Last Thing

Three posts in one night! I am trying to make up with you.

I don't have the details on this because the ruling seems to be unpublished as of today. But, I know I read a summary in the Customs Record. Look for H019364. The issue is whether the toys put inside boxes of cereal have to have their country of origin marked on them. For some reason, I was surprised to discover that they do. A similar older ruling is HQ 733839 (Jan. 31, 1991).

Marking is a funny thing. The purpose of it is to alert consumers to the origin of the product so that consumers can decide whether or not to buy it. It is kind of like government supported private discrimination. I guess since it is perceived to favor Americans, that is an OK policy.

What if consumers really don't care? It seems to me that my anecdotal experience indicates that consumers don't. I realize that is an old debate that I will not settle here.

The thing that struck me about the toy in the cereal box is that the consumer not only doesn't care, but likely would not change his or her purchase on the basis of the origin of the toy. If Jr. wants Lucky Charms, he will get Lucky Charms whether the magic shamrock decoder ring is from China or . . . who are we kidding, its from China. If Mom and Dad want to find a $0.05 magic shamrock decoder ring made in the U.S., have at it.

There, though, is a new wrinkle to this: product safety. I wonder whether parents who are more careful than me would have a greater level of safety fear over a Chinese versus American $0.05 piece of plastic. I'm letting the kid eat tiny, hard, fluorescent marshmallows for breakfast. Clearly, I am not the proper role model.

Comments

Larry said…
Just to clarify, I think the ruling actually said that the marking needs to be on the box of cereal.
Apr 19, 2009, 8:22:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CAFC Decision in Double Invoicing Case

The Federal Circuit has issued a decision on the merits in United States v. Inn Foods, Inc.  There had been a previous decision on jurisdiction, which was followed by a trial at the Court of International Trade and then this appeal on the substance. The initial issue is whether Inn Foods' invoicing practice amounts to fraud.  Inn Foods had been receiving an invoice from growers in Mexico that had a relatively low sales prices on it.  Subsequent to entry, Inn Foods created a second invoice at something more similar to market value, retaining the original invoice number, and paid at that higher amount.   Superficially, this looks like a standard-issue double-invoicing scheme.  But, in the age of reconciliation, is it really more like a provisional pricing mechanism?  It might have been possible to make that argument had Inn Foods adjusted its entries accordingly.  It didn't and the loss of revenue was approximately $624,000.  Based on testimony and evidence indicating both knowl
Read more

Ninestar and UFLPA Exhaustion

Image
Exhaustion is a key doctrine in administrative law. When applicable, it requires that a party unhappy with an agency’s determination complete the administrative appeal process before turning to the courts for judicial review. Requiring exhaustion typically promotes judicial efficiency by ensuring that disputes are resolved at the agency and, if they are not, that there is a complete record of the agency process. Exhaustion also ensures that the judiciary respects the executive agencies and their expertise.  There are, on the other hand, times when the courts will find that exhaustion is not necessary or appropriate. Such is the case in  Ninestar Corporation et al. v. United States  et al., a decision of the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Ninestar is also interesting because it is one of the first cases in the CIT involving the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, known as UFLPA. In my hiatus from active blogging, I missed the rise of UFLPA as a major compliance topic. So, let's
Read more

Precious Tritium

Image
One thing I have learned as a customs lawyer who does a lot of classification work is that there are millions of odd items moving in international trade the existence of which I am completely ignorant. Such is the case of the gaseous tritium light sources used in, among other things, firearm sights. These things use tritium sealed in a glass that has been coated in phosphor. The radioactive tritium decays, releasing beta particles, which interact with the phosphor causing it to emit light. In other words, it creates light with no external power source. Pretty cool.  Tritium is, of course, a real thing. It is an isotope of hydrogen. We know this from the excellent documentary "Spider-Man." This comes up in relation to the Court of International Trade decision in Trijicon, Inc. v. United States  in which the importer challenged the tariff classification of several versions of the gaseous tritium light sources ("GTLS"). The plaintiff uses them to make gun sights. The
Read more