In Energizer Battery, Inc. v. United States, the US Court of International Trade (CIT) recently addressed “substantial transformation” for purposes of determining country of origin (COO) for US government procurement purposes under the Trade Agreements Act (TAA). This is a case of first impression for the CIT, which has jurisdiction to review Customs and Border Protection determinations of COO for government procurement purposes under the TAA. Among other things, the CIT looked to judicial decisions considering substantial transformation in other contexts in deciding the case before it and addressed the significance of post-importation assembly operations in the US in evaluating substantial transformation.
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