The country of origin of hypodermic needles

N343712 November 7, 2024 OT:RR:NC:N3:135 CATEGORY: Origin Timothy Allwine Neogen Corp 1847 Mercer RdLexington, KY 40511 RE:  The country of origin of hypodermic needles Dear Mr. Allwine: In your letter dated November 1, 2024, you requested a country of origin ruling on hypodermic needles. The products under consideration are hypodermic needles for animal use only.  The manufacturing process is described as follows: In South Korea, hollow steel tubes will be cut to length and cut or sharpened to a sharp tip on one end, resulting in a basic steel needle.  The needles will be exported to China, where a hub will be attached to the blunt end with adhesive, then packaged, and exported 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).  However, if the manufacturing or combining process is merely a minor one that leaves the identity of the article intact, a substantial transformation has not occurred.  Uniroyal, Inc. v. United States, 3 CIT 220, 542 F. Supp. 1026, 1029 (1982), aff’d, 702 F.2d 1022 (Fed. Cir. 1983).  A substantial transformation 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 issue of whether a substantial transformation occurs is determined on a case-by-case basis.  See HQ 561353, dated September 19, 2002. In this case, attaching the hubs to the blunt end of the steel needles with adhesive in China is a simple and minor operation.  It does not change the name, character, and use of the South Korean steel needles.  We find that no substantial transformation occurs in China and the steel needles determine the origin of the products.  Accordingly, the country of origin of the finished hypodermic needles will be South Korea. 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 Fei Chen at fei.chen@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division