Reconsideration of NY N274713 Country of Origin Marking of Eye Pencils and Sharpeners

NY N276068 June 28, 2016 MAR-2 OT:RR:NC:N4:110 CATEGORY: MARKING Mr. Donny Nguyen Gurwitch Products LLC 8 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 Houston, TX 77046 RE: Reconsideration of NY N274713: Country of Origin Marking of Eye Pencils and Sharpeners Dear Mr. Nguyen: This is in reply to your letter dated May 23, 2016, in which you requested reconsideration of New York Ruling Letter (NY) N274713, dated May 6, 2016, which pertains to the country of origin marking of eye pencils and pencil sharpeners. In this ruling, the National Commodity Specialist Division (NCSD) determined that the country of origin of the eye pencil is Italy and that the country of origin of the pencil sharpener is Germany. Also, the cardboard packaging should be marked “Eye Pencil Made in Italy” and “Pencil Sharpener Made in Germany”. In your reconsideration request you assert that the blade for the pencil sharpener is made in Germany and then sent to the supplier in China to be assembled onto the pencil sharpener’s molded plastic. Following the assembly in China, the pencil sharpener will be imported into the United States. You further assert that the country of origin of the pencil sharpener is China. The bulk of the eye pencil material is manufactured and molded into cylinder cores in Italy and then sent to China to be placed into the wooden pencil barrels. Following the assembly in China, the eye pencil will be imported into the United States. The eye pencil and the pencil sharpener will be separately imported into the United States where they will be packaged together in cardboard cartons for retail sale. 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. As provided in section 134.41(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(a)), the general rules of marking requirements are best met by marking worked into the article at the time of manufacture. For example, it is suggested that the country of origin on metal articles be die sunk, molded in, or etched. However, section 134.44, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.44), generally provides that any marking that is sufficiently permanent so that it will remain on the article until it reaches the ultimate purchaser unless deliberately removed is acceptable. Additional processing or manufacture in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the country of origin. A substantial transformation is said to occur if processing or manufacture imparts a new name, character, or use to the imported article.       Applying these principles to the instant request, the pencil sharpener’s blade which is manufactured in Germany does not become an article with new name, character, or use because of the assembly onto the pencil sharpener’s molded plastic in China. For purposes of country of origin marking, the country of origin of the pencil sharpener is Germany.            For all the aforementioned reason, we find that the blade determines the pencil sharpener’s country of origin. We therefore affirm NY N274713, dated May 6, 2016. Sincerely, Myles B. Harmon, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division