The country of origin of a USB hub

N319100 May 7, 2021 OT:RR:NC:N2:220 CATEGORY: Origin Linda McCroskey 400 Hunt Valley New Kensington, PA 15068 RE: The country of origin of a USB hub Dear Ms. McCroskey: In your letter dated April 26, 2021 you requested a country of origin ruling. The merchandise under consideration is referred to as the USB Hub, Item Number 7120-49RYL,which consists of a housing having three USB Type A sockets on its face, a USB Type A socket on one end and an insulated electrical cable with USB Type C connector affixed on the other end. The subject USB hub is intended to simultaneously interconnect multiple electronic devices to a host personal computer via the USB Type C connector. The USB hub is comprised of a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) that is mounted inside the aluminum alloy housing, socket connectors, and the cable assembly. The PCBA, which functions to control the interconnection between the host and the connected devices, is said to be manufactured in Vietnam from components sourced from China. The housing and electrical connectors are also sourced from China, while the electrical cable is sourced from Vietnam. You describe the production of the USB Hub in Vietnam as consisting of a surface mount wave soldering process where integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, and electrical connectors are mounted onto a bare printed circuit board to produce the PCBA. Next, the PCBA is placed into the housing, inspected, tested, and packaged for export to the United States. 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. 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 test for determining whether a substantial transformation will occur is whether an article emerges from a process with a new name, character or use, different from that possessed by the article prior to processing. See Texas Instruments Inc. v. United States, 69 C.C.P.A. 151 (1982). This determination is based on the totality of the evidence. See National Hand Tool Corp. v. United States, 16 C.I.T. 308 (1992), aff’d, 989 F.2d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Regarding the country of origin of the USB hub, in our view the assembly of the PCBA in Vietnam by soldering the electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, the integrated circuits, onto the bare printed circuit board results in a substantial transformation of the individual components to produce a PCBA of Vietnamese origin. Furthermore, it is the opinion of this office that the PCBA provides for the essence of the USB hub because it is the article within the assembly that performs the control/connection functionality to the attached electronic devices via the USB sockets. In our view, the components that make up the USB hub are transformed in Vietnam into a new and different article of commence with a name, character, and use. Therefore, based upon the facts presented, the USB Hub, Item Number 7120-49RYL, is considered a product of Vietnam for origin and marking purposes at time of importation into the United States. 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 Karl Moosbrugger at karl.moosbrugger@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division