Brake Parts Don't Require Country of Origin Marking, CBP Says

Imported car braking system components aren't required to be individually marked with the country of origin even though the vehicle owner is considered the "ultimate purchaser," CBP said in a March 5 ruling for Celerity Systems North America. CBP said in HQ H290366 that marking on the packaging is sufficient to meet the marking requirements. CBP regulations allow for an exemption on "articles for which the marking of the containers will reasonably indicate the origin of the articles."

The parts at issue include brake pads, disk rotors, brake shoes, slack adjusters and brake linings from either the United Kingdom, Turkey or China. "The auto parts remain inside the container until they are removed by the auto parts store or automotive repair facilities for installation of the part into the retail consumer’s automobile," CBP said. The marking rules are meant to allow the "ultimate purchaser" to know the country of origin for imported goods and CBP typically considers that purchaser to be the last person in the U.S. that "will receive the article in the form in which it was imported," CBP said.

The question of who is the "ultimate purchaser" is "often difficult to apply in the context of replacement automotive and appliance parts since the retail consuming public is typically purchasing both an installation service and a product," CBP said. As a result, "the ultimate purchaser is sometimes not the retail consuming public since the part is often not visible to the consumer once it is installed inside the vehicle or appliance and therefore typically does not reach the consumer in its exact condition as imported," the agency said. For cases "where manufacturing and substantial transformation were not at issue, CBP has held that an automotive part is excepted from marking," the agency said.

Here, "the vehicle owner constitutes the ultimate purchaser" and can ask to see the box with country of origin information, CBP said. "The parts remain inside the container until the parts are installed; and thus are not visible to the public until after installation, if at all." Therefore, "the subject brakes parts which are packaged inside the individual containers are excepted from individual marking by the exception," the agency said.