Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings Aug. 15

August 17, 2023 by Ben Perkins|Customs Rulings

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 15 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

H306340: Eligibility for DR-CAFTA of Automotive Starters and Alternators Removed from Used Automobiles in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica

Ruling: Alternators, starters, and other used automobile parts recovered from used vehicles, without further remanufacture are not considered originating goods pursuant to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).

Issue: Are the imported automotive alternators and starters removed from used vehicles in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica considered as originating goods pursuant to DR-CAFTA?

Items: Alternators and starters obtained from salvage and scrap facilities located in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. These parts will be removed from either operational or end-of-life passenger vehicles by private parties in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The importer will likely be unable to determine the original country of origin of the vehicles or the parts.

Reason: In the case of waste and scrap, what is recovered must be fit only for the recovery of raw materials which is not the situation when automotive parts are sold to retail customers and possibly refurbished. The argument that the parts undergo the requisite tariff shift would make the recovered and remanufactured goods provision, limited to goods classified in certain subheadings, superfluous and meaningless. For disassembly to be considered "production" under DR-CAFTA, there must be a complete dismantlement of the good under consideration, not simply a removal of some of its parts as is the case here. The agreement doesn't contemplate a tariff shift rule to constitute a mechanism for a good to become originating solely via recovery/disassembly from another good.

Ruling Date: Aug. 3, 2023