Answer first
Core rule
Repacking may not obscure an article's origin mark unless the new container is properly marked, and an importer may have certification or written notice duties when it or a later purchaser repacks. An article not legally marked at importation is subject to an additional duty of 10 percent of final appraised value unless, before liquidation and under customs supervision, it is properly marked, exported, or destroyed. A released article may also be subject to redelivery and bond liquidated damages. Current 19 U.S.C. 1304 places the 10-percent rule in subsection (i); some current Part 134 text retains older subsection references, so distinguish current statute from the CFR edition designated for the exam. This is the current-law baseline reviewed on 2026-08-18; for a CBLE question, confirm the CFR and other references designated for that exam sitting before choosing the exam answer.
Authority and lookup route
Locate the rule before returning to the facts. Links point to government or official publications.
Reference lookup task
Find the three supervised actions that can avoid the 10-percent duty before liquidation, then distinguish CBP's deadline to demand redelivery from the importer's response period after notice.
Route: Read 19 U.S.C. 1304(i) first, then compare §134.3(b) with §134.54(a); use §§134.25-134.26 if the facts include repacking.
Worked example
Parts marked 'Made in Malaysia' are placed after release into opaque blister packs that completely hide the article marks. The new packs show no origin. What must the importer do, and what consequence may remain if the defect is not cured under customs supervision before liquidation?
- 1Apply §134.26 because post-release retail repacking obscures the article marking.
- 2Keep the article marking visible or mark the new container with Malaysia and satisfy the applicable certification or downstream notice duty.
- 3If CBP issues a marking or redelivery notice, follow the correction, supervision, and response rules in §§134.51-134.54.
- 4If no qualifying supervised marking, exportation, or destruction occurs before liquidation, apply the 10-percent duty to final appraised value.
Conclusion: The importer must preserve or replace the origin communication on the retail package and comply with the applicable repacking and correction procedures; otherwise the 10-percent marking duty may be assessed on final appraised value, with separate redelivery or bond consequences also possible.
Common traps
- Calculating the 10-percent marking duty from entered value instead of final appraised value.
- Assuming an article free of ordinary duty cannot incur the separate marking duty.
- Treating unsupervised post-import marking as automatically sufficient to avoid the duty before liquidation.
- Using a stale CFR subsection cross-reference as though it changed the current statutory placement of 19 U.S.C. 1304(i).