9111-14
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Notice of Issuance of Final Determination Concerning UPanelS LED Display Panels
AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Notice of final determination.
SUMMARY: This document provides notice that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued
a final determination concerning the country of origin of various models of LED display panels sold
under the UPanelS brand. Based upon the facts presented, CBP has concluded in the final determination
that the components of the subject UPanelS devices undergo substantial transformation in Taiwan upon
the manufacture of their printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamp
assembly.
DATES: The final determination was issued on June 10, 2024. A copy of the final determination is
attached. Any party-at-interest, as defined in 19 CFR 177.22(d), may seek judicial review of this final
determination within [INSERT 30 DAYS FROM DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL
REGISTER].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Austen Walsh, Valuation and Special Programs
Branch, Regulations and Rulings, Office of Trade, at austen.m.walsh@cbp.dhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that on June 10, 2024, CBP issued a
final determination concerning the country of origin of various models of LED display panels sold under
the UPanelS brand for purposes of title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979. This final
determination, HQ H332752, was issued at the request Unilumin USA LLC (Unilumin), under procedures
set forth at 19 CFR part 177, subpart B, which implements Title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979,
as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511-18). In the final determination, CBP has concluded that, based upon the
facts presented, the components, which are largely sourced from China and Taiwan, are substantially
transformed in Taiwan when made into the subject UPanelS devices.
Section 177.29, CBP Regulations (19 CFR 177.29), provides that notice of final determinations
shall be published in the Federal Register within 60 days of the date the final determination is issued.

Section 177.30, CBP Regulations (19 CFR 177.30), provides that any party-at-interest, as defined in 19
CFR 177.22(d), may seek judicial review of a final determination within 30 days of publication of such
determination in the Federal Register.
Alice A. Kipel,
Executive Director,
Regulations and Rulings,
Office of Trade.

HQ H332752
June 10, 2024
OT:RR:CTF:VS H332752 AMW
CATEGORY: Origin
Ms. Angelica Tsakiridis
Managing Director—Global Trade Advisory
Deloitte LLP
555 Mission Street, Suite 1400
San Francisco, CA 94105
RE:

U.S. Government Procurement; Title III, Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C.
2511); Subpart B, Part 177, CBP Regulations; Country of Origin of UPanelS Products

Dear Ms. Tsakiridis:
This is in response to your request, dated September 8, 2021, on behalf of your client,
Unilumin USA LLC (“Unilumin”), for a final determination concerning the country of origin of
the “UPanelS” product line of light-emitting diode (“LED”) display panels, pursuant to Title III
of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (“TAA”), as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511 et seq.), and
subpart B of Part 177, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) Regulations (19 CFR
177.21, et seq.). Your request, submitted as an electronic ruling request, was forwarded to this
office from the National Commodity Specialist Division. Unilumin is a party-at-interest within
the meaning of 19 CFR 177.22(d)(1) and 177.23(a) and is therefore entitled to request this final
determination.
FACTS:
Unilumin imports various models of “high-performance [LED] display[s]” sold under the
UPanelS product line. The UPanelS product line consists of a series of display units capable of
producing high-definition video or photographic images differentiated primarily by pixel pitch.
The UPanelS devices are used in commercial and educational settings as signage or digital
displays, including in large format settings such as concert backdrops or film sets.1 UPanelS
devices are capable of being affixed directly into a wall mount, displayed free standing, or hung
with hanging beams.2
Each UPanelS consists of two major sub-assemblies: a “module board” and a “cabinet
housing.” The module board drives and controls each LED unit, forming images for display.
The cabinet encases the device and provides the power supply function.
The module board is assembled in Taiwan and is comprised of two subassemblies that are
also assembled in Taiwan: (1) the main printed circuit board assembly (“PCBA”) with LED
lamps; and (2) the HUB board and receiver card. The main PCBA with LED lamps consists of
the main PCBA, which regulates the flow of power to the LED lamps; and the LED lamps
See “What makes a successful interactive LED wall,” available at https://www.unilumin-usa.com/led-101/whatmakes-a-successful-interactive-led-wall/ (accessed Jan. 8, 2024).
2 UPanelS Product guide, available at https://www.unilumin-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/upanels-1.pdf
(accessed Jan. 8, 2024).
(originating in Taiwan), which light to form viewable images. The HUB board and receiver
cards assembly consists of the HUB board, a separate PCBA printed in China that relays
information between the receiver card and module board; a receiver card (originating in either
Taiwan or Romania), which reads programmed command signals regulating the brightness and
color of the LEDs and sequencing the display; and the indicator light board (originating in
Taiwan), which displays power supply indicators to the LED lamps.
Assembly of the main PCBA with LED lamps occurs in Taiwan over approximately 12
steps, which involve the creation of the PCBA via surface mount technology (“SMT”) and the
placement of LED lamps onto the non-printed side of the PCBA:
1. Mount handling fixture to the integrated circuit (“IC”) side of a Chinese-origin bare
printed circuit board (“PCB”);
2. Print components onto the PCB;
3. Inspect solder paste;
4. Mount remaining miscellaneous components onto PCB;
5. Cure the board in reflow oven;
6. Remove fixture(s) mounted to the IC side of the PCB in step one and mount a fixture
to the LED side;
7. Print onto the reverse side of the PCB;
8. Inspect solder paste;
9. Mount components;
10. Cure the board in a reflow oven;
11. Apply conformal coating on PCB;
12. Install gasket onto PCB.
Next, assembly of the HUB board and receiver card occurs in the following steps:
1. Paste installation stickers to a lower/bottom shell (the “turtle shell”) and blacken the
bottom with a pen;
2. Insert the receiver card into the HUB board and place the HUB board into the bottom
of the turtle shell;
3. Divide the indicator light board into several smaller boards, affix the indicator lights,
and connect them with the module board adapter;
4. Paste and scan serial number; and
5. Install the HUB board assembly on the turtle shell and check for flatness and gaps.
The fully assembled PCBA with LED lamps is then combined with the HUB board and
receiver card assembly to form the completed module board. Once combined, the LED lamps
can light and display video or photographic images.
The cabinet is the second major subassembly of the completed UPanelS. The cabinet
houses the module board and provides the power supply to the finished device. The cabinet also
enables the combination of multiple module boards to create larger-format arrays (e.g., 4x4 or
2x1 configurations). The cabinet is comprised almost entirely of Chinese-origin components,
and contains the following sub-assemblies: power supply adapter board, power supply, motor
assembly, power signal combination connector, and wall controller.
The cabinet is assembled in Taiwan in approximately six steps:
1. Affix the power cables to the cabinet;
2. Affix the lacing strip, three core cables, and ground cables to the cabinet;
3. Affix the adapter board to the cabinet;

