges are assembled into eyeglass frames. The finished lenses are inserted into the eyeglass frames, creating sunglasses. The finished sunglasses are inspected for defects and are then packaged. The sunglasses are Costa Del Mar and Native Eyewear brand sunglasses. 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. Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.41(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(b)), mandates that the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. must be able to find the marking easily and read it without strain. Section 134.1(d) defines the ultimate purchaser as generally the last person in the U.S. who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported. 19 CFR 134.1(d)(1) states that if an imported article will be used in manufacture, the manufacturer may be the ultimate purchaser if he subjects the imported article to a process which results in a substantial transformation of the article. The case of U.S. v. Gibson-Thomsen Co., Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. 267 (C.A.D. 98) (1940), provides that an article used in manufacture which results in an article having a name, character or use differing from that of the constituent article will be considered substantially transformed and that the manufacturer or processor will be considered the ultimate purchaser of the constituent materials. In such circumstances, the imported article is excepted from marking and only the outermost container is required to be marked. See, 19 CFR 134.35. In this case, the imported sunglass components consisting of the lens blanks, the frames and the frame parts are substantially transformed as a result of the U.S. processing, and therefore the U.S. manufacturer is the ultimate purchaser of the imported sunglass components. Under 19 CFR 134.35, only the containers which reach the ultimate purchaser are required to be marked with the country of origin of the components. 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 Barbara Kiefer at barbara.j. kiefer@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Gwenn Klein Kirschner Director National Commodity Specialist Division