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Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 3

General Information

Every article of foreign origin entering the United States 

must be legibly marked with the English name of the 

country of origin unless an exception from marking is 

provided for in the law.

The purpose of this leafl et is to acquaint manufacturers and exporters in other nations with the country of 

origin marking requirements for goods imported into 

the United States.

What is the purpose of marking?

To inform the ultimate purchaser in the United States of 

the country in which the imported article was made.

Who is the ultimate purchaser?

The ultimate purchaser is generally the last person in 

the United States who will receive the article in the 

form in which it was imported.

If the article will be used in manufacture, the manufacturer or processor in the United States is the ultimate 

purchaser if the processing of the imported article 

results in a substantial transformation of the imported 

article, becomes a good of the United States under the 

NAFTA Marking Rules (19 CFR Part 102), or becomes 

a good of the United States under the textile rules of 

origin (19 CFR 102.21), as applicable.

What is meant by “country”?

Country means the political entity known as a nation. 

Colonies, possessions, or protectorates outside the 

boundaries of the mother country may be considered 

separate countries. 

What is the country of origin?

The country of manufacture, production, or growth of 

the article.
4 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Does altering the article in a second country change the country of 

origin?

The country of origin of an article may be changed in a 

secondary country if one of the following occurs:

1. If the further work or material added to an article in 

the second country constitutes a substantial transformation. A substantial transformation occurs if a new 

article with a different name, character, and use is 

created.

2. For a good from a NAFTA country: if under the 

NAFTA Marking Rules (19 CFR Part 102) the second 

country is determined to be the country of origin of 

the good; or

3. For an article considered to be a textile or apparel 

product (regardless of whether it is a good from a 

NAFTA country): if the country of origin is determined by the general rules set forth in 19 CFR Part 

102.21 to be the second country. For purposes of 

determining whether a textile or apparel product 

is from Israel, the general rules in 19 CFR 12.130 

apply.

Is it necessary for the words made in or product of to precede the name 

of the country of origin?

The phrase “made in” is required only in the case 

where the name of any locality other than the country or locality in which the article was manufactured 

appears on the article or its container and may mislead 

or deceive the ultimate purchaser. The marking “made 

in (country)” or other words of similar meaning must 

appear in close proximity to, and in comparable size 

letters of, the other locality to avoid possible confusion.

Use of the words “assembled in” may be used to 

indicate the country of origin of an article where the 

country of origin of the article is the country in which 

the article was fi nally assembled. “Assembled in” may 

be followed by the statement “from components of (the 

name of the country or countries of origin of all the 

components).”
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 5

Should the marking be of a particular size?

The marking must be legible. This means it must be of 

an adequate size, and clear enough, to be read easily by 

a person of normal vision.

Where should the marking be located?

The marking should be located in a conspicuous place. 

It need not be in the most conspicuous place, but it 

must be where it can be seen with a casual handling 

of the article. Markings must be in a position where 

they will not be covered or concealed by subsequent 

attachments or additions. The marking must be visible 

without disassembling the item or removing or changing the position of any parts.

How permanent must the marking be?

The article should be marked as indelibly and permanently as the nature of the product will permit. Marking 

that will not remain on the article during handling or 

for any other reason except deliberate removal is not a 

proper marking.

Abbreviations and Variant 

Spellings

Abbreviations that unmistakably indicate the name of 

a country, such as “Gt. Britain” for Great Britain or 

“Luxemb” for Luxembourg, are acceptable. Variant 

spellings which clearly indicate the English name of the 

country of origin, such as “Brasil” for Brazil and “Italie” 

for Italy are acceptable. However, it is always preferable 

to spell out the country’s name in full, because any 

abbreviation may be a cause for confusion.

However, “E.C.” or “E.U.” for European Community 

or European Union, respectively, are not acceptable 

abbreviations since they do not indicate the individual 

country of origin of the good.
6 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Forms of Marking

What are the acceptable forms of marking?

The best form of marking is one which becomes a part 

of the article itself, such as branding, stenciling, stamping, printing, molding, and similar methods.

