OT:RR:NC:N1:126
George Tuttle, III
Tuttle Law Offices
3950 Civic Center Drive, Suite 310 San Rafael, CA 94901
RE: The country of origin of furskins and a furskin rug
Dear Mr. Tuttle:
In your letter dated April 21, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling for furskins and a furskin rug. Illustrative photographs, the assembly process, and samples were provided for review. The samples will be returned to you as requested under separate cover.
The submitted items, furskins and a finished furskin rug, are being imported into the United States. They consist of multiple finished sheepskins and sheepskins that are sewn together in Thailand or Vietnam.
The sheepskins sourced from New Zealand or Australia are processed from raw skins of sheep (classifiable in heading 4102) and temporarily preserved and exported to China to undergo further processing (pre-tanning and tanning process) as listed below. The tanned furskins will be used as an intermediate product (classifiable in heading 4302) that will be shipped to Vietnam or Thailand to undergo additional operations and exported to the United States (U.S.). The furskins may be used in the manufacture of rugs, footwear, and pillows.
The furskin rug sourced from New Zealand or Australia are processed from raw skins of sheep and exported to China to undergo further processing (as listed below). The sheepskins are sewn together in Vietnam or Thailand from sheepskins that will be matched by color and wool length, trimmed, and sewn together to create a rug (classifiable in heading 4303).
In your ruling request submission, you provided a summary of both the operations performed in New Zealand or Australia as well as the processes performed in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. The following is a brief summary of the information provided:
• These raw sheepskins are temporarily preserved and exported to China.
• The pre-tanning process and tanning process occurs in China.
• The tanned sheepskins are then dried, sorted, bleached/dyed, dried again, finished, baled and,
exported to Vietnam or Thailand
• The sheepskins are conditioned, combed, polished, sheared, graded, and exported to the U.S.
• Additional operations for the furskin rugs:
• The sheepskins will be matched by color and wool length, trimmed, and sewn together to create a rug.
• The rug will be created by sewing either 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 pieces of tanned finished furskin and exported to the U.S.
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.
Section 134.1(b), Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. §134.1(b)), defines country of origin as “The country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the ‘country of origin’ within the meaning of this part.”
The tanning of the raw sheepskin in China constitutes a substantial transformation of the raw sheepskin into a new and different article, the finished tanned sheepskin, having a new name, character and use. The drying, sorting, bleaching/dyeing, drying again, finishing, baling, matching by color and wool length, conditioning, combing, polishing, shearing, grading, trimming, and sewing operations described in your submission, to be performed in Vietnam or Thailand, do not constitute a substantial transformation. Therefore, China is the country of origin of the furskins and the furskin rug.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs and Border Protection 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, please contact National Import Specialist Elena Pietron at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division