Three tests

Two halves of origin

On this page11

Two federal regimes in this library deal with where a thing came from The customs rules compel a marking This rule compels nothing So the asymmetry is deliberate and it runs one way Which produces a situation worth naming And the two regimes use the duty-transfer device differently Their shared vocabulary is the ultimate purchaser and the buyer who cannot look Both are therefore about a reader at a distance Nothing in this catalog records an origin either way Which is the honest end point for both properties References

Marking an import is required. Claiming a domestic origin is not.

Two federal regimes in this library deal with where a thing came from

The customs marking rules for imported articles, and this rule for claims of United States origin. They are not two versions of one thing.

The customs rules compel a marking

An imported article must be marked with its country of origin, legibly, indelibly and permanently, and where the article is excepted the outermost container has to be marked instead.

This rule compels nothing

It governs a claim somebody chose to make. Silence satisfies it completely and there is no circumstance in which it requires a domestic origin statement to appear.

So the asymmetry is deliberate and it runs one way

Foreign origin must be disclosed. Domestic origin may be claimed, and if it is claimed it must be supportable on three tests. Nobody is required to mention that something was made here.

Which produces a situation worth naming

A product with no origin marking at all is either domestic, or an excepted article whose container should have been marked. The absence of a marking is not itself a claim and is not itself informative.

And the two regimes use the duty-transfer device differently

The customs rules move the marking duty from an exempt article onto its container, which is the only rule in this library that does that. This rule has no duty to move.

Their shared vocabulary is the ultimate purchaser and the buyer who cannot look

The customs rules measure permanence and readability against reaching the ultimate purchaser. This rule defines a mail order catalog as a solicitation made without examining the actual product purchased.

Both are therefore about a reader at a distance

Which is the condition a catalog creates, and it is the reason the three rules in this library that turn on not seeing the goods are all about disclosure rather than about construction.

Nothing in this catalog records an origin either way

No country of origin field, no marking, no certificate reference. So neither regime can be applied to anything on this shelf from the record, and no page here tries.

Which is the honest end point for both properties

The customs property says the duty moves onto the container and that the catalog records no origin. This one says the claim is voluntary and that the catalog records no origin. The same gap, reached from two directions.

References

16 CFR 323.2, Prohibited acts: "In connection with promoting or offering for sale any good or service, in or affecting commerce as “commerce” is defined in section 4 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 44, it is an unfair or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(1), to label any product as Made in the United States unless the final assembly or processing of the product occurs in the United States, all significant processing that goes into the product occurs in the United States, and all or virtually all ingredients or components of the product are made and sourced in the United States." law.cornell.edu

16 CFR 323.1(b): "The terms mail order catalog and mail order promotional material mean any materials, used in the direct sale or direct offering for sale of any product or service, that are disseminated in print or by electronic means, and that solicit the purchase of such product or service by mail, telephone, electronic mail, or some other method without examining the actual product purchased." And 16 CFR 323.3, Applicability to mail order advertising: "To the extent that any mail order catalog or mail order promotional material includes a seal, mark, tag, or stamp labeling a product Made in the United States, such label must comply with 323.2." law.cornell.edu

Written from 16 CFR part 323 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Part 323 is the Made in USA Labeling Rule and it governs an unqualified claim of United States origin; it imposes no labeling requirement on anybody who makes no such claim, and it does not reach any container on this shelf. The catalog records no country of origin for any product, so nothing here states the origin of anything or whether any product may be labeled Made in the USA. Nothing here is advice about origin claims or advertising. This shelf is a subset of the store-small-dry shelf and the sewing notions property enumerates that shelf in full.