The country of origin of a busbar assembly

N332681 May 15, 2023 OT:RR:NC:N2:220 CATEGORY: Origin Paula Connelly Sandler Travis & Rosenberg PA 100 Trade Center Woburn, MA  01801 RE:      The country of origin of a busbar assembly Dear Ms. Connelly: In your letter dated May 3, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling on behalf of your client, International Sourcing and Marketing Ltd. The merchandise under consideration is identified as the Busbar, PN B190201-01, which is described as an assembly of extruded busbars, a sheet metal bracket, and various insulators.  The Busbar measures approximately two meters in length and is used to distribute high current power inside electrical cabinets and enclosures. Regarding the country of origin of the Busbar, you state the Busbar is manufactured in the Philippines as follows: Malaysian blank copper bar is extruded, formed, punched, and plated with nickel/silver, to produce the Power Busbar and the Return Busbar; Chinese blank aluminum bar is extruded, formed, trimmed, and plated with nickel/tin, to produce the two Ground Contact busbars; Korean origin sheet metal is cut, punched, formed, and painted, to produce the U-shaped Bracket; numerous plastic insulators and insulative sheets are produced in the Philippines from resin pellets of various origins; and other components, such as fasteners, adhesives, and nickel/silver plating materials of various origins, are stacked and assembled/fastened along with the Power, Return, and Ground Contact busbars to produce the three-conductor Busbar.  The Busbar is inspected, tested, and packaged for export. 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; however, for a good of a NAFTA country, the NAFTA Marking Rules will determine the country of origin.”  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). Based upon the review of the provided information, it is our opinion that the work performed to the copper and aluminum blank bars in the Philippines substantially transforms the blank bars into busbars of Philippine origin.  Furthermore, the injection molding and extrusion of resin pellets in the Philippines substantially transforms the pellets into electrical insulators of Philippine origin.  And lastly, the assembly work conducted in the Philippines that incorporates the three busbars, the insulative sheet and studs, produces a new and different article as a result of the operations described.  As such, the country of origin of the Busbar, PN B190201-01, is the Philippines at the time of importation into the United States. Please note that 19 C.F.R. § 177.9(b)(1) provides that “[e]ach ruling letter is issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in connection with the ruling request and incorporated in the ruling letter, either directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect.  The application of a ruling letter by a Customs and Border Protection field office to the transaction to which it is purported to relate is subject to the verification of the facts incorporated in the ruling letter, a comparison of the transaction described therein to the actual transaction, and the satisfaction of any conditions on which the ruling was based.” 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