Question Presented:
I understand that unless there is a legal exception, all products imported into the U.S. must be marked with the name of the country of origin. However, is it acceptable to abbreviate the country name, and if so, what abbreviations are acceptable?
Response:
You are correct. Unless there is a legal exception, every product imported into the U.S. must be marked with its country of origin. Before addressing your specific question on the use of abbreviations, you may be interested to know that when enacting the marking statute Congress intended that product origin information be available to the public. It was believed that by knowing where a product was made, a purchaser might be influenced to buy, or refuse to buy, a particular product.
With that intent in mind, it is not surprising that when addressing the issue of abbreviations, the CBP regulations state in part "abbreviations which unmistakably indicate the name of a country, such as 'Gt. Britain' for 'Great Britain' or 'Luxemb' and 'Luxembg' for 'Luxembourg' are acceptable." That regulation, which can be reviewed at 19 C.F.R. § 134.45(b), goes on to say that "variant spellings which clearly indicate the English name of the country of origin, such as 'Brasil' for 'Brazil' and 'Italie' for 'Italy,' are acceptable." Consequently, the answer to the first part of your question is yes abbreviations may be used.
Determining which abbreviations may be used becomes a bit more problematic as the regulations do not provide a complete listing of acceptable abbreviations. Moreover, while CBP has issued numerous rulings on the acceptability of abbreviations, there are very few abbreviations that CBP has approved. In fact, CBP has said that in their view "most abbreviations do not 'unmistakably' identify the country of origin and are therefore unacceptable." Ruling HQ 561543 (Aug. 21, 2000).
Based on a sampling of CBP rulings, the following abbreviations were held to be acceptable: (1) "China" for The Peoples Republic of China; (2) "U.K." for United Kingdom; and (3)"Austrlia" for Australia (however, this was limited to product held to be too small to accommodate use of the full country name - See Ruling HQ 562240 (Feb. 4, 2002).
An abbreviation that does not clearly convey the country of origin to the extent that the ultimate purchaser would be certain of where the product is made is not acceptable. Some of the abbreviations that CBP has rejected include: (1) country codes, such as DE for Germany or SG for Singapore; the words "Dom Rep" for the Dominican Republic"; "Arg" or "Argtin" for Argentina; "Hun" or "Hung" for Hungary; "H.K." for Hong Kong; "Mex" for Mexico; "Can" for Canada; "Vzla" or "Venzla" for Venezuela; and "U.A.E." for the United Arab Emirates.
While a few limited abbreviations have been approved by CBP, most have not. Consequently, the full country name should be used for marking purposes unless a specific abbreviation has previously been approved by CBP. Alternatively, if the product you are importing is not large enough to accommodate use of the full country name, the best course of action would be to obtain a ruling from CBP with respect to an abbreviation you wish to use. In addition, for product that is not large enough to accommodate the full country name, you might seek a marking waiver from CBP requesting that the country of origin marking be permitted to appear only on the product's immediate container that will reach the ultimate purchaser.
Ms. Dawley is a partner in the law firm of Meeks, Sheppard, Leo & Pillsbury. The firm, which specializes in representing clients on customs and related international trade issues, has offices in New York, Connecticut, and Newport Beach, CA.
She can be reached at (203) 256-1401 and
Barbara.Dawley@mscustoms.com.
For further information please visit www.mscustoms.com.
Disclaimer: Information provided is a general summary of fact-specific issues and does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship. Before you act on any information provided, you should seek professional advice regarding its application to your specific circumstances.
