The country of origin of a Bulb-Planter and a Hand-Weeder

N333989 August 7, 2023 OT:RR:NC:N1:118 CATEGORY: Origin M. Jason Cunningham Sonnenberg & Cunningham PA 780 Fifth Ave. South, Suite 200Naples, FL 34102 RE:  The country of origin of a Bulb-Planter and a Hand-Weeder Dear Mr. Cunningham: In your letter dated July 13, 2023, on behalf of your client, Great Star Industrial USA, LLC, you requested a ruling on the country of origin of two gardening tools produced in Vietnam and China.  The tools are identified as a bulb-planter and a hand-weeder.  Both tools are made primarily of bulk, raw stainless-steel stock. The bulb-planter is a tool made specifically for planting bulb buds.  It is a hand tool with a pointed, scoop-shaped metal digging blade and plastic-coated handle for comfort.  It is cylindrical at the working end and marked along the side with depth in inches.  Its design includes a serrated cone working end, which facilitates digging a cylindrical hole in the ground when the user rotates, tilts, and applies force at the handle.  The spring-loaded handle assists the user to increase and decrease the diameter of the serrated working end. The hand-weeder is intended for home gardening to remove weeds.  It is similar in size and shape to a long screwdriver with tines at the end.  It consists of a stainless-steel shaft attached to a molded plastic handle.  In use, the user pokes the hand weeder into the ground around the weed to loosen the soil.  The user then holds the weed by the stem with one hand, and with the other hand they sink the tines of the hand-weeder into the soil.  With this action, the stainless shaft of the tool acts as a lever while the tines grip and lift the weed’s roots out of the ground. You propose the following production scenarios for the tools: Bulb-planter production scenario: In Vietnam, raw coils of stainless steel are cut into the flattened, essential form of the bulb-planter.  The die cutting and processing creates a flattened tool blank with serrated cutting edges, proper size for digging the hole, holes for riveting the pivot points, and scale marking in inches.  The blank is then cold formed into the final shape and size of the working part of the tool.  Cold forming is achieved by rolling the flattened product around a tube to change it from flat to cylindrical.  The article is then sent to China for finishing, where it is polished, rivets are placed in the pre-existing holes, and a plastic handle and spring are added to complete the assembly and processing. Hand-weeder production scenario: In Vietnam, raw stainless-steel rods are die-cut to length of the tool.  The working end of the hand-weeder, i.e., the “head” or the “key,” is punched so that it tapers and flattens from a round rod into a thin, flattened, and wider blade that appears similar to a slotted screwdriver head.  A “V” is cut into the flattened head, creating the two tines of the weeder.  This tool blank is then sent to China for finishing, where the metal is polished, and a molded plastic handle is attached to the tool before retail packaging. Regarding your request for the appropriate country of origin for the finished garden tools, 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.  In our view, it is the processing of the raw steel into blanks identifiable as the final tools that provides the essential characteristic of the finished garden tools.  Based on the provided description of the finishing operations performed in China, the tool blanks are not substantially changed so as to transform them into a new article with a different name, character, or use.  Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that the country of origin of the finished bulb-planter and hand-weeder described in your production scenarios is 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