The country of origin of a strut assembly.

N312929 July 31, 2020 MAR-2:OT:RR:NC:N2:206 CATEGORY: Country of Origin Dan Bouchey 2980 Long Winter Lane Oakland, MI 48363 RE: The country of origin of a strut assembly. Dear Mr. Bouchey: This is in response to your letter dated July 1, 2020, requesting a ruling on the country of origin for an automotive suspension strut. Descriptive literature, pictures, videos, and a sample were provided with your request. The item under review is a Strut Assembly used in motor vehicles. The strut assembly includes a shock absorber, strut mount, coil spring, and other components. The main function of the assembly is to generate a damping force through the spring and strut to absorb the corresponding vibration and keep the car body stable. You state that this system’s goal is to maximize vehicle ride comfort regardless of road conditions. The "country of origin" is defined in 19 CFR 134.1(b) as "the country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the 'country of origin' within the meaning of this part. The courts have held that a substantial transformation occurs when an article emerges from a process with a new name, character or use different from that possessed by the article prior to processing. United States v. Gibson-Thomsen Co., Inc., 27 CCPA 267, C.A.D. 98 (1940); National Hand Tool Corp. v. United States, 16 CIT 308 (1992), aff’d, 989 F. 2d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 1993); Anheuser Busch Brewing Association v. The United States, 207 U.S. 556 (1908) and Uniroyal Inc. v. United States, 542 F. Supp. 1026 (1982).However, if the manufacturing or combining process is merely a minor one that leaves the identity of the article intact, a substantial transformation has not occurred. Uniroyal, Inc. v. United States, 3 CIT 220, 542 F. Supp. 1026, 1029 (1982), aff’d, 702 F.2d 1022 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (Uniroyal). Substantial transformation determinations are based on the totality of the evidence. See Headquarters Ruling (HQ) W968434, date January 17, 2007, citing Ferrostaal Metals Corp. v. United States, 11 CIT 470, 478, 664 F. Supp. 535, 541 (1987). In Uniroyal case, the court held that an upper was not substantially transformed when attached to an outsole to form a shoe and that the upper was "the very essence of the completed shoe". You submitted a breakdown of the strut assembly components by cost percentage and by each country. It states that the body tube, spring seat, inner tube, piston rod, rod guide, top cap, and strut mount were made in China, which amounted to about 37 percent of the total cost, and imported into Taiwan, where it was assembled together with the rest of the components of Taiwanese origin. The components from Taiwan were listed as the oil seal, piston set, body valve assembly, coil spring, bumper block, dust cover, spring cushion, and shock oil, which amounted to approximately 45 percent of the total cost. You also indicated that the cost of the packing and assembling in Taiwan was 17 percent of the total cost. The assembly process in Taiwan appears to be a minor one and did not result in a substantial transformation of the articles. Therefore, we need to determine the “essence” of the suspension strut. In New York Ruling (NYR) N307541, dated December 11, 2019, and NYR N309148, dated February 4, 2020, which was later affirmed by Headquarters Ruling (HQ) H310543, this office discussed a suspension strut of a similar construction as the suspension strut in your request. In this ruling, we determined that the shock absorber was the very essence of the entire strut assembly. However, unlike the above-mentioned rulings, the shock absorber you use in the assembly is of multiple countries of origin. This office was unable to determine the essence of the shock absorber. As a result, we need to review this by bulk and value. Since the bulk of the components were made in Taiwan, and Taiwanese cost is over 60 percent (45 percent components and 17 percent assembly) of the total cost, the country of origin of the Suspension Strut will be Taiwan for marking and tariff purposes. 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, please contact National Import Specialist Liana Alvarez at liana.alvarez@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division