HQ 0732544 - J-list Exception: Parts for machines imported from same country as parts - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 732544

July 21, 1989

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 732544 jd

CATEGORY: MARKING

Mr. Steve Jackson
Director, Logistics and MIS
Black & Decker
P.O. Box 564
Hampstead, Maryland 21074

RE: J-list Exception: Parts for machines imported from same country as parts

Dear Mr. Jackson:

This is in response to your letter of July 7, 1989, concerning the application of country of origin marking requirements to imported parts for hand-held power tools.

FACTS:

According to your submission, your company imports a variety of professional and home-use power tools. You mention three by name: a wallpaper stripper (model 1200), a heavy-duty finishing sander (model 4015), and a 12" cut off machine (model 3912). All three tools are manufactured in Mexico from parts made in Mexico. The tools are marked "Made in Mexico", and are imported solely by your company.

Your company also imports the Mexican parts for use in servicing the tools. The parts are sent to company service centers or other authorized service centers where they are used to repair and refurbish the appropriate tool. In approximately five percent of parts sales, customers purchase the parts and perform the repairs themselves. In these instances you indicate the parts are delivered with adhesive stickers affixed indicating the origin of the repair part.

ISSUE:

Whether parts manufactured in Mexico specifically for manufacturing hand tools in Mexico, and also imported as replacement parts for those hand tools, are excepted from individual country of origin marking requirements under the J- list exception for "parts for machines imported from same country as parts"?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), requires that, subject to certain specified exceptions, 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 container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article.

Section 134.33, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.33), sets forth certain classes of articles, known collectively as the J- list, which are excepted from individual country of origin marking pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1304(a)(3)(J). However, in the case of any article on the J-list which is imported in a container, the outermost container in which the article ordinarily reaches the ultimate purchaser is required to be marked to indicate the origin of its contents.

One class of articles on the J-list is "parts for machines imported from the same country as parts." This item has been interpreted to cover replacement parts which are manufactured in the same country as the original machine which is exported to the U.S. As construed by Customs in T.D. 75-85 (March 12, 1975), the following principles are applicable to this exception:

(1) The word machine is used in a general sense and also applies to such things as vehicles;

(2) The exception applies to replacement parts for machines which may be manufactured in more than one country, provided that Customs officers are satisfied that the machines exported to the U.S. are made only in one country;

(3) The exception applies to replacement parts made and engineered for use on or in the particular machine involved, and also to parts made to standard or stock designs which are used in producing the machine; and

(4) The exception is applicable only to replacement parts manufactured in the same country as the machine which is exported to the U.S.

The underlying rationale for this particular J-list exception is that if the ultimate purchaser buys a specific machine which is properly marked as to its country of origin, then there is no need to mark a replacement part for that machine if it is manufactured in the same country as the original
machine. The presumption is that the ultimate purchaser will assume that unless otherwise marked, the replacement part was manufactured in the same country as the machine itself.

Examples of the application of this J-list exception include ruling letters 704379 (March 26, 1975), excepting replacement parts for automobiles manufactured in and imported from the same country as the auto; 707773 (July 1, 1977), excepting replacement parts for saxaphones manufactured in and imported from the same country as the saxaphone; and 731864 (April 7, 1989), excepting service parts for agricultural implements manufactured in and imported from the same country as the implement. In all cases, the machine in question, be it the auto, saxaphone or implement, was manufactured in only one country even though similar articles are produced in many countries.

Your company appears to have met the requirements for an exception to individual marking of the parts it imports from Mexico. The hand tools in question, i.e., the wallpaper stripper, finishing sander and cut off tool, are "machines" as that word is used in 19 CFR 134.33. Your company produces these three machines in only one country, and the replacement parts are produced in that same country. This exception applies equally to parts designed and manufactured exclusively for use in one of the three tools, as well as to parts of common design, such as pulleys and sprockets (see ruling 704379).

HOLDING:

Parts manufactured in Mexico to be used as replacement parts for certain hand-held power tools also manufactured in Mexico are excepted from individual marking pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1304(a)(3)(J) and 19 CFR 134.33 as "parts for machines imported from same country as parts." The outermost container, in which a part ordinarily reaches the ultimate purchaser is required to be marked to indicate the origin of its contents. Additionally, if these parts are repacked into new containers after leaving Customs custody, the new containers must also be marked to indicate to the ultimate purchaser the country of origin of the part (see 19 CFR 134.25).

Sincerely,

Harvey B. Fox

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