4. Assemble left and right-side motor and assemble cables with electric screwdriver;
5. Connect internet cables to the power supply adapter board; and
6. Fit the insulating gasket on the power supply cover and affix the power supply cover.
Once the module board and cabinet are completed, they are shipped to China where they
are combined into a complete UPanelS unit and tested for functionality. Afterwards, the
UPanelS is disassembled and separately packaged for shipment to the United States.
Each UPanelS will be imported into the United States in one of two ways: (1) the
UPanelS’s finished module board and cabinet are imported as two separately packaged, unique
product numbers entered in the same shipment; or (2) the module board and cabinet are entered
in the same shipment as separately packaged products along with a separate “wall controller
unit.”3 You state that the UpanelS is imported in an unassembled condition because the finished
module board and cabinet are delicate and that shipping the components in a single box may
damage the panels. To aid installation in the United States, each module board or cabinet will be
assigned a serial number or code allowing for the recombination of each module board with its
corresponding cabinet.
ISSUE:
What is the country of origin of the Unilumin UPanelS for purposes of U.S. Government
procurement?
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
CBP issues country of origin advisory rulings and final determinations as to whether an
article is or would be a product of a designated country or instrumentality for the purposes of
granting waivers of certain “Buy American” restrictions in U.S. law or practice for products
offered for sale to the U.S. Government, pursuant to subpart B of Part 177, 19 CFR 177.21177.31, which implements Title III of the TAA, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511-2518).
CBP’s authority to issue advisory rulings and final determinations is set forth in 19
U.S.C. 2515(b)(1), which states:
For the purposes of this subchapter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide for
the prompt issuance of advisory rulings and final determinations on whether, under
section 2518(4)(B) of this title, an article is or would be a product of a foreign
country or instrumentality designated pursuant to section 2511(b) of this title.
Emphasis added.
The Secretary of the Treasury’s authority mentioned above, along with other customs
revenue functions, are delegated to CBP in the Appendix to 19 CFR Part 0 - Treasury
Department Order No. 100-16, 68 Fed. Reg. 28,322 (May 23, 2003).
The rule of origin set forth under 19 U.S.C. 2518(4)(B) states:

