Determining Origin
By: Elizabeth Baldwin
Credit: NWFA https://hardwoodfloorsmag.com/2021/12/20/determining-origin/
Last time I talked about “MUSA” – Made in USA Claims. Let’s dig a bit deeper into origin issues.
Origin is a legal definition for Customs and it doesn’t always make sense for us regular folk. As noted, when talking about MUSA issues, making flooring in the U.S. out of foreign plywood doesn’t qualify for a MUSA label. And that concept carries through. If you ship Russian plywood to Italy and turn it into flooring, the finished product for Custom’s purposes is still Russia.
This is important to understand for many reasons. The obvious one is that Customs wants to know that goods have entered the country correctly. But country of origin impacts a lot...