HQ 732999

January 25, 1990

MAR-2-05 CO:R:C:V 732999 NL

CATEGORY: Marking

Peggy Chaplin, Esq.,

Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver

1600 Maryland National Bank Bldg.

10 Light Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21202

RE: Country of Origin Marking of Automotive Hinge Parts

Dear Ms. Chaplin:

This is in response to your letter of December 22, 1989,

requesting a ruling that an exception from country of origin

marking applies to parts of automotive hinges which are imported

into the U.S. and incorporated into finished vehicles.

FACTS:

Your client (the buyer), will purchase halves of door

hinges manufactured abroad under a direct contract with the

manufacturer seller. After importation the buyer will assemble

the halves into completed hinges by means of U.S.-origin pins.

The hinges will, in turn, be incorporated into a vehicle for sale

to the U.S. government and other customers.

For a previous shipment the buyer requested that the hinge

parts be excepted from country of origin marking on the basis of

section 134.32(h), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.32(h)), which

provides that an article may be excepted from individual country

of origin marking if the ultimate purchaser must necessarily

know the country of origin of an article by reason of the

circumstances of its importation. Customs officials granted the

request on the basis of letters submitted by the buyer stating

that it was the ultimate purchaser of the hinge halves and

stating that it knew by reason of its contract that the seller

was supplying articles originating in the country of manufacture.

You are now requesting on behalf of your client a binding

ruling covering prospective transactions that the hinge parts may

be excepted from individual country of origin marking. Invoices,

purchase orders, technical drawings and other correspondence have

been submitted, together with a sample of the marking which will

be used on the containers of the imported hinge parts.

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ISSUE:

May imported hinge parts be excepted from country of origin

marking when assembled into completed hinges and incorporated

into vehicles?

LAW & 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.

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

the country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19

U.S.C. 1304.

Section 134.35, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.35),

provides that a manufacturer who converts or combines an imported

article into a different article will be considered the ultimate

purchaser of the imported article, and the article will be

excepted from country of origin marking. For this exception to

apply, the conversion or combining must constitute a substantial

transformation within the principle of United States v. Gibson-

Thomsen Co., Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. 267 (C.A.D. 98). It is your

position that the buyer is the ultimate purchaser of the hinge

parts because it substantially transforms them into finished

hinges. You urge that since the buyer is the ultimate purchaser,

the hinge parts may be excepted from country of origin marking

pursuant to 19 CFR 134.32(h), or pursuant to 19 CFR 134.32(d),

which provides for an exception from country of origin marking

when the marking of an article\'s container will reasonably

indicate its country of origin.

We are unable to agree with your contention that the hinge

halves are substantially transformed into a new article with a

different name, character or use by being connected together with

a pin. In our view, such processing constitutes a mere assembly

of parts which are intended to fit together as a complete

article; in this case a hinge.

However, the incorporation of the hinges into the finished

vehicle is a substantial transformation within the meaning of 19

CFR 134.35, such that the buyer is the ultimate purchaser of the

hinge halves. Customs has previously ruled on numerous occasions

that the incorporation of components into finished machines

substantially transforms the components. For example, in HQ

730837 (June 10, 1988), we ruled that the parts which constitute

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a typewriter are substantially transformed when the typewriter is

produced. In HQ 731076 (November 1, 1988), we ruled that

components from Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. lose their separate

identities when incorporated into cars and are substantially

transformed. We stated that the manufacture of an automobile was

more than a mere assembly operation. Finally, in HQ 730025

(January 12, 1987), we ruled that a casting imported into the

U.S. to be used in the production of a door exit device could be

excepted from individual country of origin marking pursuant to 19

CFR 134.35. We found that the U.S. producer of the device was

the ultimate purchaser of the casting which, when combined with

numerous other components, lost its separate identity and was

substantially transformed.

In this case we find, pursuant to 19 CFR 134.35, that the

hinge parts, when incorporated into the vehicle, are

substantially transformed, and that the buyer of the hinge parts

is the ultimate purchaser. We also find that the hinge parts

may be excepted from individual country of origin marking

pursuant to 19 CFR 134.132(h), as an article for which the

ultimate purchaser, must necessarily know the country of origin

of the hinges by reason of its contract with the producer.

HOLDING:

Imported hinge parts purchased under a direct contract with

the foreign manufacturer may be excepted from individual country

of origin marking pursuant to 19 CFR 134.32(h), provided Customs

officials at the port of entry are satisfied that the articles

will be used only in the manner described above and will not be

otherwise sold.

Sincerely,

Marvin M. Amernick

Chief, Value, Special Programs

and Admissibility Branch

cc: District Director,

Chicago, Ill.