Other forms of marking will also be acceptable if it is 

certain that the marking will remain legible and conspicuous until the article reaches the ultimate purchaser 

in the United States. It is important that this marking 

withstand handling. This means it must be of a type 

that can be defaced, destroyed, removed, altered, obliterated, or obscured only by a deliberate act.

What about tags?

When tags are used, they must be attached in a conspicuous place and in a manner that assures that, unless 

deliberately removed, they will remain on the article 

until it reaches the ultimate purchaser.

May adhesive labels be used? 

Labels may be used in some instances, but this is not a 

recommended form. Often labels become loose due to 

weather, unsatisfactory adhesive, or other conditions. 

If this happens, the importer may be subject to the 

expense of remarking the merchandise.

Marking of Combined Articles

An article that is to be combined with another article in 

the United States but which will retain its identity and 

will not undergo a change in origin must be marked 

“(Name of imported article) made in (country).”

Marking of Containers

Usual containers imported fi lled must be marked with 

the name of the country of origin of the contents of the 

usual container, unless the contents are marked with 

the country of origin and the usual containers can be 

readily opened for inspection of the contents. 
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 7

Usual containers imported empty to be fi lled may be 

excepted from individual marking if they reach the 

person or fi rm that will fi ll them in a carton or other 

container marked with the country of origin.

Unusual containers imported empty, to be fi lled in 

the United States, must be marked “Container made in 

(country).”

What is a usual container?

The container in which an imported article will ordinarily reach the ultimate purchaser. Usual containers or 

holders are not required to be marked with their own 

origin when imported fi lled.

Usual containers, which are goods from a NAFTA country, are not required to be marked with their own 

origin, whether or not fi lled.

What is an unusual container?

These may include containers not ordinarily sold at 

retail with their contents, or containers which have further use or value after their contents are consumed.

Unusual types of containers must be marked to indicate 

their own origin when imported fi lled, in addition to 

any marking required to indicate the origin of their 

contents. For example, a vase made in France containing candy made in England must be marked: “Vase 

made in France, candy made in England.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Special Statutory 

Marking

What are the special marking requirements for watches and clocks?

Chapter 91, Additional U.S. Note 4, Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States, sets forth special marking 

requirements for watches and clocks:

a. Watch movements shall be marked on one or more 

of the bridges or top plates to show:

i the name of the country of manufacture,

ii the name of the manufacturer or purchaser, and

iii in words, the number of jewels, if any, serving a 

mechanical purpose as frictional bearings.

b. Clock movements shall be marked on the most visible part of the front or back plate to show:

i the name of the country of manufacture,

ii the name of the manufacturer or purchaser, and

iii the number of jewels, if any.

c. Watch cases shall be marked on the inside or outside 

of the back to show:

i the name of the country of manufacture, and

ii the name of the manufacturer or purchaser.

d. Clock cases shall be marked on the most visible part 

of the outside of the back to show the name of the 

country of manufacture.

The above movements and cases must be conspicuously 

and indelibly marked by cutting, die-sinking, engraving, stamping (including by means of indelible ink), or 

mold-marking. Movements with opto-electronic display only and cases designed for use therewith, whether 
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 9

entered as separate articles or as components of assembled watches or clocks, are excepted from these special 

marking requirements.

Watches and clocks are also subject to the normal 

country of origin marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 

1304, and under these requirements, the movement’s 

country of origin should appear conspicuously and 

legibly on the dial face or on the outside of the back. 

In addition, watchbands should be marked with the 

country of manufacture of the band, unless the watchband is attached in the country where the watch was 

produced.
10 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Special Markings on 

Certain Articles

The following articles and parts thereof, unless otherwise subject to the marking exceptions provided for in 

19 U.S.C. 1304, must be marked legibly and conspicuously with their country of origin by die-stamping, 

cast-in-mold lettering, etching (acid or electrolytic), 

engraving, or by means of metal plates which bear the 

prescribed marking and which are securely attached to 

the article in a conspicuous place by welding, screws, 

or rivets:

• Knives, forks, steels

• Cleavers, clippers, shears

• Scissors, safety razors, blades for safety razors

• Surgical instruments, dental instruments

• Scientifi c and laboratory instruments

• Pliers, pincers, nippers and hinged hand-tools for 

holding and splicing wire

• Vacuum containers and parts of the above articles

What are the special marking requirements for other articles?

