Country of origin - "Made In"

[silverdoctor]

Does anyone know the history or laws surrounding the beginnings of the "Made In" stamping on goods? Can't seem to pin it down.

As in when was it required to stamp with "Made in China" or "Made in USA".


Can't seem to find much online.

[KGB]

You've got waaay too much time on your hands.... LOL !!!!!!

[Kim473]

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/page/2728/

[Selkirk]

As far as I know, there is no 'international' law in place about it, but some countries have their own laws and/or guidelines. In other countries, it's just more of a custom than anything. In many countries, some manufactures don't indicate the country of origin on their product at all.

Interesting Side Note;
Back in the 1950s when Japan was still struggling to bring its economy out of postwar depression, a Japanese manufacturing town changed it's name to 'America' for a few years. During that time, everything that was exported from that area of Japan had 'Made in America' stamped on it. True! :)


Cheers,

Mac

[Bigwoodsman]

A number of years ago I had the pleasure of running into a customs officer at the port of Sweetgrass who decided to do an inspection on the load of pipe I was hauling. My PARS had cleared and all was ok, however he said I was up for a random test and to go and park. My Manifest had showed the Country of ORIGIN and MADE in the USA and I had hauled several of these types of loads up to Alberta in the past without exception. I never gave it a second thought.

So I parked and he came over and started pulling the orange plastic caps off the ends of the pipe and looking inside each pipe with a flashlight, I guess he thought I might be smuggling contraband or some other illegal in Canada product. While doing so he noticed that the caps said MADE IN MEXICO, and apparently I was going to be in trouble for not listing these caps on the manifest. I'm like what the fudge. I had been cooperative, allowed them in my truck (my home) to search, allowed them willingly to search my load and trailer boxes (like I had a choice) and now he was going to charge and arrest me for smuggling orange plastic caps on the ends of the pipe.

Inside I'm boiling and freaked out, my cell phone was in the truck and I was not permitted to go back into my truck. I had to go and wait in a 10 x 10 room with a camera a desk and three chairs. This guy comes in and starts to ask me what I plan on doing with the plastic caps and why didn't i declare the Made in Mexico product on my manifest, and that I was subject to a 25,000.00 fine and possibly jail time. I asked him to see his supervisor or someone in charge as I did not want to discuss this with him.

He brought a supervisor in and I explained to him that I picked up this load in Huston and was delivering it in Nisku, that I had hauled these before without any problems. That the pipe was loaded with the caps already in place and that the pipe yard in Huston was full of these, I then mentioned that the pipe yard would have imported these from Mexico and that once they cleared customs into the USA, that they then belonged to the owners of the pipe company and I asked aren't they allowed to ship these to Canada as part of their made in the USA pipe. These two were now sitting back, looking through their manuals trying to figure out what was the rule for product that was imported and then exported. They left the room and left me sitting for what seemed like the better part of an hour. Then returned handed me my paperwork and said that I was free to go and nothing more.

Several months later I'm doing the same thing and loading in Huston at the same yard for the same destination, this time I get a copy of the cleared manifest showing the caps coming into the USA. What a bunch of BS.

Anyways the Made In does make a difference at the border.

Don't get me going on the Mad Cow and canned chili that was made and packaged in Chicago, that they confiscated as I was importing beef!

BW

[silverdoctor]

There are many collectors of different things seem to think there was a law passed in the USA in 1960 that required everything to be stamped with the country of origin.

Doesn't seem to be the case, but it's hard to pinpoint.


KGB, why would you say that?

[EZM]

The simple and skinny answer is ..... tariffs (import taxes) apply to certain goods classified under a harmonized code based on country of origin (manufacture notwithstanding).

ALL products entering the country, subject to these tariffs MUST indicate country of origin.

Tariffs imposed on products entering our country are designed to "level off the playing field" allowing more expensive domestic products to be sold at or near the same "price" as cheaper imported products. This protects our domestic manufacturers and our economy.

The very same "widget" coming from Austria may come in at a 20% tariff, whereas, the exact same product, manufactured in China may be subject to a tariff of 120%.

(marking "made in" ) - This is the only way to identify where the product was made and determine what tariffs, if any apply, and, at which rate the tariffs are calculated.

I have worked on many of these legal cases, including anti-dumping, exclusions, trade tribunal legal proceedings, etc... over the last 10 years.

[TROLLER]

Back in the 80's I was importing and exporting steel casing and line pipe from the US. Both new and used.

We would sell used pipe piling into the US but had to stamp into the steel made in Canada even tho we were not sure where it came from after digging it up from an old pipe line. lol Then to make it easier for the us customs we would roll over the stamp with white shoe polish so it stood out more.
What brought that law into effect was the charges of dumping that were going on between Canada and the US.

