The country of origin of a wireless mouse

N335809 October 19, 2023 OT:RR:NC:N2:220 CATEGORY: Origin Molly Yang BenQ Corporation No. 16 Jihu Road Neihu Taipei, 114 Taiwan RE:      The country of origin of a wireless mouse Dear Ms. Yang: In your letter dated October 6, 2023,  you requested a country of origin ruling on behalf of BenQ America Corporation. The merchandise under consideration is referred to as the wireless Mouse, which is described as a wireless input device for use with automatic data processing machines.  The Mouse is packaged together with a USB wireless receiver, a USB Type-C adapter, and a USB Type-C to USB Type-A Cable, in a retail box.  You state that the Mouse is assembled in Thailand from a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), plastic shell housings, a scrolling wheel, and a battery. In your submission, you explain that the PCBA is manufactured in China by soldering individual components by a surface mount process.  The PCBA, along with the plastic shell housings, the scrolling wheel, and the battery, which are all of Chinese origin, are exported to Thailand.  In Thailand, the PCBA is inserted into the plastic shell parts, the battery and the scrolling wheel are attached, the Mouse is inspected, tested, and packaged in the retail carton 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 Mouse, in our view, the assembly of the PCBA in China by soldering the individual components onto the bare board results in a substantial transformation of those components to produce a PCBA of Chinese origin.  Furthermore, it is the opinion of this office that the PCBA establishes the functionality of the Mouse because it is the article within the assembly that detects the movement via the optical sensors, performs the scrolling functions, wirelessly transmits the encoder data to the attached ADP machine, and more.  Moreover, it is the view of this office that the assembly operations performed in Thailand are not complex and do not substantially transform the PCBA by combining with the wheel, the battery, the plastic housings, etc.  As such, we find that the components that make up the Mouse set are not transformed in Thailand into a new and different article of commerce with a distinct name, character, and use and the Mouse is considered a product of China for origin and marking purposes at the 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