Pipes and pipe fi ttings of iron, steel or stainless steel 

must be marked by means of die stamping, cast-inmold lettering, etching, engraving, or continuous paint 

stenciling. If it is commercially or technically infeasible 

to mark by one of these fi ve methods, the marking may 

be done by an equally permanent method of marking, 

or, in the case of small-diameter pipe tube and fi ttings, 

by tagging the bundles.

Compressed gas cylinders designed for use in the transport and storage of compressed gases must be marked 

by means of die stamping, molding, etching, raised lettering or an equally permanent method of marking.
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 11

Manhole rings or frames, covers, and assemblies thereof must be marked on the top surface by means of die 

stamping, cast-in-mold lettering, etching, engraving, or 

an equally permanent method of marking.
12 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Articles Not Requiring 

Marking

What articles are excepted from marking by 19 U.S.C. 1304?

A. An article that is incapable of being marked;

B. An article that cannot be marked prior to shipment 

to the United States without injury to the article;

C. An article that cannot be marked prior to shipment 

to the United States except at an expense economically prohibitive of its importation;

D. When the container of an article reasonably indicates 

the article’s origin; that is, the marked container 

reaches the ultimate purchaser unopened;

E. The article is a crude substance;

F. The article is imported for use by the importer and 

is not intended for sale in its imported or any other 

form;

G. The article is to be processed in the United States by 

the importer, or for his account, in such a manner 

that any marking would be permanently concealed, 

obliterated, or destroyed;

H. When the ultimate purchaser, by reason of the article’s character or by reason of the circumstances of 

its importation, necessarily must know, or in the 

case of a good from a NAFTA country, reasonably 

must know, the country of origin of such article even 

though it is not marked to indicate its origin;

I. The article was produced more than 20 years prior to 

its importation into the United States;

J. Articles of a class or kind (listed below) imported in 

substantial quantities for a fi ve year period immediately preceding January 1, 1937, and which were not 

required to be marked.
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 13

• Art, works of.

• Articles classifi ed under subheadings

• 9810.00.15, 9810.00.25, 9810.00.40 and 9810.00.45, 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

• Articles entered in good faith as antiques and 

rejected an unauthentic.

• Bagging, waste.

• Bags, jute.

• Bands, steel.

• Beads, unstrung.

• Bearings, ball 5/8-inch or less in diameter.

• Blanks, metal, to be plated.

• Bodies, harvest hat.

• Bolts, nuts, and washers.

• Briarwood in blocks.

• Briquettes, coal or coke.

• Buckles, one-inch or less in greatest dimension.

• Burlap.

• Buttons.

• Cards, playing.

• Cellophane and celluloid in sheets, bands, or 

strips.

• Chemicals, drugs, medicinal and similar substances, when imported in capsules, pills, tablets, 

lozenges, or troches.

• Cigars and cigarettes.
14 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

• Covers, straw bottle.

• Dies, diamond wire, unmounted.

• Dowels, wood.

• Effects, theatrical.

• Eggs.

• Feathers.

• Firewood.

• Flooring: not further manufactured than planed, 

tongued and grooved.

• Flowers, artifi cial, except bunches.

• Flowers, cut.

• Glass, cut to shape and size for use in clocks, 

hand, pocket, and purse mirrors, and other glass 

of similar shapes and sizes, not including lenses or 

watch crystals.

• Glides, furniture, except glides with prongs.

• Hairnets.

• Hides, raw.

• Hooks, fi sh (except snelled fi sh hooks).

• Hoops (wood), barrel.

• Laths.

• Leather, except fi nished.

• Livestock.

• Lumber, sawed.

• Metal bars, except concrete reinforcement bars; 

billets; blocks; blooms; ingots; pigs; plates; sheets, 
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 15

except galvanized sheets; shafting, slabs, and metal 

in similar forms.

• Mica not further manufactured than cut or 

stamped to dimensions, shape or form.

• Monuments.

• Nails, spikes, and staples.

