Three tiers

On this page14

Tier one, the article Which is the default Tier two, the container And that subsection is not described here Tier three, the exception Which is an authorization rather than a self-assessment And incapable is a strong word So the tiers are not interchangeable For most of this group tier two is the answer Which puts the container in the compliance path And that changes how it should be chosen Our three materials answer it differently Which is the containers section References

And a small part is almost never in the first.

Tier one, the article

Every article of foreign origin must be marked to indicate the English name of the country of origin to an ultimate purchaser in the United States.

Which is the default

The article carries its own mark, which is how a tool, an appliance or a garment is handled.

Tier two, the container

Or its container, as provided in a further subsection. Which is the tier this group lives in.

And that subsection is not described here

What it requires of a container, and in what circumstances the container may be marked instead of the article, is outside this property.

Tier three, the exception

Clause (A) of the exceptions 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.

Which is an authorization rather than a self-assessment

The Secretary may authorize. So a packer does not simply decide an article is incapable of being marked.

And incapable is a strong word

Not impractical, not uneconomic. Incapable, which is a higher bar than the proportionality clause in tier one.

So the tiers are not interchangeable

Tier two is a route the statute offers and tier three is a route an authority grants. Those are different things.

For most of this group tier two is the answer

A resistor in a labelled jar, where the jar carries the mark the resistor cannot.

Which puts the container in the compliance path

Rather than around it. The jar is not incidental packaging if it is carrying the required mark.

And that changes how it should be chosen

A container carrying a required mark has to hold that mark legibly and permanently, which is a surface question.

Our three materials answer it differently

117 PET, 78 polypropylene and 56 glass, and each takes a mark by a different process.

Which is the containers section

And it is the one axis on this shelf that bears on the spine directly.

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

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The 251 containers on this shelf are 117 PET, 78 polypropylene and 56 glass. There is no metal and no polyethylene. Glass takes an etched or fired mark and loses an adhesive label to oil; PET and polypropylene take an adhesive label well and take an etch not at all. We publish no marking, printing or decorating service of any kind.

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.