A container defined by custom
On this page12
The part defines a usual container and the definition is about commerce
A usual container means the container in which a good will ordinarily reach its ultimate purchaser. Not a material, not a construction, not a size.
Then three things that generally disqualify a container
Containers not included in the price of the goods with which they are sold. Containers which impart the essential character to the whole. And containers which have significant uses, or lasting value independent of the contents.
That third one is the interesting disqualification
A container worth having for its own sake is not a usual container, because it is partly the thing being bought rather than the wrapper round it.
And then the sentence that stops the test running away
However, the fact that a container is sturdy and capable of repeated use with its contents does not preclude it from being considered a usual container so long as it is the type of container in which its contents are ordinarily sold.
So durability is not the test and reusability is not the test
A sturdy jar that is simply how that product is sold remains a usual container. What disqualifies a container is having value apart from its contents, not being well made.
Which is the most direct statement in this library about what a container is
Every other definition here describes a container by what it must do or what must be printed on it. This one defines it by how the trade uses it, and says plainly that the physical qualities do not settle the question.
The examples given are deliberately wide
A usual container may be any type of container, including one specially shaped or fitted to contain a specific good or set of goods such as a camera case or an eyeglass case, or packing, storage and transportation materials.
A camera case and a sheet of packing material in one sentence
Which makes the point that the category is defined by role and not by form. Both are usual containers if that is how the goods ordinarily reach a buyer.
A container can also need two origin markings
A container subject to treatment as an imported article in its own right must be marked with the country of its own origin, in addition to any marking required to show the origin of its contents.
And a United States address on a container triggers a prescribed phrase
A container bearing the name and address of an importer or distributor in the United States shall be marked in close proximity to that address to indicate the origin of the contents, with a marking such as Contents made in France or Contents Product of Spain.
Which is a placement rule defined relative to other text
Not to a panel, not to a face, not to a position. In close proximity to the U.S. address, because the problem being solved is a reader seeing one place name and inferring the other.