CLA-2-48:OT:RR:NC:N2:234
Mr. Victor S. Mroczka
Vinson & Elkins
The Willard Office Building
1455 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20004-1008
RE: The tariff classification of a gift wrap box set from China
Dear Mr. Mroczka:
In your letter dated May 6, 2008, on behalf of Marvel Products, Inc, you requested a tariff classification ruling. The sample which you submitted is being retained by this office.
The submitted sample is an 18-piece gift wrap box set consisting of three pieces each, gift boxes, sheets of gift wrap, pull bows and gift cards, and six sheets of tissue paper put up for retail in a plastic wrap. The gift wrap sets will be imported into the United States and sold at the retail level. You state in your request that the country of origin of the gift boxes and the tissue paper is Indonesia, the gift wrap is the United States, and the pull bows and the gift cards is China. These items will be assembled into sets and packaged in China. It is the opinion of this office that it is the gift wrap which gives the set its essential character for tariff purposes.
The items in the 18-piece gift wrap box set are of separate countries of origin, and are merely assembled and packaged into a set put up for retail sale. The assembly process is not such that it would substantially transform the origin of any of the items in the set. You further state that there is no need to mark the individual items with country of origin because the outer packaging will indicate the countries of origin as follows: “Gift boxes and tissue paper made in Indonesia, gift tags and pull bows made in China. The tissue paper is made in the United States and is therefore exempted from marking requirements.”
The applicable subheading for the gift wrap box set will be 4811.90.8020, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Other paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibers: In strips or rolls of a width exceeding 15 cm or in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side exceeding 36 cm and the other side exceeding 15 cm in the unfolded state: Other: Other: Impregnated with latex: Other: weighing over 30 g/m2: Gift Wrap (other than tissue). The rate of duty will be Free.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
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.
Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.41(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(b)), mandates that the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. must be able to find the marking easily and read it without strain. Section 134.1(d), defines the ultimate purchaser as generally the last person in the U.S. who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported. If an imported article is to be sold at retail in its imported form, the purchaser at retail is the ultimate purchaser. In this case, the ultimate purchaser of the gift wrap box sets is the consumer who purchases the product at retail.
An article is excepted from marking under 19 U.S.C. 1304 (a)(3)(D) and section 134.32(d), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.32(d)), if the marking of a container of such article will reasonably indicate the origin of such article. Accordingly, if Customs is satisfied that the article will remain in its container until it reaches the ultimate purchaser and if the ultimate purchaser can tell the country of origin of the items assembled in the gift wrap box set by viewing the container in which it is packaged, the individual items of gift boxes, sheets of gift wrap, tissue paper, pull bows and gift cards would be excepted from marking under 19 U.S.C. 1304 (a) (3) (D) and 19 CFR 134.32(d). Accordingly, marking the container in which these items are imported and sold to the ultimate purchaser in lieu of marking the article itself is an acceptable country of origin marking for the imported gift wrap box set provided the port director is satisfied that the article will remain in the marked container until it reaches the ultimate purchaser.
The gift wrap being returned to the U.S. meets the requirement of section 102.11 as being a product of the U.S. and that means the gift wrap would be eligible for a waiver of marking under section CR 134.32 (m).
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs 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, contact National Import Specialist Patricia Wilson at 646-733-3037.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director,
National Commodity
Specialist Division