The country of origin of a wireless charging pad

N305666 September 3, 2019 CLA-2-85:OT:RR:NC:N2:220 CATEGORY: Origin Jamie Deer Leedsworld, Inc. 400 Hunt Valley Road New Kensington, PA 15068 RE: The country of origin of a wireless charging pad Dear Ms. Deer: In your letter dated August 6, 2019 you requested a country of origin ruling. The merchandise under consideration is identified as the Umbra Qi Wireless Charging Pad, Part Number 7141-40, which is described as an inductive type charger for personal electronics. The Charging Pad is comprised of a plastic molded housing, a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), the charging coil, and a power cable. You state the power cable is manufactured in Vietnam while the housing, all of the components that make up the PCBA, and the charging coil are manufactured in China and are shipped to Vietnam for assembly. Based on the information supplied, the PCBA is assembled in Vietnam from a bare printed circuit board, integrated circuits, resistors, and capacitors by a surface mount soldering process to produce the PCBA. The PCBA, which functions to convert the input voltage and control the electrical charging of the device that is aligned with the charging coil, is then assembled into the plastic housing along with the electrical coil. The Charging pad is inspected and tested prior to ultrasonically welding the enclosure. 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. The “country of origin” is defined in 19 CFR 134.1(b) as “the country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation in order to render such other country the 'country of origin' within the meaning of this part; however, for a good of a NAFTA country, the NAFTA Marking Rules will determine the country of origin.” The test for determining whether a substantial transformation will occur is whether an article emerges from a process with a new name, character or use, different from that possessed by the article prior to processing. See Texas Instruments Inc. v. United States, 69 C.C.P.A. 151 (1982). This determination is based on the totality of the evidence. See National Hand Tool Corp. v. United States, 16 C.I.T. 308 (1992), aff’d, 989 F.2d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 1993). In our view, the assembly of the PCBA in Vietnam by soldering the individual Chinese components onto the bare board results in a substantial transformation of the components to produce a PCBA of Vietnamese origin. Furthermore, it is the opinion of this office the PCBA provides the essence of an electrical charging device because it is the article within the assembly that supplies the electricity to the coil, as well as the article that identifies whether or not a suitable personal electronic device is in proximity to the coils. As such, we find that the components that make up the Charging Pad are transformed in Vietnam into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, and use distinct from the article exported. Thus, the Charging Pad is considered a product of Vietnam for origin and marking purposes at time of importation into the United States. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 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 Karl Moosbrugger at [email protected]. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division