DRA-4-CO:R:C:E 224461 DHS
Josephine M. Bifano
Import Coordinator
The Camelot Company
9865 West Leland Avenue
Schiller Park, IL 60176
RE: Embroidery of wearing apparel; 19 U.S.C. 1313(a);
19 U.S.C. 1313(j)(1)
Dear Ms. Bifano:
This is in response to your request for a ruling dated
January 29, 1993, regarding the application of same condition
drawback to knit golf shirts.
FACTS:
Knit shirts will be imported into the United States from
Korea. Upon importation, the shirts will be embroidered with a
'Jack Nicklaus' insignia. Then, exported to various countries.
ISSUE:
Whether imported knit shirts, on which insignias are
embroidered in the United States, qualify for direct
identification same condition drawback under 19 U.S.C.
1313(j)(1)?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Section 1313(j)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19
U.S.C. 1313(j)(1)), provides for the allowance of drawback upon
exportation or destruction of duty-paid imported merchandise
which (1) is, before the close of the three year period beginning
on the date of importation, exported in the same condition as
imported, and (2) has not been used in the United States before
such exportation or destruction. Incidental operations, such as
testing, cleaning, and repacking, performed on the merchandise,
not amounting to manufacture or production for drawback purposes,
are not treated as a use of that merchandise in the United
States.
In HRL 222951, dated August 12, 1991, we addressed this
identical situation, and concluded that "The act of embroidery
is, ..., more than an incidental operation in this case because
it changes the condition of the imported article from being a
plain shirt to one having a logo and, as such, renders it
ineligible for same condition drawback."
HRL 222951, also, concluded that the process of embroidering
the shirts did not comply with the manufacturing drawback
provisions of 19 U.S.C. 1313(a) since the shirt was not
transformed into a new article, nor had a new and different
article emerged with a distinctive name, character or use. The
shirts were still shirts. See Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association
v. United States, 207 U.S. 556 (1907) and Rolland Freres, Inc. v.
United States, T.D. 47763 (CCPA 1935).
HOLDING:
Imported shirts, on which insignias are embroidered in the
United States, do not qualify for direct identification same
condition drawback under 19 U.S.C. 1313(j).
Sincerely,
John A. Durant, Director