[wwbirds]

follow a few of these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_of_origin

[schmedlap]

The simple and skinny answer is ..... tariffs (import taxes) apply to certain goods classified under a harmonized code based on country of origin (manufacture notwithstanding).

ALL products entering the country, subject to these tariffs MUST indicate country of origin.

Tariffs imposed on products entering our country are designed to "level off the playing field" allowing more expensive domestic products to be sold at or near the same "price" as cheaper imported products. This protects our domestic manufacturers and our economy.

The very same "widget" coming from Austria may come in at a 20% tariff, whereas, the exact same product, manufactured in China may be subject to a tariff of 120%.

(marking "made in" ) - This is the only way to identify where the product was made and determine what tariffs, if any apply, and, at which rate the tariffs are calculated.

I have worked on many of these legal cases, including anti-dumping, exclusions, trade tribunal legal proceedings, etc... over the last 10 years.
I'm old enough to remember when "made in Japan" was the "cheap junk" designation ('50's, '60's), similar to today's made in China or Bangladesh. Not always true, of course. Funny how today "made in Japan" is largely taken as a harbinger of good quality(?).

[amosfella]

Didn't you watch the hobbit extended edition?? Back in those days long long ago, the elves stamped their goods 'Made in Rivendale'. :P

[TripleTTT]

Bought some red marine gas cans for some equipment last year...
They were stamped "made in Toronto"

Never heard of that country before :scared: wtf?

[Kim473]

It's funny that you can bring 20 things in and made in all parts of the world but when you assemble them to make one pc it now needs to say " made in Canada " Just because you bolted it together. Just like a car. All the parts are made all over the world but assembled in the US and now needs to say made in the USA.

[Wild&Free]

It's funny that you can bring 20 things in and made in all parts of the world but when you assemble them to make one pc it now needs to say " made in Canada " Just because you bolted it together. Just like a car. All the parts are made all over the world but assembled in the US and now needs to say made in the USA.

I've seen "assembled in" labels starting to appear on a lot of things.

[EZM]

I've seen "assembled in" labels starting to appear on a lot of things.

Yes .... that's not uncommon ... the example is ......components and part come into the US from China, India, etc... and are subject to duties when the come in as components. This could be hard drives, power supplies etc... in the case of computer components.

The parts are then assembled in the US ..... and re-classified to a new item (like a finished PC or computer) and are now imported into Canada as a "assembled in the USA" "final assembly" which is not subject to tariffs or import duties (or at a lower rate maybe).

The key tariff decision is based on "adding value" or "materially changing" the sum of the parts.

Companies have tried to transport things through neighboring countries with lower import duties, re-paint or do some insignificant modification, to attempt to avoid duties applicable in the final destination country.

The CITT (Canadian International Trade Tribunal) investigates and sometimes fines organizations trying this trick. It's pretty common. They can demand back duties for a period up to 7 years (the length of time you are required to keep logistics records).

I have been involved in a number of these legal cases, where I was representing the company I worked for. The guys in Ottawa are pretty tough. You better have your documentation in order and be prepared to demonstrate that if you are moving product through another jurisdiction, there better be a good reason for it (like some manufacturing or real assembly process).

Luckily, in our case, we were moving product into a jurisdiction, with a bonafide purpose and avoided some pretty ugly consequences that would have tallied in the millions of dollars. I earned my money for those few months while prepping for the hearings ......:)

[EZM]

I'm old enough to remember when "made in Japan" was the "cheap junk" designation ('50's, '60's), similar to today's made in China or Bangladesh. Not always true, of course. Funny how today "made in Japan" is largely taken as a harbinger of good quality(?).

I'm pretty sure the "Made in Japan" perception of poor quality was 99% propaganda to keep the masses buying good ol' Merican' ..... most of the stuff that comes out of Japan is of significantly higher quality.

I'm sure there was some junk, but for the most part, Japanese manufacturing and process controls are still globally recognized. They invented many of the statistical process controls and engineering change / new product launch protocols many domestic companies employ to this day with great success.

Korea is, today, the new Japan. More and more high quality products are coming out of Korea. They are making some high quality stuff now as well.

China and India have a long way to go. There are more crooks pedaling garbage quality products than honest organizations producing quality products there it seems some days .....

[ATF]

I like when they put the American flag on a product and in tiny words underneath say "Made for USA". Almost caught me on that one.

[Matt L.]

I like when they put the American flag on a product and in tiny words underneath say "Made for USA". Almost caught me on that one.

Or dewalts "built in the USA with global materials"

[twofifty]

I like when they put the American flag on a product and in tiny words underneath say "Made for USA". Almost caught me on that one.

The same country may have ICBMs with "Made for USA" stencilled on the rocket body; good thing their foreign reserves are concentrated in US $.
;)

[Erik]

Here is the history on how it originated. Dates back to the late 1800s with German goods being sold in Britain:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Germany