HQ 0733099 - Country of origin marking requirements of a tie and a scarf sold with coordinated blouses - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 733099

May 30, 1990

Mar-2-05 CO:R:C:V 733099 RSD

CATEGORY: MARKING

Diane L. Weinberg, Esq.
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.
505 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10022

RE: Country of origin marking requirements of a tie and a scarf sold with coordinated blouses

Dear Ms. Weinberg:

This is in reply to your letter of January 31, 1990, requesting a ruling on the country of origin marking requirements of a tie and a scarf that are sold as accessories to accompany blouses.

FACTS:

Your client, MI Group, Division of Salant Corporation, imports women's blouses from the Dominican Republic. The blouses are imported and sold with either a matching tie or scarf. Two sample blouses with the accompanying tie or scarf were submitted. The first sample is a pullover blouse with a partial back opening secured by one button. The blouse is manufactured from a print fabric with a pattern. It has a rib knit waist band and is trimmed on the cuffs and neckband with solid fabric. The accompanying tie is reversible, one side of which is composed of the print fabric used to manufacture the blouse; the other side is composed of the solid fabric used to trim the garment.

The second sample is a women's blouse imported with a coordinated scarf. The blouse is manufactured from a woven polyester fabric and features a full front six button opening concealed by a placket. The blouse has cuffs made from a woven polyester fabric containing a floral design. The scarf, measuring 36 inches square is manufactured from the identical woven polyester floral fabric used on the cuff; the background of the floral fabric matches the fabric used to manufacture the blouse.

Both blouses, as well as the scarf and tie, are products of the Dominican Republic. Each blouse has a brand name label in the center of the neck. Adjacent to the brand name label is another label that indicates the country of origin of the garments. You indicate that the tie and scarf are imported with the blouses in question and sold together at retail. Neither
accessory is imported or sold separately at retail. It appears that the scarf or tie is intended to be worn exclusively with the matching blouse.

ISSUE:

Does a scarf or a tie sold together as an accessory to a blouse and made in the same country as the blouse and with coordinated fabric have to be separately marked with the country of origin?

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin imported into the U.S. 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 the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article. Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. 1304 was that the ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the product. "The evident purpose is to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the ultimate purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced, be able to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should influence his will." United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27 C.C.P.A. 297 at 302 (1940).

Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.41(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(b)), mandates that the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. must be able to find the marking easily and read it without strain. The ultimate purchaser is generally the last person in the United States who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported. (Section 134.1 Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.1)).

In HQ 729594, August 12, 1986, Customs determined that belts that were sold together with dresses do not have to be separately marked with the country of origin. In that ruling, Customs noted that the belts were made of the same fabric and design as the dresses, and were intended to be worn exclusively with the dresses. They were imported and sold in the U.S. together with the dresses as individual dress units. The underlying rationale for excepting the belts from marking was that they lose their separate identities when they are combined and sold with dresses of the same fabric.

Similarly, in this case, the scarf or tie is made from the same fabric and design as the blouse, it is imported and sold only together with the blouse at the retail level, and it is intended to be worn exclusively with the blouse. As such, in accordance with HQ 729594, the scarf or the tie loses its separate identity when it is combined and sold with the blouse and is not required to be separately marked.

HOLDING:

A tie or scarf which is made from the same fabric and design as a blouse, imported and sold together as an accessory to a blouse and intended to be worn exclusively with the blouse, does not have to be individually marked with the country of origin.

Sincerely,

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