HQ 0731075 - Country of origin marking requirements for unsupported latex "Solvex" gloves - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

United States International Trade Commision Rulings And Harmonized Tariff Schedule

faqs.org Rulings By Number Rulings By Category Tariff Numbers

faqs.org > Rulings and Tariffs Home > Rulings By Number > 1990 HQ Rulings > HQ 0730951 - HQ 0731491 > HQ 0731075

HQ 731075

July 28, 1988

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 731075 LW

CATEGORY: MARKING

Mr. J. Hopkins
Manager of Purchasing and Traffic
Edmont Becton Dickinson
Box 6000
Coshocton, OH 43812-6000

RE: Country of origin marking requirements for unsupported latex "Solvex" gloves

Dear Mr. Hopkins:

This is in response to your letter of February 23, 1988, on behalf of Edmont Becton Dickinson (the importer), requesting a ruling on country of origin marking requirements for unsupported latex "Solvex" gloves.

FACTS:

Based on your letter, the gloves are manufactured in Mexico. The importer sells them via distributors to manufacturing, mining, construction, transportation, fishing and lumbering industries and to utilities and municipalities. The gloves are packaged one dozen pairs per polybag with either 6 or 12 one dozen bags to a shipping carton. The country of origin will be marked on the shipping cartons and on the polybags. The importer does not package the gloves as pairs, nor does it break up a carton to supply individual dozens to distributors.

ISSUE:

May the country of origin of latex gloves be placed on the outside of the shipping carton, and on the polybags in which the gloves are packaged rather than on each individual glove pair?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), requires that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the United States 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 the English name of the country of origin of the article.

Customs has previously ruled that when articles are sold to an industry which furnishes these articles to its workers without charge for use on the job, the industry is considered to be the ultimate purchaser. (See HQ 708401 AB; February 22, 1978; HQ 726409 HL; October 28, 1984). In your letter you do not indicate what the industries, utilities, and municipalities (employers), do with the gloves. If they provide them to their employees free of charge for use at work, the employers may be considered the ultimate purchasers. If the employees pay for the gloves, they are the ultimate purchasers.

Section 134.32(d), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.32(d)), provides that articles for which the marking of the containers will reasonably indicate the country of origin of the articles, are excepted from the country of origin marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304 and Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134). Assuming the employers are the ultimate purchasers of the gloves, properly marking the containers and the polybags rather than each individual pair will reasonably indicate the article's country of origin. If the gloves will always reach the employers in the shipping cartons, marking only the cartons with the country of origin is sufficient to comply with marking law and regulations. If the gloves will be sold individually, than each pair must be marked with the country of origin. If the gloves are not for use by the employees free of charge, the employers may not be the ultimate purchasers of the gloves, and each pair should be properly marked with the country of origin.

Because you indicate in your letter that the gloves are sold by the importer through distributors you should be aware of section 134.26, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.26), which requires that when an article is intended to be repacked after its release from Customs custody, or if the district director of Customs having custody of the article has reason to believe that the article may be repacked after its release, the importer must certify to the district director that if the article is to be sold or transferred to a repacker, the importer must notify the repacker, in writing, at the time of the sale or transfer, that any repacking of the article must comply with the country of origin marking requirements.

HOLDING:

In accordance with the above considerations, the subject gloves may be excepted from individual country of origin marking requirements provided: (1) the employers are the ultimate purchasers, i.e., the gloves will be purchased by the employers
for distribution to their employees free of charge for use at work, not for resale; (2) the containers in which the gloves are imported are properly marked; (3) Customs officers at the port of entry are satisfied that the gloves will reach the employers in the original container unopened, or that the importer has met with the requirements of 19 CFR 134.26; and (4) the gloves will not be otherwise sold.

Sincerely,

Marvin M. Amernick
Chief, Value, Special Programs

Previous Ruling Next Ruling