CBP Issues Procurement Determination on Certain Overhead Patient Lift Units
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final determination (HQ H100055) that Sweden is the country of origin for certain lift units for an overhead patient lift system for U.S. government procurement purposes.
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The final determination was issued at the request of Hill-Rom Company, Inc.
(CBP issues country of origin advisory rulings and final determinations on whether an article is or would be a product of a designated country or instrumentality for the purpose of granting waivers of certain ‘‘Buy American’’ restrictions in U.S. law or practice for products offered for sale to the U.S. government.)
Lift Units Designed & Assembled in Sweden Using Foreign and Swedish Parts
The lift unit was designed, developed and engineered in Sweden. It incorporates approximately 100 components imported from non-Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA1) countries, except for the motor, which is imported from a TAA country and the infrared remote control, which is made in Sweden.
At the manufacturing facility in Sweden, teams of employees assemble the lift unit in a four segment process and perform a 25-step final functional test under specified conditions. The employees manufacturing the lift unit have mechanical knowledge and skill related to their work gained from technical secondary education, product specific training, and certified final functional test training.
CBP Finds Substantial Transformation Occurs in Sweden
CBP finds these manufacturing and testing operations in Sweden to be sufficiently complex and meaningful, in that individual components’ names, uses and identities are lost and are transformed in Sweden into the lift unit. Therefore, the country of origin of the lift unit is Sweden.
In addition, CBP finds that the detachable hand control and battery charger are substantially transformed when attached to the lift unit. Consequently, if they are imported from Sweden packaged together with the lift unit, their country of origin for purposes of U.S. government procurement will be Sweden.
Any Party-at-Interest May Request Judicial Review by July 6, 2010
CBP states that any party-at-interest, as defined in 19 CFR 177.22(d), may seek judicial review of this final determination by July 6, 2010. In addition, under 19 CFR 177.31, any party-at-interest other than the party which requested this final determination may request that CBP reexamine the matter anew and issue a new final determination.
1In general, the TAA requires that products from designated countries be treated the same as U.S.-made products for government procurement purposes.
CBP contact -- Heather Pinnock (202) 325-0034