The country of origin of NFC sour cherry juice from Serbia

N307426 December 3, 2019 CLA-2-20: OT: RR: NC: N2:232 CATEGORY: Marking, Origin R. Kevin Williams Clark Hill, PLC 130 East Randolph Street Suite 3900 Chicago, IL 60601 RE: The country of origin of NFC sour cherry juice from Serbia Dear Mr. Williams: In your letter dated November 4, 2019, on behalf of your client, Rahal Foods, Inc., you requested a ruling on the country of origin and marking of NFC sour cherry juice. The subject merchandise is described as not from concentrate (NFC) sour cherry juice. The NFC sour cherry juice is made from sour cherries grown in Serbia. The ripe fruit is crushed into slurry in Serbia using a mash pump. The mash pump is specialized equipment designed to separate the fruit into soluble matter (juice) and insoluble matter (skin, pulp and stone). The resulting slurry is pumped by the mash pump into chiller tanks where it is then chilled to approximately 4 degrees C. At this stage of production, the chilled slurry is an unfiltered juice product, which is loaded into trucks and shipped to Austria. The final stage of production occurs in Austria and involves the filtration of the slurry to remove the insoluble elements. The NFC sour cherry juice is purchased by Rahal Foods and imported into the United States. 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), in pertinent part, 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.” 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 this instance, the question is whether the filtration process performed in Austria is a substantial transformation. In its condition when shipped from Serbia to Austria, the sour cherry slurry is unfiltered juice. The filtration process did not change the “fundamental character of the product” as it is still essentially the juice of sour cherries. In other words, a substantial transformation did not occur because the resulting product does not possess a new name, character or use. Thus, Serbia is the country of origin of the NFC sour cherry juice. The imported NFC sour cherry juice must be marked to state that the country of origin is Serbia. This merchandise is subject to The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (The Bioterrorism Act) which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Information on the Bioterrorism Act can be obtained by calling FDA at telephone number (301) 575-0156, or at the website www.fda.gov/oc/bioterrorism/bioact.html. 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 Frank Troise at [email protected]. Sincerely, Steven A. Mack Director National Commodity Specialist Division