1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20229  AUG 11 2014 OT:RR:CTF:ER H243818 PTM ENT 1 Mr. Peter Quinter Gray Robinson, Attorneys at Law 1221 Brickell Ave., Suite 1600 Miami, FL 33131 Dear Mr. Quinter, U.S. Customs and Border Protection We are writing in response to your July 1, 2013, request for a prospective ruling on behalf your client, Novica United, Inc. ("Novica") from U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP"). We regret the delay in our response. FACTS: Novica works with a network of overseas artists and craftsmen and promotes the sale of their merchandise online. The majority of the items offered by Novica are priced at less than $2,500. Novica receives orders from customers in the United States via the internet, and then purchases the products from an overseas shipper that acquires the products from the individual artisans. At regularly scheduled intervals, the overseas shipper sends a bulk shipment comprised of the individual customer orders that is consigned to Novica. The overseas shipper pre-labels the individual packages with domestic U.S. shipping labels. Depending on customer preference, the domestic shipment may be sent via U.S. Postal Service ("USPS") Priority Mail, or UPS Ground Service. The shipment will typically be sent via an express consignment carrier such as UPS or FedEx, and arrive through an express-consignment carrier facility ("ECCF"). The shipment will be entered as cargo, with Novica listed as the importer of record on the entry documents and shown as the ultimate consignee on the manifest. A third-party warehouse contracted by Novica takes delivery of the consolidated shipment at one of three regional centers. The third-party warehouse counts the inner packages and inspects the condition of the merchandise. The third-party warehouse then transfers the packages to the USPS or UPS to be delivered to the end customer. Transfer of title to the merchandise passes from Novica to the purchaser only upon final delivery. You request confirmation that the importation described is eligible for entry through an ECCF using an express consignment carrier such as UPS. Furthermore, you request confirmation that the importation described will not be treated as remail by CBP. Additionally, you query whether Novica is the sole ultimate consignee on one manifest, or whether the individual packages must be manifested with each end customer manifested as the ultimate consignee.  ISSUES: Whether it is permissible to enter a consolidated shipment of individual packages, pre­ labeled for delivery within the United States, through an express consignment carrier facility. Whether Novica is the ultimate consignee for entry purposes. LAW AND ANALYSIS: Part 128 of the CBP regulations addresses importations made via express consignment operators. An express consignment operator is an entity operating in any mode or intermodally moving cargo by special express commercial service under closely integrated administrative control. See 19 C.F.R. §128.l(a). Its services are offered on a door-to-door basis. Id. The term "closely integrated administrative control" means operations must be sufficiently integrated at both ends of the service (i.e. pick up and delivery) so that the express consignment company can exercise a high degree of control over the shipments. See 19 C.F.R. §128.1(f). Informal entry procedures may generally be used for shipments not exceeding $2,500 in value which are imported by express consignment operators and carriers. Individual shipments valued at $2500 or less may be consolidated on one entry. See 19 C.F.R. §128.24(a). We described the consolidated entry of merchandise through an ECCF in a previous ruling, HQ Hl 14420 (Aug. 26, 1998). In that ruling, we stated that "[t]his ruling details the entry procedures used by express consignment operators to highlight the fact that the procedures were set up to accommodate and to encourage consolidated entries." You state that the consolidated shipments of individual packages are to be cleared through the ECCF with Novica listed as the importer of record. The shipments will be consigned to Novica and delivered to its warehouse. At the warehouse, the individual packages are counted and inspected. It is only after this inspection at the warehouse that the individual packages are tendered to the USPS or UPS for delivery to the end customer. The express consignment carrier can maintain closely integrated administrative control of the consolidated shipment until its delivery to Novica at its warehouse, as required by 19 C.F.R. §128.l(a). Furthermore, because the value of the individual shipments will typically be $2500 or less, it is permissible to consolidate them under one entry pursuant to 19 C.F.R. §128.24(a). Consequently, it is permissible for Novica to enter the consolidated shipments via an ECCF via the procedures set forth in 19 C.F.R. Part 128. You next inquire whether Novica is the ultimate consignee for the shipment, or whether the individual packages comprising the shipment need to be manifested separately. The entry manifest