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NY L89023

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December 8, 2005

MAR-2 RR:NC:SP:233 L89023

CATEGORY: MARKING

Mr. Arthur W. Bodek
Ms. Liza V. Schaeffer
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz,
Silverman & Klestadt LLP
399 Park Avenue, 25th Floor
New York, NY 10022-4877

RE: THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN MARKING OF IMITATION JEWELRY

Dear Mr. Bodek and Ms. Schaeffer:

This is in response to your letter dated November 23, 2005, on behalf of Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (“JAG”), requesting a ruling on whether the following scenario satisfies country of origin marking requirements.

A division of JAG is planning to distribute fashion accessory merchandise, such as jewelry, through “house party” home demonstration events called “Million Wishes parties.” Million Wishes is a division of JAG. These events will be organized by “Style Consultants”. A Style Consultant is an independent contractor who, pursuant to an arrangement with Million Wishes, markets the imported items through the house parties in return for which she is paid a commission on the sales made at these parties.

All of the goods are imported in a properly marked condition. The individual units that are to serve as display items for purposes of the house party home demonstrations are purchased outright by the Style Consultants. These items are delivered to the Style Consultant still in their properly marked condition. These display units remain the property of the Style Consultant and are not further distributed.

The Style Consultant will then look for a hostess who will provide her home as a venue for the Million Wishes parties. While the hostess may be rewarded with special offers or discounts on future items, she is not provided with the display items.

The Million Wishes parties are designed to introduce individual consumers to fashion accessory items in a casual atmosphere. Guests invited to the house parties will be given the opportunity to examine and handle a variety of articles and, if they desire, place orders with the Style Consultant for articles they wish to purchase. In order to facilitate the hands-on nature of these events, the Style Consultant will display certain articles at the parties – specifically, the jewelry items in this instance – unencumbered by labels, tags or packaging. Specifically, after receiving a properly marked sample that the Style Consultant will pay for and keep, she will remove the markings for purposes of display at the house party event.

All of the orders placed through the Style Consultant will be filled out of a JAG warehouse in the U.S. The goods will be shipped from such warehouse, by mail, directly to the individual consumers’ homes. The units shipped to the consumers will still be in their imported, properly marked condition (i.e., each item or its container will be shipped with its appropriate country of origin markings).

The marking statute, section 304, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the article.

As provided in section 134.41(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(b)), the country of origin marking is considered conspicuous if the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. is able to find the marking easily and read it without strain.

With regard to the permanency of a marking, section 134.41(a), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.41(a)), provides that as a general rule marking requirements are best met by marking worked into the article at the time of manufacture. For example, it is suggested that the country of origin on metal articles be die sunk, molded in, or etched. However, section 134.44, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 134.44), generally provides that any marking that is sufficiently permanent so that it will remain on the article until it reaches the ultimate purchaser unless deliberately removed is acceptable.

Noting Headquarters ruling letter 732082 dated 3/14/89, a prospective customer who is having his or her business solicited, may want to know the country of origin of the merchandise he or she is about to order. However the provisions of 19 U.S.C. 1304 do not require disclosure of this information. The statute only requires the merchandise actually imported be marked to indicate the country of origin to the ultimate purchaser.

Since the Million Wishes Style Consultant is the ultimate purchaser of the jewelry items and any items that are ordered will be received in their properly marked condition, all aspects of the marking regulations have been satisfied.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 177).

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Lawrence Mushinske at 646-733-3036.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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