[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 19, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 19CFR152.102]

[Page 204-206]
 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
 
PART 152--CLASSIFICATION AND APPRAISEMENT OF MERCHANDISE--Table of Contents
 
                   Subpart E--Valuation of Merchandise
 
Sec. 152.102  Definitions.

    As used in this subpart, the following terms will have the meanings 
indicated:
    (a) Assist. (1) ``Assist'' means any of the following if supplied 
directly or indirectly, and free of charge or at reduced cost, by the 
buyer of imported merchandise for use in connection with the production 
or the sale for export to the United States of the merchandise:
    (i) Materials, components, parts, and similar items incorporated in 
the imported merchandise.
    (ii) Tools, dies, molds, and similar items used in the production of 
the imported merchandise.
    (iii) Merchandise consumed in the production of the imported 
merchandise.
    (iv) Engineering, development, artwork, design work, and plans and 
sketches that are undertaken elsewhere than in the United States and are 
necessary for the production of the imported merchandise.
    (2) No service or work to which paragraph (a)(1)(iv) of this section 
applies will be treated as an assist if the service or work:
    (i) Is performed by an individual domiciled within the United 
States;
    (ii) Is performed by that individual while acting as an employee or 
agent of the buyer of the imported merchandise; and
    (iii) Is incidental to other engineering, development, artwork, 
design work, or plans or sketches that are undertaken within the United 
States.
    (3) The following apply in determining the value of assists 
described in paragraph (a)(1)(iv) of this section:
    (i) The value of an assist that is available in the public domain is 
the cost of obtaining copies of the assist.
    (ii) If the production of an assist occurred in the United States 
and one or more foreign countries, the value of the assist is the value 
added outside the United States.
    (iii) If the assist was purchased or leased by the buyer from an 
unrelated

[[Page 205]]

person, the value of the assist is the cost of the purchase or of the 
lease.
    (b) Commission. ``Selling commission'' means any commission paid to 
the seller's agent, who is related to or controlled by, or works for or 
on behalf of, the manufacturer or the seller.
    (c) Generally accepted accounting principles. (1) ``Generally 
accepted accounting principles'' refers to any generally recognized 
consensus or substantial authoritative support regarding:
    (i) Which economic resources and obligations should be recorded as 
assets and liabilities;
    (ii) Which changes in assets and liabilities should be recorded;
    (iii) How the assets and liabilities and changes in them should be 
measured;
    (iv) What information should be disclosed and how it should be 
disclosed; and
    (v) Which financial statements should be prepared.
    (2) The applicability of a particular set of generally accepted 
accounting principles will depend upon the basis on which the value of 
the imported merchandise is sought to be established, and the relevant 
country for the point in contention.
    (3) Information submitted by an importer, buyer, or producer in 
regard to the appraisement of merchandise may not be rejected by Customs 
because of the accounting method by which that information was prepared, 
if the preparation was in accordance with generally accepted accounting 
principles.
    (d) Identical merchandise. ``Identical merchandise'' means 
merchandise identical in all respects to, and produced in the same 
country and by the same person as, the merchandise being appraised. If 
identical merchandise cannot be found (or for purposes of related buyer 
and seller transactions (see Sec. 152.103 (j)(2)(i)(A)) regardless of 
whether identical merchandise can be found), merchandise identical in 
all respects to, and produced in the same country as, but not produced 
by the same person as, the merchandise being appraised, may be treated 
as ``identical merchandise''. ``Identical merchandise'' does not include 
merchandise that incorporates or reflects any engineering, development, 
artwork, design work, or plan or sketch supplied free or at reduced cost 
by the buyer of the merchandise for use in connection with the 
production or sale for export to the United States of the merchandise, 
and is not an assist because undertaken within the United States.
    (e) Packing costs. ``Packing costs'' means the cost of all 
containers (exclusive of instruments of international traffic) and 
coverings of whatever nature and of packing, whether for labor or 
materials, used in placing merchandise in condition, packed ready for 
shipment to the United States.
    (f) Price actually paid or payable. ``Price actually paid or 
payable'' means the total payment (whether direct or indirect, and 
exclusive of any charges, costs, or expenses incurred for 
transportation, insurance, and related services incident to the 
international shipment of the merchandise from the country of 
exportation to the place of importation in the United States) made, or 
to be made, for imported merchandise by the buyer to, or for the benefit 
of, the seller.
    (g) Related persons. ``Related persons'' means: (1) Members of the 
same family, including brothers and sisters (whether by whole or half 
blood), spouse, ancestors, and lineal descendants.
    (2) Any officer or director of an organization, and that 
organization.
    (3) An officer or director of an organization and an officer or 
director of another organization, if each individual also is an officer 
or director in the other organization.
    (4) Partners.
    (5) Employer and employee.
    (6) Any person directly or indirectly owning, controlling, or 
holding with power to vote, five percent or more of the outstanding 
voting stock or shares of any organization, and that organization.
    (7) Two or more persons directly or indirectly controlling, 
controlled by, or under common control with, any person.
    (h) Same class or kind. ``Merchandise of the same class or kind'' 
means merchandise (including, but not limited to, identical merchandise 
and similar merchandise) within a group or range of merchandise produced 
by a particular industry or industry sector.

[[Page 206]]

    (i) Similar merchandise. ``Similar merchandise'' means merchandise 
produced in the same country and by the same person as the merchandise 
being appraised, like the merchandise being appraised in characteristics 
and component material, and commercially interchangeable with the 
merchandise being appraised. If similar merchandise cannot be found (or 
for purposes of related buyer and seller transactions (see Sec. 152.103 
(j)(2)(i)(A)) regardless of whether similar merchandise can be found), 
merchandise produced in the same country as, but not produced by the 
same person as, the merchandise being appraised, like the merchandise 
being appraised in characteristics and component material, and 
commercially interchangeable with the merchandise being appraised, may 
be treated as ``similar merchandise''. ``Similar merchandise'' does not 
include merchandise that incorporates or reflects any engineering, 
development, artwork, design work, or plan or sketch supplied free or at 
reduced cost by the buyer of the merchandise for use in connection with 
the production or the sale for export to the United States of the 
merchandise, and is not an assist because undertaken within the United 
States.
    (j) Sufficient information. ``Sufficient information'' means 
information that establishes the accuracy of:
    (1) Any amount:
    (i) Added under Sec. 152.103(b) to the price actually paid or 
payable;
    (ii) Deducted under Sec. 152.105(d) as profit or general expenses or 
value from further processing, or
    (iii) Added under Sec. 152.106(b) as profit or general expenses; or
    (2) Any difference taken into account under Sec. 152.103(j)(2)(ii); 
or
    (3) Any adjustment made under Sec. 152.104(d).
    (k) Unit price in greatest aggregate quantity. ``Unit price at which 
merchandise is sold in the greatest aggregate quantity'' means the unit 
price at which the ``merchandise concerned'' is sold to unrelated 
persons at the first commercial level after importation (in cases to 
which Sec. 152.105(c)(1) and (2) apply), or after further processing (in 
cases to which Sec. 152.105(c)(3) applies), at which the sales take 
place in a total volume greater than the total volume sold at any other 
unit price and sufficient to establish the unit price.

[T.D. 81-7, 46 FR 2600, Jan. 12, 1981, as amended by T.D. 97-82, 62 FR 
51771, Oct. 3, 1997]