MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 731938 jd
A. Robert Beikirch
District Director of Customs
40 South Gay Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
RE: Country of origin marking requirements for imported router
bits and screwdriver bits
Dear Mr. Beikirch:
This is in response to your memorandum of November 8, 1988
(MAR-2-05-DD:CO:TT:IS:1 GAS), seeking advice on the country of
origin marking requirements applicable to interchangeable router
bits and screwdriver bits.
FACTS:
According to your memorandum, router bits and screwdriver
bits are imported in bulk with the outer containers marked with
the country of origin. The screwdriver bits are not individually
marked as to country of origin. While the router bits are
individually marked on the end of the shank, you report that in
some instances several letters are missing. The sample submitted
had all the letters present but the letters were extremely close
to one another and quite small.
All of the screwdriver bits are repacked in blister packs for
retail sale. The sample blister pack we examined had country of
origin marking. The router bits are repacked either in blister
packs, plastic pouches, individual cardboard boxes or individual
plastic tubes. All such containers are marked to show country of
origin. Some router bits are repacked in blank plastic bags, the
bags boxed in bulk, and the boxes sold to industrial users. It
is not stated if these boxes carry any marking.
ISSUE:
Do rotary metal cutting tools of greater than 3/16" diameter,
imported in bulk, qualify for an exemption from individual
marking based on the fact they will be repacked for retail sale
in containers bearing 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 (or its container) 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 an ultimate purchaser
in the United States the English name of the country of origin
of the article.
Section 134.42, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.42), states
that marking of certain articles shall be by specific methods as
may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Customs. By a decision
published as T.D. 74-122, Customs established that rotary metal
cutting tools (i.e., tools for hand tools or machine tools which
are designed to be fitted to such tools and which cannot be used
independently and include tools for pressing, stamping, drilling,
tapping, threading, boring, broaching, milling, cutting,
dressing, mortising or screw-driving of the kind classified in
items 649.43, 649.44 and 649.46, Tariff Schedules of the United
States) must be marked by means of die stamping in a contrasting
color, raised lettering, engraving, or some other method of
producing a legible, conspicuous and permanent mark to clearly
indicate the country of origin to the ultimate purchaser in the
United States. Specifically excluded from methods of acceptable
marking were ink stamping, tagging with adhesive labels or any
other impermanent form of marking which could be smudged, blurred
or otherwise easily obliterated or removed. However, imported
rotary metal cutting tools could be excepted from individual
marking if they would reach the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. in
individual tubes or containers which were legibly, conspicuously
and permanently marked to indicate the country of origin of the
tools therein. (In accordance with ORR Ruling 639-69, dated
January 2, 1970, twist drills having a diameter of less than
3/16" are considered incapable of being marked.)
Subsequently, two trade associations representing the
domestic rotary metal cutting tool industry requested Customs to
change its practice in regard to that commodity because of
alleged abuses of the exemption allowing tools to be unmarked if
they were sold in marked containers. It was claimed that such
tools were often removed from their containers before reaching
the ultimate purchaser in the U.S.
After reviewing domestic industry's petition, the public
comments received in response to the proposed change of practice
and the available evidence, Customs concluded that the exception
created in T.D. 74-122 to individual tool marking was being
abused. To correct this problem the following points were
clarified in a decision published as T.D. 84-214:
1. T.D. 74-122 provided for an exception from individual
marking requirements in the case of tools imported in individual
tubes or containers which are marked to indicate the origin of
the tools inside.
2. That exception would continue to be available only if it
can be shown to the satisfaction of the Customs officers at the
port of entry that the containers are of a kind that are
virtually certain to reach ultimate purchasers in the U.S.
3. Rotary metal cutting tools imported in individual tubes or
containers of cardboard or plastic must be individually marked in
accordance with T.D. 74-122 notwithstanding that the container is
marked.
Extending the rationale of T.D.'s 74-122 and 84-214 to the
case of bulk importations of rotary metal cutting tools, it
follows that the tools in such importations must be individually
marked. Customs designed the marking requirements for such tools
to respond to a problem where unmarked tools were too often
removed from their marked containers before delivery to ultimate
purchasers. The individual marking of tools imported in
insubstantial containers, or in this case no individual container
at all, gives a high degree of assurance that the ultimate
purchaser will be apprised of the origin of the article.
For your information, we have recently issued a ruling
directly to (omitted) concerning the proper country of origin
marking for a router bit assembled in the U.S. with a carbide
blade from Israel, a bearing from Italy and other components of
U.S. origin. That ruling determined that a substantial
transformation of the blade and bearing occurred by their
assembly with the other components into a finished router bit.
Accordingly, the finished router bit reaching ultimate purchasers
is not required to have country of origin marking.
HOLDING:
Rotary metal cutting tools, as described above, of greater
than 3/16" diameter, imported in bulk, must be individually
marked to show country of origin notwithstanding the fact that
they will be packaged in containers showing the origin of the
tool. The exception to individual marking, as mentioned in T.D.
74-122 and clarified in T.D. 84-214, is available only in the
case of rotary metal cutting tools imported in containers that
are virtually certain to reach the ultimate purchaser in the
U.S., such as sealed index storage boxes.
Of the samples we examined, the screw driver bit was unmarked
and therefore did not comply with marking requirements. The
router bit was die stamped but not in a contrasting color. Also,
it was reported to us that some samples seen at the port were
missing letters of the country name. It is our suggestion that
the marking be moved to the shank of the tools to ensure that all
the letters are displayed, and it remains mandatory that one of
the enumerated methods of marking be used, or some other means
producing an equally acceptable mark.
Sincerely,
John Durant
Director
Commercial Rulings Division