CBP: Indiana Manufacturer’s Upholstered Wood Chairs Meet Buy American Provision
Two models of upholstered wood chairs manufactured by Indianapolis-area furniture maker University Loft Co. qualify to be part of the U.S. government’s "Buy American" procurement program even though some of the chairs’ components were imported from China, CBP ruled recently.
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Greenfield, Indiana-based University Loft, which is the business name of J Squared Inc., had asked CBP on March 28 whether two upholstered wood chair models that the company manufactures -- one, G32PLY1, is a solid wood and high-pressure laminate upholstered chair; the other, G32PLY2, is a solid wood upholstered chair -- comply with Title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979.
A provision within Title III requires products procured by the U.S. government to comply with certain Buy American restrictions, and University Loft provides furniture to the U.S. government. If a product uses or contains imported components, the product must be substantially transformed to comply with the regulation. In this case, University Loft used wooden components and hardware imported from China.
CBP concluded in its May 29 final determination that even with the imported components -- which included chair legs and the seat rails, as well as some bolts and wooden dowels -- the chairs were substantially transformed in the U.S. beyond their original components.
“Based on the information presented, when the foreign components are integrated with the U.S. components, they lose their individual identities and become an integral part of a new article, the upholstered wood chair, possessing a new name, character and use,” the final determination said. The determination was published June 4 in the Federal Register. “We, therefore, find that the last substantial transformation occurs in the United States.”
Whether the upholstered chairs qualify as a “U.S.-made end product” is a question better suited for the relevant government procuring agency, according to the final determination. CBP also directed University Loft to examine a 2020 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision in Acetris Health, LLC v. U.S. in answering that question.