CLA-2-85:OT:RR:E:NC:1:102
Mr. Jorge Alberto Torres
Interlink Trade Services
10601 South Jackson Rd.
Suite 200
Pharr, TX 78577
RE: The tariff classification, country of origin and status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), of home coffee brewers from Mexico; Article 509
Dear Mr. Torres:
In your letter dated February 21, 2009, on behalf of Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, you requested a ruling on the tariff classification, country of origin and status of home coffee brewers from Mexico under the NAFTA. Descriptive literature, illustrations and a breakdown of materials were submitted.
The items in question are home coffee brewers. You indicate that the coffee brewers will be manufactured in Mexico from materials originating in the United States, China, Germany and Mexico.
The applicable tariff provision for the home coffee brewers will be 8516.71.0020, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for automatic drip and pump type coffee makers. The general rate of duty will be 3.7 percent ad valorem.
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/.
You requested that we determine the status of these home coffee brewers under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). General Note 12(b), HTSUS, sets forth the criteria for determining whether a good is originating under the NAFTA. Based on the information that was provided, each of the non-originating materials that may be used to make the home coffee brewers has satisfied the changes in tariff classification required under HTSUS General Note 12(t)/85.32, i.e., a change to subheadings 8516.10 through 8516.80 from any other heading, including another subheading within that group. The subject home coffee brewers will be entitled to a free rate of duty under the NAFTA upon compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and agreements.
With regard to the country of origin of the home coffee brewers, Section 102.11, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 102.11), sets forth the required hierarchy for determining whether a good is a good of a NAFTA country for the purposes of country of origin marking and determining the rate of duty and staging category applicable to an originating good as set out in Annex 302.2. Paragraph (a) of this section provides that the country of origin of a good is the country in which (1) the good is wholly obtained or produced, or (2) the good is produced exclusively from domestic materials, or (3) each foreign material incorporated into that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification set out in section 102.20 of the regulations.
"Foreign material" is defined in 19 CFR 102.1(e) as a material whose country of origin as determined under these rules is not the same country as the country in which the good is produced. Sections 102.11(a)(1) and 102.11(a)(2) do not apply to the facts presented in this case because the home coffee brewers are manufactured from materials originating in the United States, China, Germany and Mexico and therefore is neither wholly obtained or produced, nor produced exclusively from domestic materials. Since an analysis of sections 102.11(a)(1) and 102.11(a)(2) will not yield a country of origin determination, we look to section 102.11(a)(3). Section 102.11(a)(3) provides that the country of origin is the country in which each foreign material incorporated in that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification as set forth in 19 CFR 102.20. Since we have determined that the home coffee brewers are classified in subheading 8516.71.0020, HTSUS, the applicable tariff shift rule found in section 102.20(o) requires a change to subheading 8516.10 through 8516.79 from any other subheading, including another subheading within that group. Applying the NAFTA Marking Rules set forth in Part 102 of the regulations to the facts of this case, we find that the non-originating materials undergo the applicable shift in tariff classification. Accordingly, the country of origin of the manufactured heating pad is Mexico.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 181 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 181). 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 Kenneth T. Brock at (646) 733-3009.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division