Four Things Importers Get Wrong About Country of Origin Marking
Four Things Importers Get Wrong About Country of Origin Marking
What happens if the marking is wrong? Not what ought to happen — what actually happens, at the port, to a container of correctly classified and fully duty-paid goods.
The answer is a ten per cent marking duty under 19 U.S.C. 1304, plus a re-marking or re-delivery notice, and it applies to goods that were otherwise entirely compliant. Four beliefs lead importers there.
The requirement, and where it applies
Where | Requirement | Common error |
The article itself | Marked conspicuously, legibly and permanently, per 19 CFR 134.41 | A label that can be peeled off, or print too small to read on the shelf |
The container the article reaches the purchaser in | Also marked, per 19 CFR 134.22 | Master carton unmarked because the inner product is marked |
Where a U.S. place name also appears | The origin must appear close to it and in comparable size, per 19 CFR 134.46 | A U.S. address printed larger than the origin statement |
Goods on the J-List, 19 CFR 134.33 | Marking must reach the ultimate purchaser in the same form as imported | Assuming the general rule applies to a listed article |
What a wrong marking costs
Situation | Consequence |
Goods arrive unmarked | Marking duty of ten per cent ad valorem, plus a marking notice |
Goods marked but not conspicuously or permanently | Treated as unmarked; same duty plus re-marking under CBP supervision |
Marking notice issued and not satisfied | Goods excluded, or re-delivery demanded after release |
Marking corrected under supervision before release | Duty still applies; the correction is not a cure |
The fourth row is the one that surprises people. Correcting the marking does not remove the duty, because the duty attaches on importation, not on the state of the goods afterwards.
1. "It says Made in China, so we are compliant"
The words are necessary and not sufficient. The standard under 19 CFR 134.41 is that the marking is conspicuous, legible and permanent enough to reach the ultimate purchaser in that condition.
The failure modes are physical rather than textual: print that wears off in handling, a label on packaging that is discarded at the store, or a mark hidden inside a carton the purchaser never opens.
The test to apply is simple and rarely applied: look at the article as a retail buyer would see it, after the outer packaging is gone.
2. "Assembly in China makes it Chinese origin"
For marking purposes the test is substantial transformation, which asks whether the processing produced a new and different article with a new name, character or use. Assembly is not automatically transformation.
The complication worth knowing is that the marking analysis and the tariff analysis are not always the same analysis. A product can be marked with one origin and classified with another, and that is not necessarily an error — but it is the kind of difference that needs to be explainable when asked.
Where the answer is genuinely uncertain, a marking ruling from CBP is available, and obtaining one before the first shipment is cheaper than defending a position after ten thousand units have been marked.
3. "The carton is marked, so the product does not need to be"
The general rule requires the article itself to be marked. The container rule under 19 CFR 134.22 is an additional requirement, not a substitute.
There are exceptions, including the J-List articles under 19 CFR 134.33 and specific exemptions, and they are narrower than most importers assume. Assuming an exception applies without checking whether the article is listed is the common error.
The cost of getting this wrong is not a correction. It is the marking duty, applied to the value of an entire shipment over a marking decision made by a supplier.
4. "This is the supplier's problem"
The marking is applied by the supplier and enforced against the importer of record. That gap is where the exposure lives.
A supplier who has never seen 19 CFR 134.41 will produce a mark that is legally present and practically inadequate: the right words, in the right country, in seven-point type under a flap.
The only reliable fix is specification. Give the supplier the size, the location, the method and a photograph of an accepted sample, and require a pre-production image of the actual marking.
1. Specify font size, location and method for the mark in the purchase order, not in an email after production.
2. Require the master carton to be marked as well as the article, and say so explicitly.
3. Check whether the article is on the J-List before assuming the general rule applies.
4. Photograph an actual production sample and keep it with the entry file for five years.
