HQ 0733963 - Country of origin marking of imported garments; 19 CFR 134.46; hang tag; U.S. address and telephone number - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 733963
January 7, 1991

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 733963 KG

CATEGORY: MARKING

Duncan A. Nixon, Esq.
Sharretts, Paley, Carter & Blauvelt, P.C. 1707 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

RE: Country of origin marking of imported garments; 19 CFR 134.46; hang tag; U.S. address and telephone number

Dear Mr. Nixon:

This is in response to your letter of November 29, 1990, requesting a prospective country of origin ruling on behalf of Anne Klein II regarding imported garments which have a hang tag bearing a U.S. address and telephone number attached to them. Your client received a marking notice from Customs at JFK Airport stating that the hang tag must either be marked with the country of origin of the garments or removed. Your client has complied with the marking notice.

FACTS:

Your client imports garments which have a hang tag affixed to them. The hang tag describes a marketing program undertaken by your client which provides an 800 number for customer assistance and registration for other services provided by the program such as fashion consultation. The hang tag offers the customer the option of registering by mail and asks that the customer answer two basic questions regarding their past purchases. As part of the customer assistance services and the mail registration, the hang tag contains a telephone number and a U.S. address to mail in the registration. You state that all the imported garments themselves will be properly marked with their country of origin by means of a sewn in label.

ISSUE:

Whether the hang tags described above must be marked to indicate the country of origin of the garments to which they are affixed to satisfy the country of origin marking requirements.

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. The Court of International Trade stated in Koru North America v. United States, 701 F.Supp. 229, 12 CIT (CIT 1988), that: "In ascertaining what constitutes the country of origin under the marking statute, a court must look at the sense in which the term is used in the statute, giving reference to the purpose of the particular legislation involved. The purpose of the marking statute is outlined in United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27 CCPA 297 at 302, C.A.D. 104 (1940), where the court stated that: "Congress intended 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."

Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.46, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.46), requires that when the name of any city or locality in the U.S., other than the name of the country or locality in which the article was manufactured or produced, appears on an imported article or its container, there shall appear, legibly and permanently, in close proximity to such words, letters, or name, and in at least a comparable size, the name of the country of origin preceded by "Made in," "Product of," or other words of similar meaning. The purpose of this requirement is to prevent the possibility of misleading or deceiving the ultimate purchaser of the actual origin of the imported goods.

In HQ 732329 (July 12,1989), Customs held that a warranty tag on a garment which contained a U.S. address did not trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46. The article in question was a waterproof garment insert which was subject to bona fide warranty protection. Further, it was clear from the design of the hangtag that the U.S. address had been placed there to enable a wearer to contact the company if they had complaints or questions about the product. This case is very similar; the U.S. address and phone number do not connote origin and are placed on the hang tag as part of a widely publicized customer assistance marketing campaign. There is no possibility that this U.S. address and telephone number would confuse or mislead an ultimate purchaser as to the country of origin of the garments. Therefore, the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46 are not triggered by the use of the hang tag described above attached to imported garments.

HOLDING:

The hang tag described above does not trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46. The hang tag which is affixed to imported garments is not required to be marked to indicate the country of origin of the garment.

Sincerely,

Marvin M. Amernick
Chief, Value, Special Programs

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