MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 735452 RSD
Mr. Ed Baker
A.N. Deringer Inc.
173 W. Service Road
Champlain, New York 12919
RE: Country of origin marking of marking requirements for date book
student planners with a name and address of a school on the front
cover; conspicuous location; NAFTA Marking; 19 CFR 134.46
Dear Mr. Baker:
This is in response to your letter dated December 7, 1993, on
behalf of Select Agendas requesting a ruling on the country of
origin marking requirements for a date book with the name and
address of a school printed on the front cover. We regret the
delay in responding to your letter. Your client asks four
questions regarding the marking of these date books. As will be
further explained below, we do not have sufficient information to
answer three of the four questions. A sample of the date book was
submitted with your ruling request.
FACTS:
Select Agenda is a Canadian publishing company manufacturing
date books or student planners entirely in Montreal, Canada. The
student planners will be sold in the United States and Canada.
The student planner is a date book in which each day of the school
year has a separate space so that students can record information.
It also contains information regarding the school policies and
other relevant topics. The sample student planner has the name and
address of a high school printed on the front cover. The front
page of the student planner has a gray area which is called a
"copyright" block. The "copyright" block contains the name and
address of Select Agenda. Although the sample student planner has
a Canadian address, it is indicated that it eventually may have a
U.S. address. The country of origin marking, "Printed in Canada",
is on the bottom on the back of the last page of the student
planner.
Select Agenda inquires about the location of the country of
origin marking. It specifically wants to know if the country of
origin marking can remain on the last page of the book or must the
marking be moved to front page near the "copyright block."
According to Select Agenda's letter, they are contemplating
manufacturing part of the student planners in the United States
and want to know what the marking requirements would be if various
operations are performed in the United States.
ISSUE:
Can the country of origin marking be on last page of the
student planner or must it be moved to first page?
Does the U.S. address of the school on the front cover of the
student planners trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46?
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. The evident purpose is
to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the ultimate
purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced, be able
to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should influence his
will. United States v. Friedlaender & Co., 27 C.C.P.A. 297 at 302.
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.
In addition, section 134.46, Customs Regulations (19 CFR
134.46), requires that when the name of any city or locality in
the U.S., or the name of any foreign country or locality other than
the name of the country or locality in which the article was
manufactured or produced, appear on an imported article or its
container, there shall appear, legibly and permanently, in close
proximity to such words, letters or name, and in at least a
comparable size, the name of the country of origin preceded by
"Made in," "Product of," or other words of similar meaning.
Customs has ruled that in order to satisfy the close proximity
requirement, the country of origin marking must appear on the same
side(s) or surface(s) in which the name of the locality other than
the country of origin appears (HQ 708994, dated April 24, 1978).
The purpose of 19 CFR 134.46 is to prevent the possibility of
misleading or deceiving the ultimate purchaser as to the origin of
the imported article.
With respect to books, Customs stated in HQ 731663 that:
Because retail purchasers could reasonably expect to find
all the pertinent publication, printing and copyright
information related to a book on either the front or back
of the title page and could therefore, look at the title
page if they were confused by information appearing
elsewhere, an importer satisfies 19 CFR 134.46 if the
country of origin is placed on the front or back of the
title page and otherwise complies with the requirements
of 19 CFR 134.46
In HQ 734164 (September 23, 1991), we pointed out that other
locations may also satisfy the conspicuousness requirement so long
as the marking is easy to find. HQ 731663 also upheld Customs'
basic position on the close proximity requirement of 19 CFR 134.46,
i.e., that if the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46 are triggered by
a reference to a place on an article or its container, then the
country of origin marking must also appear near to the place
reference.
Even if the student planner date book is not a published book,
we nevertheless believe that the first page is similar to the title
page of a book. Individuals would normally look at the first page
to find information about the student planner. Accordingly, the
first page would be a conspicuous location for the country of
origin marking. However, we are not certain whether individuals
would necessarily look at the last page for any information
regarding the planner. In this case, we note that there is no
information on the last page except the country of origin marking.
We also note that a U.S. address may be put on the first page.
Accordingly, we find that in order to satisfy the requirements of
19 CFR 134.46 and also satisfy the requirements of being in a
conspicuous location, the country of origin marking must be moved
to the first page of the student planner.