According to the request, the wall controller unit is a third sub-module that, when connected to the UPanelS,
receives data signals from a source and translates and transmits those signals to the receiver card component of the
module board. When fully assembled, the UPanelS connects to the wall controller via a category 5 cable. The wall
controller unit will originate in Germany, Taiwan, or the United States.
An article is a product of a country or instrumentality only if (i) it is wholly the
growth, product, or manufacture of that country or instrumentality, or (ii) in the
case of an article which consists in whole or in part of materials from another
country or instrumentality, it has been substantially transformed into a new and
different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of
the article or articles from which it was so transformed.
See also 19 CFR 177.22(a).
In rendering advisory rulings and final determinations for purposes of U.S. Government
procurement, CBP applies the provisions of subpart B of Part 177 consistent with the Federal
Procurement Regulation (“FAR”). See 19 CFR 177.21. In this regard, CBP recognizes that the
FAR restricts the U.S. Government’s purchase of products to U.S.-made or designated country
end products for acquisitions subject to the TAA. See 48 CFR 25.403(c)(1).
The FAR, 48 CFR 25.003, defines “designated country end product” as:
a WTO GPA [World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement]
country end product, an FTA [Free Trade Agreement] country end product, a least
developed country end product, or a Caribbean Basin country end product.
Section 25.003 defines “WTO GPA country end product” as an article that:
(1) Is wholly the growth, product, or manufacture of a WTO GPA country; or
(2) In the case of an article that consists in whole or in part of materials from
another country, has been substantially transformed in a WTO GPA country
into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use
distinct from that of the article or articles from which it was transformed. The
term refers to a product offered for purchase under a supply contract, but for
purposes of calculating the value of the end product includes services (except
transportation services) incidental to the article, provided that the value of those
incidental services does not exceed that of the article itself.
Once again, we note that the subject UPanelS devices are assembled in Taiwan, a TAAdesignated country, with components sourced from TAA-designated countries (e.g., Taiwan,
Japan) and non-TAA-designated countries (e.g., China).
In determining whether a substantial transformation occurs, CBP considers the totality of
the circumstances and makes such determinations on a case-by-case basis. The country of origin
of the item’s components, extent of the processing that occurs within a country, and whether
such processing renders a product with a new name, character, and use are primary
considerations in such cases. Additionally, CBP considers factors such as the resources
expended on product design and development, the extent and nature of post-assembly inspection
and testing procedures, and worker skill required during the actual manufacturing process when
determining whether a substantial transformation has occurred. No one factor is determinative.
Assembly operations that are minimal or simple, as opposed to complex or meaningful,
will generally not result in a substantial transformation. Factors which may be relevant in this
evaluation include the nature of the operation (including the number of components assembled),
the number of different operations involved, and whether a significant period of time, skill,
detail, and quality control are necessary for the assembly operation. See C.S.D. 80-111, C.S.D.

85-25, C.S.D. 89-110, C.S.D. 89-118, C.S.D. 90-51, and C.S.D. 90-97. If the manufacturing or
combining process is a minor one, which leaves the identity of the article intact, a substantial
transformation has not occurred. See Uniroyal, Inc. v. United States, 3 CIT 220, 542 F. Supp.
1026 (1982), aff’d, 702 F.2d 1022 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (imported shoe uppers added to an outer sole
in the United States were the “very essence of the finished shoe” and the character of the product
remained unchanged and did not undergo substantial transformation in the United States).
The Court of International Trade (“CIT”) more recently interpreted the meaning of
“substantial transformation” in Energizer Battery, Inc. v. United States, 190 F. Supp. 3d 1308
(2016). Energizer involved the determination of the country of origin of a flashlight, referred to
as the Generation II flashlight. All the components of the flashlight were of Chinese origin,
except for a white LED and a hydrogen getter. The components were imported into the United
States and assembled into the finished Generation II flashlight. The Energizer court reviewed
the “name, character and use” test utilized in determining whether a substantial transformation
had occurred and noted, citing Uniroyal, Inc., 3 C.I.T. at 226, that when “the post-importation
processing consists of assembly, courts have been reluctant to find a change in character,
particularly when the imported articles do not undergo a physical change.” Energizer at 1318.
In addition, the court noted that “when the end-use was pre-determined at the time of
importation, courts have generally not found a change in use.” Energizer at 1319, citing as an
example, National Hand Tool Corp.
In reaching its decision, the Energizer court expressed the question as one of whether the
imported components retained their names after they were assembled into the finished
Generation II flashlights. The court found “[t]he constitutive components of the Generation II
flashlight do not lose their individual names as a result [of] the post-importation assembly.” The
court also found that the components had a predetermined end-use as parts and components of a
Generation II flashlight at the time of importation and did not undergo a change in use due to the
post-importation assembly process. Finally, the court did not find the assembly process to be
sufficiently complex as to constitute a substantial transformation. Thus, the court found that
Energizer’s imported components did not undergo a change in name, character, or use as a result
of the post-importation assembly into a finished Generation II flashlight. Virtually all of the
components of the Generation II flashlight, including the most important component, the LED,
were of Chinese origin. Accordingly, the court determined that China was the correct country of
origin of the Generation II flashlights for purposes of government procurement.
The CIT has also looked at the character of an article to determine whether its identity
has been substantially transformed through assembly or processing. For example, in Uniroyal,
Inc. v. United States, 3 C.I.T. at 225, the court held that imported shoe uppers added to an outer
sole in the United States were the “very essence of the finished shoe” and thus the character of
the product remained unchanged and did not undergo substantial transformation in the United
States. Similarly, in National Juice Products Association v. United States, 10 C.I.T. 48, 61, 628
F. Supp. 978, 991 (1986), the court held that imported orange juice concentrate “imparts the
essential character” to the completed orange juice and thus was not substantially transformed
into a product of the United States.
As CBP examines the totality of circumstances in its substantial transformation analysis,
considerations such as the origin of a light source or a PCBA, while not determinative, may be
considered together with the nature of the overall assembly operations. For example, in
Headquarters Ruling Letter (“HQ”) H304910, dated April 21, 2020, CBP determined the country
of origin of three models of LED automotive lamps to be Mexico, the country in which the
PCBA and LED lights were assembled together. For all three models, CBP determined that the
assembly of the Japanese-origin LEDs and the Mexican-origin PCBAs in Mexico resulted in a