requirements for express consignments are set forth in 19 C.F.R. §128.21. That regulation states, in relevant part:  § 128.21 Manifest requirements. Additional information. Express consignment operators and carriers shall provide the following manifest information in advance of the arrival of all cargo, including all articles for which an entry is not required as noted in§ 128.23 (which shall be listed separately and their entry status noted), in addition to the information and documents otherwise required by this chapter: Country of origin of the merchandise. Shipper name, address and country. Ultimate consignee name and address. * * * (emphasis added). CBP issued CBP Directive 3550-079A to provide guidance as to which party should be identified as the ultimate consignee. It states that "[t]he Ultimate Consignee at the time of entry or release is defined as the party in the United States, to whom the overseas shipper sold the imported merchandise." See CBP Directive 3550-079A (June 2003) §6.3. The directive provides illustrative examples that further clarify what party should be listed as the ultimate consignee in specific situations. Example 8.1 provides: In instances when a U.S. Company places a consolidated order with an overseas shipper to fill orders placed by the U.S. Company's individual customers (i.e., direct sales/just-in-time inventory), the Ultimate Consignee for Customs purposes is the U.S. Company regardless of whether the imported merchandise will be sent to a distribution center owned by the U.S. Company or sent directly to the individual customers. This is because the U.S. Company is the party who purchased the imported merchandise from the overseas shipper. The example shown in Directive 3550-079A is identical to the one described in your request. The shipment is a consolidated order consigned to Novica to fill orders placed by Novica's individual customers. Furthermore, Novica purchases the merchandise from the overseas shipper, and title to the merchandise does not pass to the customer until its delivery to the end customer. Therefore, Novica is the proper party to be shown as the ultimate consignee on the manifest, as required by 19 C.F.R. § 128.21. You request confirmation that the shipment should not be considered remail by CBP. A legacy U.S. Customs Service Information Bulletin describes the process of remailing as "courier companies who wish to have express consignment shipments examined and released by the Customs Service at an Express Consignment Carrier Facility and then simply using regular U.S. first class domestic mail or U.S. Express Mail for delivery to the ultimate consignee." See U.S. Customs Service Information Bulletin No. 93-92, "Remail of Express Consignment Shipments" (Oct. 15, 1993) (herein the "Remail Bulletin"). The Remail Bulletin explains that "[r]emailing does not warrant expedited clearance through an ECCF as express consignment carriers are not, in this instance, providing a "door-to-door" service under Customs 'closely integrated administrative control' within the meaning of 19 CFR 128.1." Id. Consequently, the streamlined entry process afforded to express consignment carriers pursuant to 19 C.F.R. Part 128 does not apply to remail, as the express consignment carrier is simply clearing the merchandise through the ECCF and then transferring the mail to the USPS for delivery to the ultimate consignee, rather than providing closely integrated administrative control of the merchandise on a door to door basis as required by 19 C.F.R. §128.l(a). When CBP discovers remail, it requires conventional entry as general cargo, rather than through express consignment procedures. In the transaction described, although the individual packages are pre-labeled for shipment to individual customers, the shipment is not consigned directly to the USPS for shipment to the customer in contravention of 19 C.F.R. §128.l(a), as described in the Remail Bulletin. Rather, it is consigned to the importer of record, Novica, at its warehouse. Consequently, the transaction you describe does not fall under the definition ofremail set forth in the Remail Bulletin. HOLDING: It is permissible for Novica to enter consolidated shipments of goods consigned to its warehouse via an express consignment carrier facility. Novica is the proper party to be shown as the ultimate consignee on the manifest. Please note that 19 C.F.R. § 177.9(b)(l) provides that "[e]ach ruling letter is issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in connection with the ruling request and incorporated in the ruling letter, either directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect. The application of a ruling letter by a Customs Service field office to the transaction to which it is purported to relate is subject to the verification of the facts incorporated in the ruling letter, a comparison of the transaction described therein to the actual transaction, and the satisfaction of any conditions on which the ruling was based." Sincerely, yles B. Harmon, Director Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division