You asked for a brief summary of federal law requiring imported goods to be marked with their country of origin.

SUMMARY

Federal law generally requires imported articles or their containers to be marked with the article’s country of origin. The law requires the label to be conspicuous and to state the country’s name in English.

FEDERAL STATUTE

Federal law requires each imported article to state conspicuously its country of origin in English. The marking must be legible, indelible, and permanent. The law allows the treasury secretary to adopt implementing regulations on acceptable ways to mark goods and exempting certain types of articles (19 USCA § 1304).

One exemption is for articles packed in containers that reasonably indicate the country of origin. Federal statutes require the containers of these exempt articles to be labeled in a way that informs the consumer of the article’s country of origin.

FEDERAL REGULATIONS

The treasury secretary’s implementing regulations, among other things, require the marking to include the full name, in English, of the country of origin unless another marking is approved by the Commissioner of Customs. They include rules for marking goods (such as a fabric) that is combined with other goods after it is imported but before it is sold to an ultimate consumer (19 CFR Part 134).

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