Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of a Good for Purposes of Annex 311 of the North American Free Trade Agreement; Corrections

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

19 CFR Parts 10, 12, 102 and 134

[T.D. 96-48]

RIN 1515-AB34

Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of a Good for

Purposes of Annex 311 of the North American Free Trade Agreement;

Corrections

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Final rule; corrections.

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SUMMARY: This document makes corrections to the document published in

the Federal Register which set forth final amendments to the Customs

Regulations regarding the rules for determining when the country of

origin of a good is one of the parties to the North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA) as required by Annex 311 of the NAFTA.

EFFECTIVE DATE: These corrections are effective August 5, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandra L. Gethers, Office of

Regulations and Rulings (202-482-6980).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On June 6, 1996, Customs published in the Federal Register (61 FR

28932) as T.D. 96-48 a document which adopted as a final rule, with

some modifications, interim amendments to the Customs Regulations that

established the rules for determining when the country of origin of a

good is one of the parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) as required by Annex 311 of the NAFTA. Those final NAFTA

Marking Rules apply only to all goods imported from Canada or Mexico

other than textile and apparel products, and do not apply to trade with

other countries. The June 6, 1996, notice provided for an August 5,

1996, effective date for the final regulations. A document correcting

several errors in T.D. 96-48 was published in the Federal Register on

July 1, 1996 (61 FR 33845).

This document corrects two additional errors published in T.D. 96-

48.

One error involved the Discussion of Comments portion of the

document under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. Specifically, the public

comment discussion regarding the Sec. 102.20 tariff shift rule for

subheadings 8482.10-8482.80 (bearings) dealt with only one comment,

which was opposed to the proposed tariff shift rule. However, that

comment discussion failed to reflect that another comment, which was in

favor of the proposed rule, was also received by Customs. This document

corrects the comment discussion to more accurately reflect the totality

of public comments received on this matter.

The second error involved the table under Sec. 102.20 of the final

regulatory texts. Specifically, the entry for HTSUS 8540.71-8540.99

reflected a typographical error in that the reference ``8540.99''

should have read ``8540.89'' in the ``HTSUS'' column and in the

corresponding ``Tariff shift and/or other requirements'' column. This

document sets forth the HTSUS entry in its entirety to correct this

typographical error.

Corrections of Publication

Accordingly, the document published in the Federal Register as T.D.

96-48 on June 6, 1996 (61 FR 28932) is corrected as set forth below.

Correction to the Discussion of Comments Section

On page 28949, in the third column, the paragraphs under the

heading Subheadings 8482.10-8482.80 (Bearings) are corrected to read as

follows:

Comments: The Sec. 102.20 rule set forth in the May 5, 1995, notice

of proposed rulemaking for subheadings 8482.10 through 8482.80 provides

as follows:

A change to subheading 8482.10 through 8482.80 from any other

heading; or

A change to subheading 8482.10 through 8482.80 from any other

subheading, including another subheading within that group, except from

inner or outer races or rings of subheading 8482.99.

Two comments were received on the proposed rule. The first

commentor claimed that the processes of grinding, polishing and heat

treating of rings and races should confer origin. The second commenter

strongly supported the Customs proposal and provided arguments

supporting its position that unfinished races or rings, which have the

essential characteristics of the finished components, should determine

the country of origin of the bearings, whether or not additional heat

treatment or other finishing operations are performed on the races or

rings.

Customs response: Customs agrees with the second commenter. It

remains the position of Customs that the operations described by the

first commenter are merely finishing operations which do not confer

origin. None of these operations changes the essential character of the

article which is processed. The name, character and use of the article

remain the same after these operations are performed. See National Hand

Tool Corp. v. United States, supra, wherein the court held that

operations such as grinding, polishing and heat treating are merely

finishing operations which do not constitute a substantial

transformation. Therefore, the revision of the Sec. 102.20 rule for

these goods should be adopted as proposed.

Correction to the Final Regulations

At the bottom of page 28975, the entry for HTSUS 8540.71-8540.99 is

corrected to read as follows:

8540.71-8540.89--A change to subheading 8540.71 through 8540.89 from

any other subheading, including another subheading within that group.

Dated: August 6, 1996.

Stuart P. Seidel,

Assistant Commissioner, Office of Regulations and Rulings.

[FR Doc. 96-20398 Filed 8-9-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4820-02-P