MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 732382 KG
Jack Kroll
John Wagner Associates, Inc.
205 Mason Circle
Concord, California 94520
RE: Country of origin marking of drywall screws
Dear Mr. Kroll:
This is in response to your letter of May 5, 1989,
requesting a ruling on the country of origin marking of drywall
screws.
FACTS:
John Wagner Associates, Inc. ("the importer") imports
drywall screws from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. The importer also
purchases drywall screws from a U.S. factory. After the screws
from various sources are received at the warehouse, the importer
reboxes the screws into smaller cartons, mixing the imported
screws with the domestic screws. You informed a member of my
staff that about 15% of each carton will be comprised of screws
manufactured in the importer's factory in the U.S. and other
U.S.-made screws.
ISSUE:
What is the proper country of origin marking of a mixture of
imported and U.S. drywall screws.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C.
1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign
origin imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous
place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the
article (or 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. Congressional intent in
enacting 19 U.S.C. 1304 was "that the ultimate purchaser should
be able to know by an inspection of the marking on the imported
goods the country of which the goods is the product. The evident
purpose is to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the
ultimate purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced,
be able to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should
influence his will." United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27
C.C.P.A. 297 at 302 (1940).
Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements
the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19
U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.33, Customs Regulations (19 CFR
134.33), excepts certain articles from individual country of
origin marking in accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1304(a)(3)(J) and
only requires that the outermost container in which the article
is imported in be marked with the country of origin. Screws are
listed as one of the articles entitled to this exception.
We are not aware of any specific ruling concerning the
country of origin marking of screws. Screws, nuts, bolts and
washers are different types of industrial fasteners. In ruling
HQ #723668 (December 12, 1983), published as C.S.D. 84-56, it was
held that the country of origin marking requirement applicable to
distributors of industrial fasteners was modified to permit a
country of origin label to be affixed to containers of repackaged
fastener which will list only the major source countries from
which a particular repackager acquires his stock. This list
should begin with that country from which a distributor obtains
the greatest percentage (by weight or by piece) of his stock.
The countries would be listed in order of percentage
contributions. It would not be necessary to list all countries
from which a particular repackager obtains only relatively small
quantities of fasteners. Customs allowed this partial exemption
to "eliminate the economic prohibitions of strict compliance but
preserve the repackager's obligation to advise the ultimate
purchaser of the foreign origin of the repackaged fasteners."
The question of how to mark the containers of industrial
fasteners when the company comingles foreign-made and U.S.- made
fasteners was addressed in ruling HQ 724388 (January 31, 1984).
In that case, 25% of the volume of fasteners shipped by the
company for the year was U.S.-made but the company did not
consistently add a substantial amount of U.S.-made fasteners to
their packages. As much as 60 or 70% of the repackaged
containers would contain no domestic product at all. Customs
ruled that the U.S. was a major source country but that a
proposed label reading "This package contains articles from one
or more countries, including the following: Japan, Taiwan,
U.S.A., Korea, Canada, China." was not appropriate. In that
case, Customs recommended that the label read:
This package contains articles from one or more
foreign countries, including the following: (list
without reference to U.S.A.), and may also contain
domestic articles.
Customs recommended this wording on the label because it
would accurately describe the repackaging operation without
misleading the ultimate purchaser.
In this case, the importer mixes about 15 % U.S.-made screws
with foreign-made screws on a regular basis. Given these facts,
it would not be misleading to list the U.S. along with foreign
source countries in order of the percentage of drywall screws
each source contributes to the total package.
On September 19, 1989, the U.S. House of Representatives
passed the Fastener Quality Act, HR 3000 and referred it to the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. In
light of that bill, Customs is reviewing its position on the
country of origin marking of industrial fasteners. However, at
this time, C.S.D. 84-56 and HQ ruling 724388 are controlling and
the importer can use a label similar to the one recommended.
HOLDING:
The importer, who mixes a stock of foreign-made and about
15% U.S.-made screws on a regular basis, may mark the reboxed
cartons with a label that includes the U.S. with a list of other
foreign countries in order of the percentage that each source
country contributes to the total stock.
Sincerely,
John Durant
Director,
Commercial Rulings Division