Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 105 Part 2.djvu/288

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

105 STAT. 1240 PUBLIC LAW 102-182~DEC. 4, 1991 (ii) the direct costs of processing operations performed in a beneficiary country or countries (under this Act or the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act), is not less than 35 percent of the appraised value of such article at the time it is entered. For purposes of determining the percentage referred to in subparagraph (B), the term "beneficiary country" includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. If the cost or value of materials produced in the customs territory of the United States (other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) is included with respect to an article to which this paragraph applies, an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the appraised value of the article at the time it is entered that is attributed to such United States cost or value may be applied toward determining the percentage referred to in subparagraph (B). Regulations. (2) The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out subsection (a) including, but not limited to, regulations providing that, in order to be eligible for duty-free treatment under this title, an article must be wholly the growth, product, or manufacture of a beneficiary country, or must be a new or different article of commerce which has been grown, produced, or manufactured in the beneficiary country; but no article or material of a beneficiary country shall be eligible for such treatment by virtue of having merely undergone— (A) simple combining or packaging operations, or (B) mere dilution with water or mere dilution with another substance that does not itiaterially alter the characteristics of the article. (3) As used in this subsection, the phrase "direct costs of processing operations" includes, but is not limited to— (A) all actual labor costs involved in the growth, production, manufacture, or assembly of the specific merchandise, including fringe benefits, on-the-job training and the cost of engineering, supervisory, quality control, and similar personnel; and (B) dies, molds, tooling, and depreciation on machinery and equipment which are allocable to the specific merchandise. Such phrase does not include costs which are not directly attributable to the merchandise concerned or are not costs of manufacturing the product, such as (i) profit, and (ii) general expense of doing business which are either not allocable to the specific merchandise or are not related to the growth, production, manufacture, or assembly of the merchandise, such as administrative salaries, casualty and liability insurance, advertising, interest, and salesmen's salaries, commissions or expenses. (4) If the President, pursuant to section 223 of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act of 1990, considers that the implementation of revised rules of origin for products of beneficiary countries designated under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) would be appropriate, the President may include similarly revised rules of origin for products of beneficiary countries designated under this title in any suggested legislation transmitted to the Congress that contains such rules of origin for products of beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. (b) EXCEPTIONS TO DUTY-FREE TREATMENT.—The duty-free treatment provided under this title shall not apply to—