MAR-2-05:RR:NC:1:115 B88133
Mr. Richard G. Seley
Rudolph Miles & Sons, Inc.
4950 Gateway East
P.O. Box 11057
El Paso, Texas 79983
RE: The country of origin marking requirements for drawing dies from the United States and finished in Mexico.
Dear Mr. Seley:
In your letter dated July 17, 1997, you requested a ruling on the country of origin marking requirements for diamond wire drawing dies.
In your letter dated July 17, 1997, you requested a ruling on the country of origin marking requirements for diamond wire drawing dies made in the United States and finished in Mexico. The finished diamond wire drawing dies will be sold to end users in the United States to draw wire. The dies will decrease the diameter and increase the length of wire.
The following manufacturing operations would be performed in the U.S.:
1) Selection of proper diamond type a. natural mined stone b. Polycrystal Nib
c. Monocrystalline man made single crystal stone
2) Polish two opposing flats on Natural Stones.
3) Mount diamond in casing - Casings are prepared with a blind hole in the center with varying sizes to accommodate various diamond core sizes.
4) Machine casing, expose diamond.
5) Serializing - normally a serial number is stamped on the back side at this time to record what size and type diamond is within the casing.
6) Laser Piercing - the die is now laser pierced through the exposed diamond to the appropriate hole size.
The above steps performed in the U.S. would create a die as required by General Rule of Interpretation 2(a). The classification of the product would be under HTS 8207.20.0030 as diamond drawing dies.
The die is then sent to Mexico where the following operations will take place:
1) Shaping - the laser pierced hole is shaped using various sizes of steel pins and diamond powders as abrasives to within the required specification to enable it to be final sized and polished.
2) Final Sizing and Polishing
3) Final Machining and Stamping
These Mexican operations are quite complex and requires many sub-steps to those cited.
This office is of the opinion that the steps performed in Mexico, though very technical in nature, do not create a substantial transformation to the product and that the drawing die being returned to the U.S. would be classified as a drawing die.
Under the rules for determining the country of origin of a good for purposes of Annex 311 of the NAFTA, subpart B rules of origin section 102.11 General Rules (a) the country of origin of a good is the country in which: (1) the good is wholly obtained or produced.
The diamond wire drawing die being returned to the U.S. meets the requirement of section 102.11 as being a product of the U.S. and that the dies would be eligible for a waiver of marking under section CR 134.32 (m).
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of this 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 Melvyn Birnbaum at 212-466-5487.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Swierupski
Chief, Metals & Machinery Branch
National Commodity
Specialist Division