Country of origin marking: the general rule, the 10 percent duty, and the J-list exceptions (Part 134)

Country of origin marking looks simple on its face, mark the country of origin on the good, but the exam tests it because the rule has precise legal language (conspicuous, legible, permanent), an exact penalty (a duty, not a fine), and a long, specific list of exceptions that candidates routinely underestimate. This guide covers 19 CFR Part 134 in the order the exam tests it: the general rule, who is liable, the marking duty, and the J-list exceptions. For the trademark side of imported goods, which is a separate regime, see the intellectual property rights guide; for the special-entry Parts that sit near Part 134 in the corpus, see the corpus map.

What is the general marking rule?

19 CFR 134.11 states the core requirement: “Every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit, in such manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article, at the time of importation.” Four elements are load-bearing and each has been tested on past exams:

• Conspicuous. The marking must be in a location an ultimate purchaser would reasonably see, not buried or obscured.
• Legible, indelible, permanent. The marking must survive normal handling; a marking that rubs off or is easily removed does not satisfy the rule.
• English name of the country of origin. A foreign-language country name, or an ambiguous regional or historical name, does not satisfy the rule; the marking must name the country in English (for example “Made in Vietnam,” not a local-language equivalent).
• The ultimate purchaser. The rule is framed around the last U.S. person who receives the article in the form in which it was imported. If an imported component is substantially transformed by a U.S. manufacturer before reaching the retail buyer, the retail buyer, not the importer, may not be the relevant “ultimate purchaser” for marking purposes, and the marking analysis shifts accordingly.

What happens if a good is not properly marked?

19 CFR 134.2 sets out the consequence, and it is a duty, not a criminal or civil penalty: “articles not marked as required by this part shall be subject to additional duties of 10 percent of the final appraised value unless exported or destroyed under Customs supervision prior to liquidation of the entry.” This 10 percent marking duty is separate from and in addition to the regular duty owed on the merchandise, and it applies whether the article was not marked at all or was marked incorrectly. The importer has an escape valve: if the goods are exported or destroyed under CBP supervision before the entry liquidates, the marking duty does not attach. In practice, CBP more commonly requires the importer to properly mark the goods (or the containers) before release or under a redelivery notice, with the marking duty as the consequence for failing to cure the defect, rather than as the first-line remedy for every marking gap.

Who bears the marking duty, and how is a marking defect identified?

Part 134 Subpart F (“Articles Found Not Legally Marked,” sections 134.51 through 134.55) governs how CBP identifies and acts on marking defects after entry. An examining officer who finds merchandise not legally marked notifies the importer and allows an opportunity to properly mark the goods, redeliver them for marking, or export or destroy them, all under CBP supervision, before the marking duty attaches at liquidation. The marking duty runs against the importer of record, consistent with the importer’s general responsibility for entry accuracy, distinct from the separate broker-conduct penalty track covered in the broker compliance guide.

What are the J-list exceptions, and why are there so many?

19 CFR 134.32 lists general exceptions to the marking requirement, informally called the “J-list” because it was originally lettered starting at (j) in the predecessor regulation. The current list runs 17 categories, lettered (a) through (q):

Item	Exception
(a)	Articles incapable of being marked
(b)	Articles that cannot be marked prior to shipment without injury
(c)	Articles where marking prior to shipment would be economically prohibitive
(d)	Articles where marking the container reasonably indicates the article’s origin to the ultimate purchaser
(e)	Crude substances
(f)	Articles imported for use by the importer and not intended for sale in their imported or any other form
(g)	Articles to be processed in the U.S. by the importer, or for the importer’s account, in a manner that would necessarily obliterate the marking
(h)	Articles for which the marking of the container will reasonably indicate the origin, or for which the ultimate purchaser must necessarily know the origin by reason of the circumstances of importation, even though the goods themselves are not marked
(i)	Articles produced more than 20 years before importation
(j)	Articles entered or withdrawn for immediate exportation or for transportation and exportation
(k)	Products of American fisheries free of duty
(l)	Products of U.S. possessions
(m)	Products of the United States exported and returned
(n)	Articles exempt from duty under specified provisions
(o)	Articles for which the ultimate purchaser could not reasonably be given the required marking without a degree of economic hardship, subject to a good-faith showing that the importer did not import the article to avoid compliance
(p)	Original works of art from USMCA countries
(q)	Specified goods of USMCA countries in designated tariff classifications

The list is long because it functions as a catalog of the situations where marking would be pointless, impossible, or already effectively achieved another way, rather than a set of loopholes. Exceptions (p) and (q), for the USMCA specifically, are a reminder that trade-agreement membership can modify even the marking regime, not just duty rates, which is why the trade agreements guide and this one are worth reading together. An exception under 134.32 does not exempt the article from marking the container if the article itself is not marked and the ultimate purchaser would otherwise not know the origin; several of the letters explicitly preserve a container-marking fallback.

How this shows up on the exam

Marking questions typically hand you a scenario and ask either “does this good need to be marked,” which tests whether you can spot a J-list exception, or “what happens if it is not,” which tests the 10 percent duty figure and the export-or-destroy escape. The trap to watch for is treating an exception to marking as an exception to the marking duty: they are the same rule, but the exam sometimes phrases a J-list scenario as though the duty applies anyway. Work the general rule first (134.11), then check the J-list (134.32) before assuming a duty applies. Drill the Part 134 citation lookup in the navigation trainer and place it in the corpus map, then test recall in the free practice test.

Sources: 19 CFR Part 134 (Country of Origin Marking), sections 134.11, 134.2, 134.32, and Subpart F (134.51 to 134.55), as published on the Legal Information Institute mirror of the CFR (law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19), cross-checked against the eCFR (ecfr.gov/current/title-19/chapter-I/part-134). Reviewed 2026-07-29. Marking exceptions and duty rates are set by regulation and can change; confirm the current text before relying on it.