NY F88963 - COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED ORANGE JUICE - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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NY F88963

July 19, 2000

MAR-2 RR:NC:SP:232 F88963

CATEGORY: MARKING

Ms. Victoria Cerame
P. Campofresco, Inc.
P.O. Box 755
Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico 00757

RE: COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMPORTED ORANGE JUICE

Dear Ms. Cerame:

This is in response to your letter dated June 22, 2000 requesting a ruling on whether the proposed method of marking various retail products manufactured with imported orange juice in lieu of showing the actual countries of origin is an acceptable country of origin marking for the merchandise. A marked sample was not submitted with your letter for review.

Ingredient breakdowns for 17 of the retail products manufactured with the orange juice were submitted with your request. You also submitted the packaging and/or labels for 16 retail products. Information was submitted with your initial request dated April 25, 2000. You indicated in a telephone conversation with this office that the orange juice is imported in both tankers and drums and may or may not be frozen. The orange juice will be either single strength with a Brix of 12 to 14 degrees or it can be a concentrate with a Brix of 65 degrees. If imported in single strength form, the juice is pasteurized and vitamin C may be added. If imported concentrated, the juice is diluted with water to the desired Brix, pasteurized and vitamin C may be added. It is noted that juice imported frozen must first be thawed before processed as noted above. You advised in your letter of April 25 that the orange juice is purchased from different suppliers of various countries depending on the availability of the fruit. The retail products containing the imported orange juice include: Orange Plus Frozen Concentrated Citrus Beverage, Tropical Plus Frozen Concentrated Tropical Punch, Caribe Fruit Punch Concentrate, Caribik Sun Parcha Punch and Caribik Sun Citrus Punch.

Orange Plus Frozen Concentrated Citrus Beverage is stated to contain high fructose corn syrup, water, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, cottonseed oil, modified food starch, potassium citrate, potassium phosphate, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, folate, thiamine hydrochloride and yellow 6. It will be packaged in a 12 fluid ounce composite can with 24 cans to a case. It will be sold with a Brix of 46.5 degrees. The product will have a total juice content of 5 percent. The orange juice concentrate will comprise 5 percent of the finished product.

Tropical Plus Frozen Concentrated Tropical Punch is stated to contain high fructose corn syrup, water, concentrated pineapple juice, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, acerola juice, ascorbic acid and red no. 40. It will be packaged in a 12 fluid ounce composite can with 24 cans to a case. It will be sold with a Brix of 43 degrees. The product will have a total juice content of 10 percent. The orange juice concentrate will comprise 3 percent of the finished product.

Caribe Fruit Punch Concentrate contains high fructose corn syrup, water, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, concentrated pineapple juice, natural and artificial flavors, xanthan gum, orange oil, ascorbic acid and red no. 40. It will be packaged in a 12 fluid ounce composite can with 24 cans to a case. It will be sold with a Brix of 49.5 degrees. The product will have a total juice content of 10 percent. The orange juice concentrate will comprise 6 percent of the finished product.

Caribik Sun Parcha Punch contains water, high fructose corn syrup, passion fruit and/or concentrate, pineapple juice and/or concentrate, orange juice and/or concentrate, orange pulp, lemon juice, citric acid, citrus oil emulsion, vegetable stabilizer, FD & C Yellow No. 5 and No. 6, and potassium sorbate. It will be packaged in a 64 fluid ounce plastic bottle with six bottles to a case. It will be sold with a Brix of 13.5 degrees. The product will have a total juice content of 12 percent. The orange juice will comprise 1 percent of the finished product.

Caribik Sun Citrus Punch contains water, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable stabilizer, natural lemon juice, concentrated orange juice, orange pulp, xanthan gum, guar gum, propylene glycol alginate, potassium citrate, natural mandarin/tangerine flavor, citric acid, ascorbic acid, FD & C Yellow No. 6, and potassium sorbate. It will be packaged in 64 fluid ounce plastic bottles with 6 bottles to a case. It will be sold with a Brix of 12.5 degrees. The product will have a total juice content of 5 percent. The orange juice concentrate will comprise 5 percent of the finished product.

In all of the above products, you indicate that the processing involves mixing the ingredients, blending, homogenizing, storing in a cool tank, passing through a cooler, filling, closing, coding, packing and either freezing or refrigerating.

Instead of listing the actual sources of the imported orange juice on the retail products, you propose to label the products either: “FOR INFORMATION ON COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN OF JUICES AND/OR CONCENTRATES, PLEASE CALL, TOLL FREE 1(800) 951-4747,” or “MAY CONTAIN JUICES AND/OR CONCENTRATES FROM COUNTRIES OTHER THAN U.S. FOR INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL, TOLL FREE, 1(800) 951-4747.”

The marking statute, section 304, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the nature of the article (or its 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.

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. Section 134.1(d), defines the ultimate purchaser as generally the last person in the U.S. who will receive the article in the form in which it was imported. 19 CFR 134.1(d)(1) states 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 of the article. The case of U.S. v. Gibson-Thomsen Co., Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. 267 (C.A.D. 98) (1940), provides that an article used in manufacture which results in an article having a name, character or use differing from that of the constituent article will be considered substantially transformed and that the manufacturer or processor will be considered the ultimate purchaser of the constituent materials. In such circumstances, the imported article is excepted from marking and only the outermost container is required to be marked. See, 19 CFR 134.35.

In this case, the imported orange juice or orange juice concentrate is substantially transformed as a result of the U.S. processing, and therefore the U.S. manufacturer is the ultimate purchaser of the imported orange juice and under 19 CFR 134.35 only the containers which reach the ultimate purchaser are required to be marked with the country of origin. The retail packages of Orange Plus Frozen Concentrated Citrus Beverage, Tropical Plus Frozen Concentrated Tropical Punch, Caribe Fruit Punch Concentrate, Caribik Sun Parcha Punch and Caribik Sun Citrus Punch are not required to show the countries of origin of the imported orange juice. However, the imported containers of orange juice must be marked with the actual country or countries of origin.

The Customs Regulations limit ruling requests to 5 (five) items. Multiple requests are permitted. Please resubmit the balance of items with no more than five items per request. Include in your letters the information you provided to this office by telephone regarding how the orange juice will be imported, and how it is processed after importation. Additional information is required for the Caribik Sun Orange Juice product. Specify the Brix of the imported orange juice, and exactly how it is processed after importation. Also, provide the Brix, etc., of the product it is mixed with, and all of the processing performed on that product. It is suggested that a separate ruling request be submitted for this item.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 177).

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist John Maria at 212-637-7059.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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