The country of origin of a 6-Piece Screwdriver Set

N330201 January 19, 2023 OT:RR:NC:N1: 118 CATEGORY: Origin Doris Du Meridian International Co., Ltd. 1886 Laiyin Road, SongjiangShanghai 201615China RE: The country of origin of a 6-Piece Screwdriver Set Dear Ms. Du: In your letter dated January 11, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling on a 6-Piece Screwdriver Set, SKU# 587271321 WMU-HT200101, produced in China and Vietnam.  The set contains six screwdrivers with either slotted or Phillips head tips. Each screwdriver consists of a steel shaft and magnetic tip attached to a plastic handle.   The production process for the screwdrivers begins in China, where rough round steel is extruded into steel wire.  The steel wire is then cut into the approximate length and diameter of the finished screwdriver shaft.  These cut steel wire bars are exported to Vietnam where each is turned and milled through a CNC lathe into the head shape of the finished screwdriver (i.e., slotted or Phillips tips).  The shaft of the screwdriver is further trimmed, and “wings” are pressed into shape on the opposite end of the shank.  The wings serve as the mechanical connection point for the handle.  The screwdriver shafts, with the finished tips, are then sent back to China where they are heat-treated and electroplated, and the tips are magnetized.  The shafts are assembled with Chinese-origin injection-molded handles.  Finally, six finished screwdrivers are retail packed for export to the United States. Regarding your request for the appropriate country of origin for the finished 6-Piece Screwdriver Set, 19 C.F.R. § 134.1(b) provides in pertinent part as follows: Country of origin means 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).In order to determine whether a substantial transformation occurs when components of various origins 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 operations that are minimal will generally not result in a substantial transformation.It is our view that the cut steel bars are substantially transformed in Vietnam into individual articles that have the shape, size, and form of each finished screwdriver’s shank and tip.  Each of these articles constitutes the essence of a finished screwdriver. The assembly and processing operations performed in China do not substantially change it into a product with a new name, character or use.  It is therefore our opinion that the country of origin of the screwdrivers in the production scenario you described is Vietnam.  As such, the country of origin of the 6-Piece Screwdriver Set, SKU# 587271321 WMU-HT200101, will be Vietnam. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs and Border Protection 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 Anthony Grossi at anthony.e.grossi@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division