MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 733840 KG
Scott A. Cohn, Esq.
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz & Silverman
12 East 49th Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
RE: Country of origin marking of imported garments; 19 CFR
134.46; hang tags
Dear Mr. Cohn:
This is in response to your letter of October 1, 1990, and
your follow-up letter of November 30, 1990, requesting a country
of origin ruling on behalf of Woolrich, Inc., regarding imported
garments with a hangtag attached to them.
FACTS:
Your client desires to attach a hangtag to various imported
garments. You state that each garment imported will be properly
marked with its country of origin. One sample hangtag was
submitted for examination. The front of the hangtag has the
following information on it: "The Woolrich Woman Style 3740
Blueberry Made in Macau size Medium." On the back of the
hangtag, there is a statement concerning Woolrich's products in
general, along with a bar-code graph for point-of-purchase sale
purposes. The statement on the back of the hangtag is as
follows:
Woolrich: experience: knowledge: tradition: over 150
years of manufacturing and marketing know-how is your
guarantee that all our Woolrich garments are of the
highest quality. Add to Woolrich experience and value,
our use of top-quality fabrics, insulations such as
down and 3M Thinsulate insulation and DuPont Zepel
water-repellant finish to give you product satisfaction
in keeping with our tradition. Your satisfaction is
our top priority.
The bottom of this hangtag contains the Woolrich logo and the
U.S. address of Woolrich.
Three alternative hang tags are proposed; we assume that
the front of each alternative will contain the same information
on the front as the sample described above. The back of the
second hangtag has the same information as the first hangtag
except that the phrase "For further information please contact"
is added before the U.S. address and a telephone number. The
back of the third hangtag differs by adding the phrase "For
further information concerning this product, please contact"
before the U.S. address and a telephone number. The back of the
fourth hangtag differs by adding the phrase "For further
information concerning this product or any Woolrich product,
please contact" before the U.S. address and a telephone number.
ISSUE:
Whether the four hangtags described above satisfy the
country of origin marking requirements of section 304 of the
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
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. The Court of
International Trade stated in Koru North America v. United
States, 701 F.Supp. 229, 12 CIT (CIT 1988), that: "In
ascertaining what constitutes the country of origin under the
marking statute, a court must look at the sense in which the term
is used in the statute, giving reference to the purpose of the
particular legislation involved. The purpose of the marking
statute is outlined in United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27
CCPA 297 at 302, C.A.D. 104 (1940), where the court stated that:
"Congress intended 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."
Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements
the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19
U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.46, Customs Regulations (19 CFR
134.46), requires that when the name of any city or locality in
the U.S., other than the name of the country or locality in which
the article was manufactured or produced, appears on an imported
article or its container, there shall appear, legibly and
permanently, in close proximity to such words, letters, or name,
and in at least a comparable size, the name of the country of
origin preceded by "Made in,""Product of," or other words
of similar meaning. The purpose of this section is to prevent
the possibility of misleading or deceiving the ultimate purchaser
of the actual origin of the imported goods.
Although each hang tag contains a U.S. address on the back,
you argue that the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46 are not
applicable. You cited HQ 732329 (July 12,1989), which held that
a warranty tag on a garment which contained a U.S. address did
not trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46. The garment in
question was a waterproof garment insert which was subject to
bona fide warranty protection. Further, it was clear from the
design of the hangtag that the U.S. address had been placed there
to enable a wearer to contact the company if they had complaints
or questions about the product. In contrast, in the case of the
first hangtag, there is no indication that these garments are
subject to warranty protection. Further, there is no indication
that the U.S. address listed is placed there for the purpose of
enabling the consumer to contact the company if they had
questions about the product. For these reasons, the first
hangtag presented here is distinguishable from the hangtag
presented in HQ 732329 and could confuse an ultimate purchaser.
Accordingly, the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46 must be satisfied.
In order to meet the close proximity requirement, the country of
origin must appear on the same side of the hangtag as the U.S.
address. See HQ 733068 (March 29, 1990).
The other hangtags, however, which include a telephone
number of the company and language which invites a consumer to
contact the company if they have questions along with a "Made in
Macau" marking on the reverse side of each tag, are not likely to
confuse or mislead an ultimate purchaser regarding the country of
origin of the garment. Therefore, the second, third and fourth
hangtags described above, do not trigger the requirements of 19
CFR 134.46.
HOLDING:
The first sample hangtag, described above, triggers the
requirements of 19 CFR 134.46. Therefore, the country of origin
preceded by words such as "Made in" or "Product of" would have to
appear on the hangtag on the same side of the hangtag as the U.S.
address and in comparable size letters. The other sample
hangtags, which include a telephone number and language which
invites the consumer to contact the company with questions
preceding the U.S. address of the company along with a "Made in
Macau" marking on the reverse side of each tag, do not trigger
the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46.
Sincerely,
John Durant
Director
Commercial Rulings Division