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NY M81577




April 12, 2006

MAR-2-49:RR:NC:2:234 M81577

CATEGORY: MARKING CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 4819.10.0040

Mr. Gordon G. Anderson
C.H. Robinson International, Inc.
8855 Columbine Road, Suite 400
Eden Prairie, MN 55347

RE: The tariff classification of and country of origin marking requirements for certain advertising materials.

Dear Mr. Anderson:

In your letter dated March 17, 2006, (received in this office on March 30th) you requested, on behalf of your client, Americhip Inc., Torrance, California, a ruling on the tariff classification of certain imported goods, and the requirements for their being marked, to indicate their country or countries of origin.

A sample of the goods concerned was submitted. You describe them as “a paperboard box containing lithographic graphics and print introducing a sleeping aid tablet called “Lunesta”. The box is colored in shades of darker blue and pictures of an open bedroom window with a gentle breeze floating a bedroom curtain to one side so that a luminous butterfly, associated specifically to “Lunesta”, is able to serenely enter through the window and into the bedroom with a starlight sky and a luminous sparkly rainbow trailing the butterfly.”

“This box measures approximately 11” x 8 ½” x 1 ¼”. When the flap of the box is laid back it opens to a compartment which contains a faux leather covered picture frame which contains a lithographic print replicating same backdrop and “Lunesta” but with text that states in bold white letters, “Please sign in with the receptionist”. Lying on top of the picture frame is a printed leaflet introducing “Lunesta” and containing specific instructions and prescribing information for these sleeping aid tablets”.

You advise that the box will be made and printed in either the U.S.A. or China, the printed leaflet will be printed in Canada, the picture frame with print will be made in China and the assembling and packaging of all of these components will be performed in either the U.S.A. or Mexico. Once the assembly has been performed, the box will be wrapped in clear cellophane plastic with a U.S. Priority Mail sticker attached with the address mailer label. This prepackaged advertising material will be sent free of charge and targeted specifically to pharmaceutics’, doctors, hospitals and clinics with the intent that these parties will place orders for this product.

In a specific “scenario 1”, your client Americhip will be importer of record for the “Frame made in China”. (This appears to be the only article of those previously described which will be imported into the U.S. from a foreign country, for which you request “marking” instructions.)

You submit that Americhip is exempted from individual country of origin markings for the frame made in China in accordance with 19 CFR 134.35. “Master shipping carton will be marked with country of origin, “Made in China”.

We do not agree that the cited Customs Regulation is appropriate to this situation. It concerns the marking status of “an article used in the United States in manufacture” which substantially transforms it into another article of commerce. That is not the case here. The frame made in China will merely be placed into a packing container, and will not undergo any “manufacture”.

Rather, under the circumstances outlined in your letter, the “frame made in China” is entitled to the General Exception to marking requirements of 19 CFR 134.32(f): Articles imported for use by the importer and not intended for sale in their imported or any other form. The “Master shipping carton” marking you propose will in this scenario be appropriate.

In a second specific “scenario 2”, the box made and printed in China, the leaflet printed in Canada, and the frame made in China, are shipped to Mexico for assembling and packaging in Mexico, and the fully assembled and packaged box is imported back to the United States, ready for distribution.

You propose that the classification be that of a “good put up in sets for retail sale”, pursuant to GRI-3. We agree. The components are each classifiable in different headings; they all serve the specific purpose of advertising the pharmaceutical product, “Lunesta”, and they are packaged for retail distribution without the necessity of further packaging.

You propose the essential character of the set as residing in the paperboard box, which classifies in 4819.10.0040. You point out that “This box serves multiple purposes or functions, in that not only does it act as a shipping box, but with its very specific design features acts as an organizer for the printed matter and frame contained within. Most importantly though it acts as a very highly stylized display vehicle to potential clients with its recognized colors, butterfly and other graphics pictured on this box that are associated to this product and furthermore the text which describes and introduces the features of this sleeping aid.”

We find this proposal persuasive; accordingly the classification of the fully packaged advertising set described will be 4819.10.0040, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) which provides for: Cartons, boxes and cases, of corrugated paper or paperboard, Other (than sanitary food and beverage containers). The rate of duty is Free.

Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.

Finally, you inquire as to the country of origin marking required to be placed on the package imported per the second scenario. As the product will be imported from Mexico, a NAFTA party country, we look to 19 C.F.R. 102.11, General Rules, for guidance.

The package contains a component, the box made and printed in China, which is a “foreign material” within the purview of Section 102.11(a), which does not undergo an applicable change in tariff classification set out in Section 102.20. Section 102.11(c) provides, in this case, that “the country of origin of the good is the country or countries of origin of all materials that merit equal consideration for determining the essential character of the good”.

Those materials in this instance are the box made in China, and the frame made in China. The country of origin of the imported packed “set”, therefore, is China. It should be marked “Made in” or “Product of” China.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 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 Carl Abramowitz at 646-733-3037.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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