The country of origin of blowouts from Vietnam.

N319062 May 11, 2021 CLA-2-95:OT:RR:NC:N4:425 CATEGORY: Country of Origin Ms. Juliana Tumulty Samuel Shapiro & Co. Inc. 1215 E. Fort Ave. Baltimore, MD 21230 RE: The country of origin of blowouts from Vietnam. Dear Ms. Tumulty: In your letter dated April 23, 2021, you requested a country of origin ruling on behalf of your client, Unique Industries Inc. The items under consideration are paper party blowouts (or blow-outs) designed for onetime use at celebrations, especially birthday parties. The assembly and packing of these items are done in Vietnam. The items are composed of Vietnamese and imported materials. Per your request, you would like to confirm if it is acceptable to declare the country of origin for these blowouts to be Vietnam. Per your material breakdown submitted with this request, these blowouts would be assembled in Vietnam from components sourced from Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and/or Korea. According to the provided documentation, the highest percentage of the components would be from Vietnam. You submitted detailed photographs and the step-by-step explanation of all production and packing processes. Your original request states that one of the paper components used in production of the blowouts would come from Taiwan but as per a subsequent email, the source of that paper component has been changed. That component will now be sourced from Finland since the Finnish supplier has a lower minimum order quantity. Any reference in your documentation to a component imported from Taiwan will be considered changed to a component from Finland. Per your submission, the paper tubes were produced in Vietnam by winding three components together with Vietnamese glue; plain rolled mold paper imported from Finland, with OPP (Oriented Polypropylene) adhesive tape from Vietnam, and OPP film, imported in a plain state from Thailand, which has already been printed in Vietnam and laminated to another strip of the mold paper in Vietnam. The paper roller machine prepares the blowout roller by printing the paper imported from Finland with the desired design and slitting it to the desired size. The machine then folds the rollers, adding the thin steel wire, imported from Japan or Korea, and closing it with the Vietnamese adhesive tape. The rollers are tightly rolled up awaiting further assembly. The fringe component is constructed using Finnish paper that is printed and slit to the desired size in Vietnam and then die-cut into fringe. The fringe, the paper tubes and the rollers are attached together manually by an operator using the Vietnamese adhesive tape. The completed blowouts are the packed in PE bags with printed header cards, barcode stickers are added. They are packed in cartons for shipment to the United States. All packing materials are produced in Vietnam. Pursuant to Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134) implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 USC 1304. Section 134.1(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(b)), defines “country of origin” as: “[t]he 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.” 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. A substantial transformation will not result from a minor manufacturing or combining process that leaves the identity of the article intact. See National Hand Tool Corp. v. United States, 16 CIT 308 (1992), aff’d, 989 F.2d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 1993). In order to determine whether a substantial transformation occurs when components are assembled into completed products, all factors such as the components used to create the product and manufacturing processes that these components undergo are considered in order to determine whether a product with a new name, character, and use has been produced. No one factor is decisive, and assembly/manufacturing operations that are minimal will generally not result in a substantial transformation. This office reviewed the provided assembly process, photographs and materials breakdown and is of the opinion that these imported components underwent enough of a change to afterwards emerge with a new name, character, and use that is different from what they possessed prior to processing, thus completing a substantial transformation. The country of origin for these party blowouts classified in 9505.90.4000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), is Vietnam. 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 Sandra Carlson at sandra.carlson@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division