Country of Origin Marking is the requirement under the Marking Statute (19 U.S.C. § 1304) that every imported article be marked, in a conspicuous place, as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article permits, with the English name of its country of origin, so as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser the country in which the article was manufactured.
Implementation is in 19 CFR Part 134. Key principles:
- Conspicuous — visible without disassembly, in a location a purchaser would normally examine
- Legible — readable without strain
- Indelible and permanent — survives normal handling, the import process, and reasonable consumer use
- In English — supplemental foreign-language marking is permitted but English is required
The "ultimate purchaser" is the last U.S. person who receives the article in its imported form. For most consumer products, that is the retail consumer. For industrial parts, it may be the U.S. manufacturer who incorporates them into a larger article.
J-list exceptions (19 CFR § 134.33) — certain articles are exempt from individual marking (e.g., articles that cannot be marked without injury, articles whose marking would be obliterated in U.S. processing, eggs, livestock, screws, paint sticks). The exempt list is published in the regulation.
Marking duty — if imported goods are not legally marked at entry, CBP imposes a 10% ad valorem marking duty under § 1304(i), in addition to any regular duties, unless the goods are exported, destroyed, or properly marked under CBP supervision.
For substantially transformed goods, marking shows the country of last substantial transformation. For USMCA goods, special tariff-shift-based marking rules in 19 CFR Part 102 apply.