MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 732544 jd
Mr. Steve Jackson
Director, Logistics and MIS
Black & Decker
P.O. Box 564
Hampstead, Maryland 21074
RE: J-list Exception: Parts for machines imported from same
country as parts
Dear Mr. Jackson:
This is in response to your letter of July 7, 1989,
concerning the application of country of origin marking
requirements to imported parts for hand-held power tools.
FACTS:
According to your submission, your company imports a
variety of professional and home-use power tools. You mention
three by name: a wallpaper stripper (model 1200), a heavy-duty
finishing sander (model 4015), and a 12" cut off machine (model
3912). All three tools are manufactured in Mexico from parts
made in Mexico. The tools are marked "Made in Mexico", and are
imported solely by your company.
Your company also imports the Mexican parts for use in
servicing the tools. The parts are sent to company service
centers or other authorized service centers where they are used
to repair and refurbish the appropriate tool. In approximately
five percent of parts sales, customers purchase the parts and
perform the repairs themselves. In these instances you indicate
the parts are delivered with adhesive stickers affixed indicating
the origin of the repair part.
ISSUE:
Whether parts manufactured in Mexico specifically for
manufacturing hand tools in Mexico, and also imported as
replacement parts for those hand tools, are excepted from
individual country of origin marking requirements under the J-
list exception for "parts for machines imported from same country
as parts"?
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LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19
U.S.C. 1304), requires that, subject to certain specified
exceptions, every article of foreign origin (or its container)
imported into the United States 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 an ultimate purchaser in the United States the
English name of the country of origin of the article.
Section 134.33, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.33), sets
forth certain classes of articles, known collectively as the J-
list, which are excepted from individual country of origin
marking pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1304(a)(3)(J). However, in the
case of any article on the J-list which is imported in a
container, the outermost container in which the article
ordinarily reaches the ultimate purchaser is required to be
marked to indicate the origin of its contents.
One class of articles on the J-list is "parts for machines
imported from the same country as parts." This item has been
interpreted to cover replacement parts which are manufactured in
the same country as the original machine which is exported to the
U.S. As construed by Customs in T.D. 75-85 (March 12, 1975), the
following principles are applicable to this exception:
(1) The word machine is used in a general sense and also
applies to such things as vehicles;
(2) The exception applies to replacement parts for machines
which may be manufactured in more than one country, provided that
Customs officers are satisfied that the machines exported to the
U.S. are made only in one country;
(3) The exception applies to replacement parts made and
engineered for use on or in the particular machine involved, and
also to parts made to standard or stock designs which are used in
producing the machine; and
(4) The exception is applicable only to replacement parts
manufactured in the same country as the machine which is exported
to the U.S.
The underlying rationale for this particular J-list
exception is that if the ultimate purchaser buys a specific
machine which is properly marked as to its country of origin,
then there is no need to mark a replacement part for that machine
if it is manufactured in the same country as the original
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machine. The presumption is that the ultimate purchaser will
assume that unless otherwise marked, the replacement part was
manufactured in the same country as the machine itself.
Examples of the application of this J-list exception
include ruling letters 704379 (March 26, 1975), excepting
replacement parts for automobiles manufactured in and imported
from the same country as the auto; 707773 (July 1, 1977),
excepting replacement parts for saxaphones manufactured in and
imported from the same country as the saxaphone; and 731864
(April 7, 1989), excepting service parts for agricultural
implements manufactured in and imported from the same country as
the implement. In all cases, the machine in question, be it the
auto, saxaphone or implement, was manufactured in only one
country even though similar articles are produced in many
countries.
Your company appears to have met the requirements for an
exception to individual marking of the parts it imports from
Mexico. The hand tools in question, i.e., the wallpaper
stripper, finishing sander and cut off tool, are "machines" as
that word is used in 19 CFR 134.33. Your company produces these
three machines in only one country, and the replacement parts are
produced in that same country. This exception applies equally to
parts designed and manufactured exclusively for use in one of the
three tools, as well as to parts of common design, such as
pulleys and sprockets (see ruling 704379).
HOLDING:
Parts manufactured in Mexico to be used as replacement
parts for certain hand-held power tools also manufactured in
Mexico are excepted from individual marking pursuant to 19 U.S.C.
1304(a)(3)(J) and 19 CFR 134.33 as "parts for machines imported
from same country as parts." The outermost container, in which a
part ordinarily reaches the ultimate purchaser is required to be
marked to indicate the origin of its contents. Additionally, if
these parts are repacked into new containers after leaving
Customs custody, the new containers must also be marked to
indicate to the ultimate purchaser the country of origin of the
part (see 19 CFR 134.25).
Sincerely,
Harvey B. Fox
Director
Office of Regulations and Rulings