The country of origin of a 13PC Screwdriver and Nut Driver Set

N330623 February 10, 2023 OT:RR:NC:N1: 118 CATEGORY: Origin Ling Tang Jiande City Maite Tools Co., Ltd. No.8 Huangliyang Industrial EstateJiande 311600China RE: The country of origin of a 13PC Screwdriver and Nut Driver Set Dear Ms. Tang: In your letter dated February 1, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling on a 13PC Screwdriver and Nut Driver Set, item number HUSKY 006.  The set includes five Philips head screwdrivers, four flat head screwdrivers and four nut drivers that are packaged for retail sale.   In an email correspondence with our office, you affirmed that the production process for the screwdrivers is identical to that in your previous submission in New York Ruling N321417, dated September 14, 2021.  In that ruling our office determined that the country of origin of the screwdrivers is Thailand.  In your current request, the production process for the nut drivers begins in Thailand.  Steel wire is imported into Thailand, where it is straightened and cut to length.  Each piece is then cold forged to form the socket end and shaft of a finished nut driver.  The articles are then sent to China where “wings” are pressed into shape on the opposite end of the shank.  The wings serve as the mechanical connection point for the handle.  The entire article is then heat-treated, plated, and assembled with a Chinese-origin plastic handle.  Finally, the finished nut drivers are retail packed with the screwdrivers 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). It is our view that the raw steel wire is substantially transformed in Thailand into individual articles that have the shape, size, and form of the finished nut driver’s socket end and shaft.  Each of these articles constitutes the essence of a finished nut driver. 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 the opinion of this office that the nut drivers described in your production scenario are country of origin Thailand.  As we have determined that both the screwdrivers and nut drivers are of Thailand origin, the country of origin of the 13PC Screwdriver and Nut Driver Set, item number HUSKY 006, is Thailand. 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