Country of origin marking comes from Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, codified at 19 U.S.C. 1304, and the operating manual is 19 CFR Part 134. The rule is that every article of foreign origin imported into the United States must be marked, as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article permits, in a conspicuous place, in a way that tells the ultimate purchaser the English name of the country of origin. Four tests ride on every mark, and missing any one of them can fail the shipment even when the country is correct. Conspicuous: the ultimate purchaser must be able to find the mark without searching or taking the product apart. Legible: readable to the naked eye during normal handling. Indelible and permanent: it must survive normal handling all the way to the ultimate purchaser. And the English name of the country of origin: the country, in English, correctly determined. If goods arrive unmarked or mismarked, CBP can hold them until they are re-marked under supervision, and assess a marking duty of 10 percent ad valorem under 19 U.S.C. 1304(i), a duty that accrued at the time of importation and cannot be remitted.
The ultimate purchaser decides who the mark is for
The ultimate purchaser, defined at 19 CFR 134.1, is generally the last person in the United States who receives the article in the form in which it was imported. If you import finished goods for consumers, your customer is the ultimate purchaser and the mark must reach them. If you substantially transform imported components into a new US product, you are the ultimate purchaser, and generally the container the parts arrive in needs the mark, not each part. The distinction decides where the mark goes, and getting it wrong means marking the wrong thing for the wrong person.
The common failure is marking the outer carton and nothing else. A mark on a box that gets discarded before the product reaches the buyer fails the conspicuous and permanence tests at once, because the ultimate purchaser never sees it. A mark hidden under a battery cover, inside a fold, or on a box that gets discarded fails the same way. A tiny stamp hidden under a flap or covered by a price sticker does not satisfy the requirement. The mark has to survive until the product reaches the final buyer, and it has to be where the buyer will find it without searching.
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The four tests, applied to real products
Conspicuous fails when the mark is where a purchaser would not reasonably look. Legible fails when the type is too small, low-contrast, or worn off in transit. Indelible and permanent fails when an adhesive sticker falls off, ink rubs away, or the mark is on a container that never reaches the buyer. The English name test fails on ambiguous abbreviations, foreign-language names, or the wrong origin because someone misjudged where the goods were actually made. Acceptable methods include stamping, printing, branding, stenciling, molding into the product, and attaching a label or tag, and the method must be durable enough to survive distribution.
The country itself has to be correctly determined, which is where substantial transformation comes in. For US customs purposes, the country of origin is the country where the article was manufactured, produced, or grown, and if the article was further worked in a second country, origin moves to that second country only if the work there substantially transformed it, under 19 CFR 134.1(b). This is the non-preferential origin rule, the one used for marking and for most country-specific duties, and it is different from the preferential rules used for free trade agreements. A mark that names the assembly country when the transformation did not occur there is the wrong country, and the mark fails.
What happens when CBP finds an unmarked shipment
Under 19 CFR 134.51, the Center director notifies the importer on Customs Form 4647, or its electronic equivalent, to arrange proper marking. CBP can issue a Notice to Mark and a Notice to Redeliver on the same form, demand the goods back into custody, and assess the marking duty of 10 percent ad valorem. Repeated or intentional violations can also draw civil penalties under 19 U.S.C. 1592. The marking duty cannot be remitted, which means it is a cost of the failure, not a deposit against a later correction.
The fix is procedural and cheap: a marking check in the pre-shipment inspection, with a photograph of the mark on the article itself, not on the carton. The photograph is the record, and it is the evidence that the mark was conspicuous, legible, permanent, and in English before the goods shipped. A supplier who cannot produce the photograph has not done the check, and the importer who does not ask for it will discover the failure at the port, where the options are re-marking under supervision or paying the duty.
Frequently asked questions
What does 19 U.S.C. 1304 require?
Every article of foreign origin imported into the United States must be marked in a conspicuous place, as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article permits, in a way that tells the ultimate purchaser the English name of the country of origin.
Who is the ultimate purchaser?
Generally the last person in the United States who receives the article in the form in which it was imported. If a US manufacturer substantially transforms imported components into a new product, that manufacturer is the ultimate purchaser, and the container the parts arrive in needs the mark.
What is the penalty for unmarked goods?
CBP can hold the goods until they are re-marked under supervision and assess a marking duty of 10 percent ad valorem under 19 U.S.C. 1304(i), a duty that cannot be remitted. Repeated or intentional violations can draw civil penalties under 19 U.S.C. 1592.
Does marking on the outer carton satisfy the rule?
No, not if the carton is discarded before the product reaches the ultimate purchaser. The mark must be on the article itself, or on its immediate container where the article is too small to mark, and it must survive normal handling until the buyer receives it.