The country of origin of sodium sulfite tablets

N337269 January 24, 2024 OT:RR:NC:N3:36 CATEGORY: Origin Tim Phillips Norweco Inc. 220 Republic St.Norwalk, OH 44857 RE:  The country of origin of sodium sulfite tablets Dear Mr. Phillips: In your letter dated June 7, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling on sodium sulfite tablets. In your submission, you describe a scenario where powdered sodium sulfite is manufactured in Thailand using a proprietary manufacturing process. You state that sodium sulfite (CAS # 7757-83-7) is an inorganic salt with the chemical formula Na2SO3. It is an ionic compound containing two sodium cations and one sulfite anion. Sodium sulfite is a white, water-soluble, crystalline solid with a sulphurous, salty taste. The Thailand manufacturer ships the powdered sodium sulfite in paper bags to a tablet compression company in China. The tablet compression company in China transfers the powdered sodium sulfite from the paper bags into their powder blender and adds proprietary binding agents into their powder blending machine. The powder sodium sulfite and powder proprietary binding agents are blended for a period of time. The percentage of each product in the blender is 93% powdered sodium sulfite and 7% powder proprietary binding agents. The tablet compression company in China transfers the blended powder from the blending machine into their tablet compression machines and produces hockey puck size sodium sulfite tablets. The China company loads 21.8 kilograms of the sodium sulfite tablets into a cardboard box. The cardboard boxes are loaded onto a wood pallet. The wood pallet is loaded into a 20’ ocean shipping container. The 20’ ocean container contains a grand total of (824) cardboard boxes, total weight 17,964 kilograms. The China company ships the ocean shipping container to the consignee in the United States. You state that the sodium sulfite tablets will be used to remove chlorine and chloramines from wastewater, potable water, and process water. 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). With respect to the subject product, we have determined that the mixing, addition of binding agents, and tablet compression in China using powdered sodium sulfite from Thailand, does not result in a substantial transformation of the primary ingredient of Thailand origin. Therefore, in our opinion, the country of origin for the subject product is Thailand. The holding set forth above applies only to the specific factual situation and merchandise description as identified in the ruling request. This position is clearly set forth in Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Section 177.9(b)(1). This section states that a ruling letter is issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in the ruling letter, whether directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect. In the event that the facts are modified in any way, or if the goods do not conform to these facts at time of importation, you should bring this to the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and submit a request for a new ruling in accordance with 19 CFR 177.2. Additionally, we note that the material facts described in the foregoing ruling may be subject to periodic verification by CBP. 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 Nuccio Fera at nuccio.fera@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division