Three tiers

An ultimate purchaser

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The audience is named And the language is named too Which is a legibility requirement in disguise So the mark has an addressee And why marking a component would often fail anyway Which is the logic behind tier two The country of origin is of the article Which is a point worth being careful about And nothing here determines any origin Nor what a Made in USA claim requires Two schemes about origin, one required and one voluntary So they are not two halves of one rule And an ultimate purchaser is not necessarily the installer This property quotes the required one References

To indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States.

The audience is named

An ultimate purchaser in the United States. Which is a defined kind of person rather than anybody who handles the article.

And the language is named too

The English name of the country of origin. Not a code, not an abbreviation and not the name in the origin country's own language.

Which is a legibility requirement in disguise

A mark in the wrong language is not legible to the audience the statute names, however clearly it is printed.

So the mark has an addressee

Which is why a container marking can satisfy it: the purchaser sees the container, and that is who the mark is for.

And why marking a component would often fail anyway

A resistor inside a finished assembly is never seen by an ultimate purchaser, so a mark on it reaches nobody.

Which is the logic behind tier two

Mark the thing the purchaser sees. The container is often that thing for a small part sold loose.

The country of origin is of the article

Not of the container. So a jar made in one country holding parts made in another carries the parts' origin.

Which is a point worth being careful about

The container is the surface and the article is the subject. A mark that describes the jar would be the wrong mark.

And nothing here determines any origin

Where anything was made is a fact about a supply chain and this property establishes none of it.

Nor what a Made in USA claim requires

Which is a different scheme entirely, and the favors and gifts property covers it.

Two schemes about origin, one required and one voluntary

Customs marking is a requirement on foreign articles. A Made in USA claim is a claim somebody chooses to make.

So they are not two halves of one rule

Which is the distinction to hold, because both are about where something came from.

And an ultimate purchaser is not necessarily the installer

A part fitted into an assembly reaches a purchaser inside something else, which is why the container a part is sold in is often the last thing a purchaser actually sees.

This property quotes the required one

And points at the other.

References

19 U.S.C. 1304(a). Every article of foreign origin "(or its container, as provided in subsection (b)" must be marked "as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit", and the marking must "indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article." Among the exceptions in subsection (a)(3), clause (A) permits the Secretary of the Treasury to "Authorize the exception of any article from the requirements of marking if such article is incapable of being marked." This is customs marking for articles of foreign origin; nothing on these pages determines the origin of anything or how the exceptions are administered. law.cornell.edu

Written from 19 U.S.C. 1304 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. That section is customs marking for articles of foreign origin and nothing here determines the origin of anything, what subsection (b) requires of containers, or how the exceptions are administered. Made in USA claims are a different scheme covered in the favors and gifts property. We publish no marking, printing or decorating service: the mark goes on by some process we do not supply. This shelf is shared identically by nine groups and the sewing notions property enumerates the inventory.