Although the name and address of a school will be on the front
cover of the student planner, we believe that no one will be
confused regarding the origin of the student planner by this reference. In several rulings, Customs has indicated that
geographic references appearing in connection with an imported
article do not necessarily trigger the requirements of 19 CFR
134.46. In HQ 732329 (July 29, 1989), we ruled that an address on
a warranty card did not pose a risk of confusion or deception to
the ultimate purchaser. In other rulings, Customs determined that
certain information provided to enable consumers to contact the
company regarding complaints or questions about the product did not
trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46. (See HQ 733840,
February 1, 1991, where garment hang tags, which included a
telephone number of the company and language which invited the
consumer to contact the company for informational purposes, did
not trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46; HQ 733909, January
15, 1991, where a U.S. address of an environmental group was not
misleading.) The basis of these rulings was that while the names
and addresses, taken alone, would appear to be the kinds of
potentially confusing information addressed by 19 CFR 134.46, their
context was such that no confusion as to country of origin was
conceivable. In our opinion, the address of a school presents this
kind of circumstance. (We assume for the purposes of this ruling
that students purchase and therefore they are ultimate purchasers
of the student planners.) The planners will be purchased by
students, who will understand their school address does not relate
to the origin of the planner. Therefore, the U.S. reference in the
school address on the front cover of the student planner does not
trigger the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46.
With respect to the other questions that Select Agenda asks
regarding the marking requirements of the student planners if
production operations are shifted to the United States, we do not
have sufficient information to answer. Since the student planners
will be produced in the United States or Canada, their marking
requirements will be governed in part by the requirements for a
"good of a NAFTA country" in accordance with Annex 311 of the North
American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"), as implemented by section
207 of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
(Pub. L. 103-182, 107 Stat 2057) (December 8, 1993) and the interim
amendments to the Customs Regulations published as T.D. 94-4 (59
Fed. Reg. 109, January 3, 1994) with corrections (59 Fed. Reg.
5082, February 3, 1994) and T.D. 94-1 (59 Fed. Reg. 69460, December
30, 1993). These interim amendments took effect on January 1,
1994, to coincide with the effective date of the NAFTA. The
Marking Rules used for determining whether a good is a good of a
NAFTA country are contained in T.D. 94-4 (adding a new Part 102,
Customs Regulations). The marking requirements of these goods are
set forth in T.D. 94-1 (interim amendments to various provision of
Part 134, Customs Regulations).
19 CFR 181.93(b) of the interim regulations provides that each
request for an advance ruling must contain a complete statement of
all relevant facts relating to the NAFTA transaction. Such facts
include: The names, address, and other identifying information of
all interested parties (if known); the name of the port or place
at which any good involved in the transaction will be imported or
which will otherwise have jurisdiction with respect to the act or
activity described in the transaction; and a description of the
transaction itself, appropriate in detail to the matter of the
requested advance ruling.
The ruling request must contain a complete description of the
good or material, a complete description of all materials used in
the production of the good or material and a complete description
of all processing operations employed in the production of the good
or material. In addition, the request should set forth the
principal or chief use of the good or material in the United States
and commercial, common, or technical designation of the good or
material; if the good or material is composed of two or more
substances, the relative quantity (both weight and by volume) and
value of each substance; any applicable special invoicing
requirements (if known); and any other information which may assist
in determining the appropriate tariff classification of the good
or material. The advance ruling request should also note, whenever
germane, the purchase price of the good or material and its
approximate selling price in the United States. See 19 CFR
181.93(b)(2)(ii). Since the application of the marking rules
depends in part on the classification of the imported article and
the finished product the above information is necessary. In
addition, in order to furnish a ruling on the correct country of
origin marking, we need samples of materials used to make the
finished student planner.
Additionally, if production of the student planners are moved
to the United States, you should be aware that Customs does not
have the authority to approve the marking "Made in U.S.A." The
Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction concerning use of the
phrase "Made in U.S.A." Therefore, we suggest that you advise your
client to contact the Federal Trade Commission, Division of
Enforcement, 6th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.
20508 as to whether it would be permissible to use the phrase "Made
in USA" on the student planners.
HOLDING:
The back of the last page of student planner date book is not
a conspicuous location for the country of origin marking. The
front of the first page of the student planner in the "copyright"
block would be a conspicuous location and would
satisfy the requirements of 19 CFR 134.46 if a U.S address is
present. The school name and address on the front cover of the
student planner does not trigger 19 CFR 134.46.
Sincerely,
John Durant, Director