• Natural products, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, 

berries, and live or dead animals, fi sh, and birds, 

all the foregoing which are in their natural state 

or not advanced in any manner further than is 

necessary for their safe transportation.

• Nets, bottle, wire.

• Paper, newsprint.

• Paper, stencil.

• Paper, stock.

• Parchment and vellum.

• Parts for machines imported from some country 

as parts.

• Pickets (wood).

• Pins, tuning.

• Plants, shrubs and other nursery stock.

• Plugs, tie.

• Poles, bamboo.

• Posts (wood), fence.

• Pulpwood.

• Rags (including wiping rags).
16 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

• Rails, joint bars, and tie plates covered by subheadings 7302.10.10 through 7302.90.00, Harmonized 

Tariff Schedule of the United States.

• Ribbon.

• Rivets.

• Rope, including wire rope; cordage; cords; twines, 

threads, and yarns.

• Scrap and waste.

• Screws.

• Shims, track.

• Shingles (wood) bundles of—except bundles of 

red cedar shingles.

• Skins, fur, dressed or dyed.

• Skins, raw fur.

• Sponges.

• Springs, watch.

• Stamps, postage and revenue, and other articles covered in subheadings 9704.00.00 and 

4807.00.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States.

• Staves (wood), barrel.

• Steel, hoop.

• Sugar, maple.

• Ties (wood), railroad.

• Tiles, not over one inch in greatest dimension.

• Timbers, sawed.

• Tips, penholder.
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 17

• Trees, Christmas.

• Weights, analytical and precision, in sets.

• Wicking, candle.

• Wire, except barbed.

Are there other articles not required to be marked with the country 

of origin?

Yes, the following: 

1. Articles valued at not more than $200 that are passed 

without the fi ling of a customs entry.

2. Articles brought into a foreign trade zone or a bonded 

warehouse for immediate exportation or for transportation and exportation.

3. Products of American fi sheries which are free of 

duty.

4. Products of possessions of the United States.

5. Products of the United States exported and 

returned.

6. Bona fi de gifts from persons in foreign countries, 

provided the aggregate value of articles received by 

one person on one day and exempted from the payment of duty should not exceed $100 retail value.

7. Goods of a NAFTA country that are original works of 

art.

8. Ceramic bricks; diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices; photosensitive semiconductor 

devices, electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies that are goods of a NAFTA country.

9. Certain coffee and tea products.

10. Certain spice products.

11. Silk scarves and silk fabric.
18 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

When an article is not required to be marked with the country of 

origin, does the immediate container have to be marked?

Yes, unless that article is excepted from marking under 

clause (F), (G), or (H) indicated above, or the article is 

specifi cally not subject to the statutory marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304.
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 19

Repacked Articles

Are articles that are to be repacked in the United States subject to the 

marking requirements of 19 U.S.C. 1304?

Yes, unless the repacker is the ultimate purchaser.

What are the obligations of an importer concerning the marking of 

repacked goods?

If an article is intended to be repacked in new containers for sale to an ultimate purchaser after its release 

from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the 

importer must certify that if he does the repacking, he 

shall not obscure or conceal the country of origin marking, or that the new container will be properly marked. 

If the article is intended to be sold or transferred to a 

subsequent purchaser or repacker, the importer must 

certify that he/she will notify the subsequent purchaser 

or repacker (in writing) of the marking requirements.

Failure to comply with the certifi cation requirements 

may subject the importer to additional duty and penalties.
20 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Sanctions for Not 

Marking

Marking duties

Articles that are not marked with the English name of 

their country of origin at the time of their importation 

into the United States shall be subject to additional duties 

unless properly marked, exported, or destroyed under 

CBP supervision prior to liquidation of the entry.

Criminal penalties for removal of markings

Any person who removes, destroys, alters, covers, or 

obliterates with the intent of concealing the country of 

origin marking on an imported article could be subject 

to prosecution and criminal penalties.
Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports 21

Additional Information

Where can I get additional information on marking of country of origin?

Additional information can be received from the U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection Special Classifi cation & 

Marking Branch, Offi ce of Regulations and Rulings at 

202.572.8810.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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