HQ 732382

November 20, 1989

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 732382 KG

CATEGORY: Marking

Jack Kroll

John Wagner Associates, Inc.

205 Mason Circle

Concord, California 94520

RE: Country of origin marking of drywall screws

Dear Mr. Kroll:

This is in response to your letter of May 5, 1989,

requesting a ruling on the country of origin marking of drywall

screws.

FACTS:

John Wagner Associates, Inc. (\"the importer\") imports

drywall screws from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. The importer also

purchases drywall screws from a U.S. factory. After the screws

from various sources are received at the warehouse, the importer

reboxes the screws into smaller cartons, mixing the imported

screws with the domestic screws. You informed a member of my

staff that about 15% of each carton will be comprised of screws

manufactured in the importer\'s factory in the U.S. and other

U.S.-made screws.

ISSUE:

What is the proper country of origin marking of a mixture of

imported and U.S. drywall screws.

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 (1940).

Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements

the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19

U.S.C. 1304. Section 134.33, Customs Regulations (19 CFR

134.33), excepts certain articles from individual country of

origin marking in accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1304(a)(3)(J) and

only requires that the outermost container in which the article

is imported in be marked with the country of origin. Screws are

listed as one of the articles entitled to this exception.

We are not aware of any specific ruling concerning the

country of origin marking of screws. Screws, nuts, bolts and

washers are different types of industrial fasteners. In ruling

HQ #723668 (December 12, 1983), published as C.S.D. 84-56, it was

held that the country of origin marking requirement applicable to

distributors of industrial fasteners was modified to permit a

country of origin label to be affixed to containers of repackaged

fastener which will list only the major source countries from

which a particular repackager acquires his stock. This list

should begin with that country from which a distributor obtains

the greatest percentage (by weight or by piece) of his stock.

The countries would be listed in order of percentage

contributions. It would not be necessary to list all countries

from which a particular repackager obtains only relatively small

quantities of fasteners. Customs allowed this partial exemption

to \"eliminate the economic prohibitions of strict compliance but

preserve the repackager\'s obligation to advise the ultimate

purchaser of the foreign origin of the repackaged fasteners.\"

The question of how to mark the containers of industrial

fasteners when the company comingles foreign-made and U.S.- made

fasteners was addressed in ruling HQ 724388 (January 31, 1984).

In that case, 25% of the volume of fasteners shipped by the

company for the year was U.S.-made but the company did not

consistently add a substantial amount of U.S.-made fasteners to

their packages. As much as 60 or 70% of the repackaged

containers would contain no domestic product at all. Customs

ruled that the U.S. was a major source country but that a

proposed label reading \"This package contains articles from one

or more countries, including the following: Japan, Taiwan,

U.S.A., Korea, Canada, China.\" was not appropriate. In that

case, Customs recommended that the label read:

This package contains articles from one or more

foreign countries, including the following: (list

without reference to U.S.A.), and may also contain

domestic articles.

Customs recommended this wording on the label because it

would accurately describe the repackaging operation without

misleading the ultimate purchaser.

In this case, the importer mixes about 15 % U.S.-made screws

with foreign-made screws on a regular basis. Given these facts,

it would not be misleading to list the U.S. along with foreign

source countries in order of the percentage of drywall screws

each source contributes to the total package.

On September 19, 1989, the U.S. House of Representatives

passed the Fastener Quality Act, HR 3000 and referred it to the

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. In

light of that bill, Customs is reviewing its position on the

country of origin marking of industrial fasteners. However, at

this time, C.S.D. 84-56 and HQ ruling 724388 are controlling and

the importer can use a label similar to the one recommended.

HOLDING:

The importer, who mixes a stock of foreign-made and about

15% U.S.-made screws on a regular basis, may mark the reboxed

cartons with a label that includes the U.S. with a list of other

foreign countries in order of the percentage that each source

country contributes to the total stock.

Sincerely,

John Durant

Director,

Commercial Rulings Division