HQ 0735252 - Country of origin marking for small diameter automotive fittings; pipes; tubes; tagging the bundles or containers; 19 U.S.C. 1304(c) - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 735252
July 7, 1994

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 735252 RSD

CATEGORY: MARKING

Rufus E. Jarman, Jr., Esq.
Barnes, Richardson & Colburn
475 Park Avenue South
New York, N.Y. 10016

RE: Country of origin marking for small diameter automotive fittings; pipes; tubes; tagging the bundles or containers; 19 U.S.C. 1304(c)

Dear Mr. Jarman:

This is in response to your letter dated July 13, 1993, on behalf of HiSAN Inc., concerning the country of marking requirements for automotive fittings. At a meeting held at the offices of the Office of Regulations and Rulings in Washington, D.C., you presented new arguments and made new submissions on the marking requirements for these products. You indicated that you would like to get a ruling on the marking requirements for the small diameter fittings that HiSAN is importing as soon as possible. Accordingly, this ruling will be limited to the marking requirements for the smaller diameter fittings, i.e., those with a nominal diameter of a 1/4 inch or less. A separate ruling, incorporating the claims made in your June 30, 1994, submission with a different case number, will be issued on the marking requirements for the larger sized fittings.

FACTS:

HiSAN Inc., of Findlay, Ohio, is importing small automotive fittings. The fittings will be used as components in the production of articles such as brake lines and fuel lines. You represent that these articles will be sold strictly as original automotive equipment to auto producers.

The imported fittings are produced from steel bar by cold heading with a forming punch or die which produces the Hex Head, Chamfer Forms and an inner diameter through hole. The threads are formed on the body of the fitting by role forming. After the fittings are completely formed, they are plated with a zinc chromate alloy to provide a highly uniform and wear-resistant surface in keeping with the original equipment manufacturer's specifications.

The manufacturing of the brake and fuel lines involves attaching the imported fittings to various shaped automotive metal tubes. The fittings themselves have original equipment manufacturer part numbers, as do the assemblies into which they are incorporated. The fittings are produced and dedicated specifically to this use, and there are no other uses. They come in several sizes, but as noted above this ruling will deal only with fittings which have a nominal inner diameter of 1/4 inches or less.

ISSUE:

Can the smaller sized fittings with a nominal inner diameter of 1/4 inch or less satisfy the requirements for marking the country of origin of fittings specified in 19 U.S.C. 1304(c) by marking their containers and instead of marking the fittings?

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.

Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C. 1304. As provided in section 134.41, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41), the country of origin marking is considered to be conspicuous if the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. is able to find the marking easily and read it without strain.

Section 207 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, (Pub. L. 98-573), amended 19 U.S.C. 1304 to require, without exception, that all pipe, tube, and pipe fittings of iron or steel be marked to indicate the proper country of origin by means of die stamping, cast-in-mold lettering, etching, or engraving. 19 U.S.C. 1304(c). In 1986, Congress enacted Pub. L. 99-514 which amended 19 U.S.C. 1304(c) to authorize alternative methods of marking if, because of the nature of an article, it is technically or commercially infeasible to mark by one of the four prescribed methods. The amendment, codified at 19 U.S.C. 1304(c)(2), provided that in such case, "the article may be marked by an equally permanent method of marking such as paint stenciling or in the case of small diameter pipe, tube, and fittings, by tagging the containers or bundles."

On December 8, 1993, as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") Implementation Act, Congress again amended the country of origin marking provisions on pipe. Pub. L. No. 103- 182. Section 207(a) of the Act revised the requirements for marking the country of origin for pipes of iron, steel, or stainless steel by adding a fifth acceptable statutory method of marking, continuous paint stenciling. In addition, 19 U.S.C. 1304(c)(2) was amended by eliminating the reference in the statute which indicated that paint stenciling was an example of an equally permanent method of marking that could be used if it was technically or commercially infeasible to mark by one of the other statutory methods.

19 CFR 1304(c)(2) makes clear that small diameter pipes, tubes, and fittings can be marked with their country of origin by tagging the containers or bundles. In T.D. 86-15, 20 Cust. Bul. 29, 31 (1986), Customs defined small diameter fittings as those "having nominal diameters of one-fourth inch or less." This determination regarding small diameter fittings was affirmed in T.D. 92-70, published in 57 Fed. Reg. 376621 (July 22, 1992). In T.D. 86-15, supra, we indicated that for small diameter fittings, the required alternative marking methods were paint stenciling or the tagging of the bundles or containers. Again in T.D. 92-70, supra, we indicated that small diameter fittings may be marked by tagging the containers or bundles.

In HRL 734718 (April 22, 1993), based on T.D. 86-15, we ruled that if small diameter fittings as defined by T.D. 86-15 and T.D. 92-70, are always imported and sold in boxes which are "tagged" conspicuously with a "MADE IN JAPAN" marking on the front panel, the boxes in which the fittings, are imported and sold are containers and can be marked in lieu of marking the fittings themselves. The same principle would apply to this case. If the small diameter fittings are always imported and sold in a container, which is conspicuously, legibly, and permanently marked so that Customs can be assured that the fittings will reach the ultimate purchaser in a container marked with the country of origin of the fittings, then the container can be marked in lieu of the fittings and marking the container would satisfy the marking requirements for fittings specified in 19 U.S.C. 1304(c). However, because we do not have a sample of the container in which the fittings will be sold we can not rule if the actual marking on the container is acceptable under 19 U.S.C. 1304.

HOLDING:

The small diameter automotive fittings, those with an inner nominal diameter of 1/4 of an inch or less, can be marked by tagging their containers, provided that the containers are conspicuously, legibly, and permanently marked to indicate the country of origin of the fittings and the Customs officials at the port of entry are satisfied that the fittings will reach the ultimate purchaser in the properly marked containers.

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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