The country of origin of the “Love is Dead” card game

N318991 May 5, 2021 CLA-2-95:OT:RR:NC:N4:424 CATEGORY: Country of Origin Ms. Vanessa Paige Hasbro Inc. 1 Hasbro Place Providence, RI 02903 RE: The country of origin of the “Love is Dead” card game Dear Ms. Paige: In your letter submitted April 20, 2021, you requested a country of origin ruling on Item# F4012, “Love is Dead” card game. The “Love Is Dead” card game consists of (65) Action Cards, (12) End of Game Cards, (5) Reference Cards, (22) Transparent Boo Cards (1) sheet of 6 Boo stickers and instructions for game play. The card game is designed for children 13 years of age and older. Your submission indicates that, except for the 22 transparent cards and the sticker sheet containing 6 stickers, the above-described game is manufactured in Vietnam and packaged there for retail sale. The transparent Boo cards and stickers are manufactured in China and shipped to Vietnam where they are packaged together with the 82 Vietnamese components, instructions and game rules, into a finished game box, for export to the United States. In 19 C.F.R. § 134.1(b), “country of origin” is defined 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.” With respect to the “Love is Dead” card game at issue, we find that the combining and packaging of the Chinese cards and stickers with the other Vietnamese origin game components in Vietnam is not sufficient to be a substantial transformation of the Chinese origin game components.  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(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. With regard to the permanency of a marking, section 134.41(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(a)), provides that as a general rule 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. As the individual Chinese components of the card game do not lose their identity as a result of being packaged together with the Vietnamese cards in Vietnam, the external packaging of the game should be marked in a conspicuous manner to indicate that the finished game contains components that are made in China and Vietnam.  In other words, the finished game has multiple countries of origin, China and Vietnam for marking 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, contact National Import Specialist Roseanne Murphy at roseanne.j.murphy@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division