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HQ 735150





March 15, 1994

MAR 2-05 CO:R:C:V 735150 LR

CATEGORY: MARKING

Stephen M. Dorvee, Esq.
Arnall Golden & Gregory
Suite 800
1040 Crown Pointe Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30338

RE: Country of origin marking; burners; fish cookers; grills; substantial transformation; 19 CFR ?134.35; 19 CFR ?134.32(d); combining; ultimate purchaser

Dear Mr. Dorvee:

This is in response to your letter dated April 20, 1993, submitted on behalf of the Morrone Company ("Morrone"), requesting a ruling on the country of origin marking of imported burners.

FACTS:

Morrone imports Chinese cast iron burners with a protruding screw. The burners will be used by Morrone in the manufacture of fish cookers. The main components which comprise a fish cooker are the cast iron burner, a 3-legged steel stand about 2 feet high, a hose assembly, and an aluminum or cast iron fish cooker pot and basket. According to the information provided, the burner represents about 6% of the total component cost of the cooker and is the only foreign component. The stand, hose assembly, and aluminum pot and basket are made by subcontractors of Morrone in the United States. Morrone makes its own cast iron pots and baskets. (The steel stands consists of thirteen components, each of which is individually sheared, punched and formed and welded. The hose assembly consists of a high pressure hose, a brass end fitting, and a UL-approved regulator).

After importation, Morrone performs the following operations:

1. further processes the burners by grinding them to remove rust and surface imperfection, blowing them out to remove sand and burnishing them.

2. inspects the burners to be sure that there are no obstacles to the flow of the gas which will be funneled though the burner when the cooker is used and then test burns them.

2. attaches the burner to a steel fish cooker stand by inserting the screw at the base of the burner and inserting it though a hole in a steel cross-bar and tightly fastening it this bar with a hexnut.

3. mechanically washes, dried dip-paints, bakes and cools the entire unit. This has the effect of permanently affixing the burner to the stand.

4. packages the unit with the other components of the fish cooker. The retail package includes the burner/stand unit, a box with the cooker basket and cooker basket handle, the hose assembly, a cookbook, decal and in some cases, a thermometer. (The fish cooker pots and baskets are boxed separately in the retail package). A sample of the finished product packed in its retail container was submitted.

ISSUE:

Whether Morrone is the ultimate purchaser of the importer burner so that the burner may be excepted from individual country of origin marking.

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 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 the ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article. Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the country of origin marking requirements and exception of 19 U.S.C. 1304.

An ultimate purchaser is defined in 19 CFR ?134.1 as "the last person in the U.S. who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported." The regulation further provides that if an imported article will be used in manufacture, the manufacturer may be the ultimate purchaser if he subjects the imported article to a process which results in a substantial transformation. However, if the manufacturing process is merely a minor one which the identity of the imported article intact, 19 CFR ?134.1(d)(2) provides that the consumer or user of the article who obtains the article after the processing will be regarded as the ultimate purchaser.

According to United States v. Gibson-Thomsen Company, Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. 267 (C.A.D. 98) (1940), a U.S. manufacturer is considered to be an ultimate purchaser if a manufacturing process is performed on an imported item so that the item is substantially transformed in that it loses its identity and becomes an integral part of a new article with a new name, character or use.

Where the U.S. processor is the ultimate purchaser, the imported product itself need not be marked with its country of origin so long as the container in which it is imported is marked and Customs is satisfied that this marked container will reach the ultimate purchaser unopened. See 19 CFR ?134.35 and 19 CFR

Headquarters Ruling Letter (HRL) 734223, December 2, 1991, concerned the importation of cooking grids which were incorporated into gas barbecue grills manufactured in the United States. Customs ruled that the grill manufacturer was not the ultimate purchaser of the imported cooking grids because the grids retained their separate identity. The decision was based in part on the fact that the cooking grids were imported in a completely finished condition and they were not permanently attached to the grill. The grids were merely packaged with the gas grill and did not become an integral part of that product.

Customs reached a similar conclusion in HRL 734219, September 3, 1991. In that case, Customs ruled that water pans and charcoal pans were not substantially transformed when combined in the United States with other domestic and foreign components of smoker/grill units. The following factors were cited in support of this conclusion: the pans were completely finished; the combining operation required no skill; the pans were not permanently attached either before sale or once assembly of the unit is completed by the consumer.

In contrast, the imported burners in this case are not imported in a completely finished condition; Morrone grinds them to remove rust and surface imperfection, blows them out to remove sand and burnishes them. Additionally, Morrone mechanically washes, dried dip-paints, bakes and cools the entire unit, which also has the effect of permanently affixing the burner to the stand. Finally, we note that according to the confidential figures you have provided, the cost of the burner represents a small percentage of the total component cost of the cooker.

Based on the above considerations, we find that the imported burners lose their separate identity when processed in the manner described above. The burners are converted into an integral component of the fish cooker. Therefore, Morrone is the ultimate purchaser of the imported burners and the provisions of 19 CFR

HOLDING:

The burners utilized by Morrone in its production of fish cookers are substantially transformed. As long as Customs officials at the port of entry are satisfied that the burners will be used only in the manner described above and the box in which the burners are imported are marked with country of origin of the burners, they are excepted from individual marking pursuant to 19 CFR ?134.35 and 19 CFR ?134.32(d).

Sincerely,

John Durant, Director

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