[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 19, Volume 2]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 19CFR152.102]



[Page 204-206]

 

                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES

 

   CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF 

        HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED)

 

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



[[Page 205]]



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 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



[[Page 206]]



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.

    (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]