The country of origin of LED Pre-laminated inlays

N339699 May 9, 2024 OT:RR:NC:N2:209 CATEGORY: Origin Steven Zisser Zisser Customs Law Group 9355 Airway Rd., Suite 1San Diego, CA 92154 RE:  The country of origin of LED Pre-laminated inlays Dear Mr. Zisser: In your letter dated April 23, 2024, you requested a country of origin ruling on behalf of your client Infineon Technologies America Corp. The item concerned is referred to as a light emitting diode (LED) pre-laminated inlay. It is an assembly consisting of a PVC sheet, Copper wire, and LED module. These assemblies will be imported into the United States and assembled/incorporated into contactless payment cards. The function of this assembly is to provide a visual signal to the user by illuminating the LED when a payment has been successfully transacted. Within Taiwan, the LED semiconductor wafer is created. Then epitaxial layers of semiconductor crystals are added creating the LEDs. Next, metal contact points are added. The wafer which now contains numerous LED die is sawn into individual LED die/chips. Each die/chip is then packaged, it is attached to a conductive substrate using conductive adhesive and connected to the package pads using a wire bonding process. This provides electrical connectivity between the chip/die and the external contacts. Finally the LED package is encapsulated within silicone and inspected. The completed LED package is then shipped to China. Within China, the LED package is soldered to a polyimide copper substrate. A Schottky diode is also soldered to the substrate. The LED package is encapsulated in a transparent plastic casing and the Schottky diode is encapsulated with a black covering. Copper wire is embedded into PVC sheeting and the LED module is added connecting it to the embedded copper wire. A top layer of PVC is added and laminated. The full PVC sheets are trimmed to requested measurement. The finished sheet may, for example, contain 8 rows of 3 LED Pre-Laminated inlays. The sheets will be imported into the United States where they will have a micro-controller added to each inlay and then it will be programmed. The sheets will be cut into separate units and sandwiched between two or more sheets of plastic forming the actual contactless payment card. 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). Based upon the facts presented, it is the opinion of this office that the manufacturing processes that take place within Taiwan to create the LED package is both substantial and complex. The inlay as imported into the United States is primarily an LED package and diode embedded within an inlay structure. The purpose is to provide a visual signal via the illuminated LED. As such, the LED package would be the dominant component of this assembly. The mounting/assembly process that takes place in China does not change the end use of the Taiwanese LED package. That LED package does not under go a substantial transformation as a result of the Chinese manufacturing process. Therefore, since a substantial transformation does not occur as a result of the Chinese manufacturing process, the country of origin for marking purposes would be Taiwan upon importation into the United States. The LED inlays should be legibly, conspicuously, and permanently marked in accordance with the requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304 to indicate that its country of origin is Taiwan. 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). 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 Steven Pollichino at steven.pollichino@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division