OT:RR:NC:N1:104
Jing Zhang
Weihai Maxpower Advanced Tool Co., Ltd
No.8-9,8-22 Huizhou Road, Wendeng Weiahi 264400 China
RE: The country of origin of a breaker bar tool
Dear Ms. Zhang:
In your letter dated March 25, 2023, you requested a country of origin ruling for a breaker bar tool.
The subject breaker bar tool, sometimes referred to as a flex handle, is a hand tool made of steel that has a long handle/neck with a hinged-joint head that is used to tighten or loosen fasteners at various angles. The tool’s head fits onto fasteners via breaker bar socket attachments of various sizes. The socket attachments are neither imported with the article nor included when sold to purchasers. When the tool is grasped by the handle and its hinged-joint head (with socket) is attached to a fastener, it can be positioned at various angles in order to provide the torque necessary to tighten or loosen the fastener.
The applicable subheading for the breaker bar tool will be 8466.10.0175, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, which provides for “Parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of headings 8456 to 8465, including work or tool holders, self-opening dieheads, dividing heads and other special attachments for the machines; tool holders for any type of tool for working in the hand: Tool holders and self-opening dieheads: Other.” The rate of duty will be 3.9 percent ad valorem.
Country of Origin
You mention that the tool is made in South Korea and China. First, cut steel bar sourced from China is shipped to South Korea, where the bar will be forged into the rough final shape of the flex handle including its handle/neck and its two-pronged head at the opposite end. The steel bar is then shipped to China, where it is further machined to achieve the tool’s final shape, heat-treated plated and where a China-origin steel square head component, comprised of a square head, pin, spring, and ball, is added to the two-pronged bar that completes the hinged-joint mechanism. The item is then packaged and sent to the United States.
With regard to your request for the appropriate country of origin of the breaker bar tool, 19 C.F.R. § 134.1(b) provides in pertinent part as follows:
Country of origin means the country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the “country of origin” within the meaning of this part;
As stated in HQ 735009 dated July 30, 1993, “[t]he country of origin is the country where the article last underwent a “substantial transformation,” that is, processing which results in a change in the article’s name, character, or use.” In addition, “[a] substantial transformation occurs when an article emerges from a manufacturing process with a name, character, or use which differs from those of the original material subjected to the process.” Texas Instruments, Inc. v. United States, 681 F.2d 778, 782 (CCPA 1982). However, if the manufacturing or combining process is merely a minor one that leaves the identity of the article intact, a substantial transformation has not occurred. Uniroyal, Inc. v. United States, 3 CIT 220, 542 F. Supp. 1026, 1029 (1982), aff’d, 702 F.2d 1022 (Fed. Cir. 1983).
In order to determine whether a substantial transformation occurs when components of various origins are assembled into completed products, all factors such as the components used to create the product and manufacturing processes that these components undergo are considered in order to determine whether a product with a new name, character and use has been produced. No one factor is decisive. Assembly operations that are minimal will generally not result in a substantial transformation.
In this case, the manufacturing operations in South Korea impart the principal characteristics to the finished breaker bar tool. What emerges from the South Korea operations is an unfinished forged flex handle with a two-pronged shape at one end, predetermining its use as a breaker bar. After the unfinished handle is sent to China, it undergoes machining that establishes the final dimensions of the tool handle and head, and a China-sourced hinged-joint square head component is assembled and attached to the bar’s two-pronged end through simple assembly. While the machining and assembly operations in China complete the tool, they do not substantially alter the flex handle’s identity or change its primary character and function of providing leverage at various angles. Accordingly, there is no change in name, character, or use of the article. Based on these facts, the country of origin is South Korea.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs and Border Protection 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, please contact National Import Specialist Arthur Purcell at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Steven A. Mack
Director
National Commodity Specialist Division