Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref. : EIC 111/2/11
EIC 111/3
CR EIC 111/1/25 

11 August 2020

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 623/2020

US : Requirement for Country of Origin Marking for Products of Hong Kong

The United States Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) posted a Federal Register (FR) notice on 11 August 2020 to announce that, in light of the US President's Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization of 14 July 2020, imported goods produced in Hong Kong may no longer be marked to indicate "Hong Kong" as their origin, but must be marked to indicate "China".  After the end of the transition period on 25 September 2020 (US time), goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption in the US must be marked according to this new requirement.

DETAILS

2.Section 304 of the US Tariff Act of 1930 as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the US shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the US the English name of the country of origin of the article. 

3.On 14 July 2020, the US President issued an Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization.  Among others, the President suspended the application of section 201(a) of the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, as amended, to certain statutes, including the marking statutes (section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended).

4.On 11 August 2020, the USCBP posted an FR notice to announce that, in light of the US President's Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization of 14 July 2020, imported goods produced in Hong Kong may no longer be marked to indicate "Hong Kong" as their origin, but must be marked to indicate "China".    Unless excepted from marking, goods produced in Hong Kong, which are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption into the United States after 25 September 2020, must be marked to indicate that their origin is ''China''.

5.For details of the USCBP announcement, please refer to the FR notice: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-08-11/pdf/2020-17599.pdf

6.Nothing of the above represents the position of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) nor our endorsement.  The HKSAR Government strongly objects to the latest measures announced by the US as set out in the above paragraphs.  The special status as a separate customs territory enjoyed by the HKSAR under "One Country, Two Systems" is conferred by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law.  They are recognised by multilateral organisations such as the World Trade Organization, but not granted or revocable by an individual country.  The US requirement for origin marking for products of Hong Kong is not in line with our special status.

7.The HKSAR Government is seeking further details of the FR notice in order to decide on the next steps, and would explain to the trade in a timely manner.

ENQUIRIES

8.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact Miss K Y HO at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Ivy TAM)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

Note: While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.