substantial transformation. CBP determined that the SMT and wave soldering processes
incorporated a large number of discrete parts onto a printed circuit board, which was a
sufficiently “complex and meaningful” operation so as to result in a substantial transformation of
the parts making up the product’s PCBA. In that case, LEDs were one of the discrete
components incorporated into the PCBA. See also, HQ H331515, dated December 6, 2023
(citing HQ H304910 in determining the country of origin of a refrigerator shelf light, which
included a PCBA and an LED light system, to be Mexico, the country of origin for the light’s
PCBA); and C.S.D. 85-25, 19 Cust. Bull. 544 (1985) (finding assembly of more than 50
components onto PCB results in substantial transformation).
CBP has also determined the origin of image or video-producing devices to be the
country in which the underlying PCBA is produced. In HQ H218360, dated September 11,
2013, CBP considered the origin of devices used to “capture motion picture images and sound
and send them digitally…to a similar unit at a different location….” In that matter, we found
that the origin of the devices was the country in which the underlying “video processing
electronic circuit board” and “network filter electronic circuit board” were produced because
these items imparted the character of the devices as a video conferencing server. See also HQ
H114395, dated May 18, 2011 (determining the country of origin of a pocket projector to be the
location of assembly of the light engine module and PCBA).
In the present matter, and in accordance with HQ H304910 and H218360, the assembly
of the main PCBA in Taiwan results in a substantial transformation. We find that the SMT and
curing processes incorporate a large number of discrete component parts onto a PCB, which is a
sufficiently complex and meaningful operation so as to result in a substantial transformation of
the parts making up the PCBA. Similar to HQ H331515, a variety of electronic components are
added to the raw PCB via SMT in Taiwan to create the subject PCBAs. This includes the
attachment of the Taiwanese-origin LED lamps. Of particular importance, we also note that it is
the PCBA that enables the device to distribute power to the LED lamps and therefore imparts the
character of the subject device. In addition, the Taiwanese-origin LED lamps also perform the
important function of displaying the images to be viewed. Furthermore, we find that the
processing in China, which consists of “installing” and “attaching” the subassemblies together
for testing, is not sufficiently complex and meaningful to result in a substantial transformation.
Based on the information provided, we therefore conclude that the processing in Taiwan results
in a product with a new name, character, and use, i.e., an LED device capable of forming and
displaying images.
Finally, as outlined above, after final assembly in China, each UPanelS unit will be
separated into the module board, cabinet, and sometimes a wall controller unit for shipment to
the United States. Here, we note that, although the devices will be disassembled for shipment,
the components will nevertheless represent a single item of commerce if shipped together. See
HQ H100055, dated May 28, 2010 (finding a medical patient lift imported unassembled to be a
single unit for country of origin purposes when shipped together).
Based on the analysis above, we find that the country of origin of the subject UPanelS
devices is Taiwan and, therefore, the devices would be the product of a foreign country or
instrumentality designated pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 2511(b)(1).
HOLDING:
Based on the facts and analysis set forth above, the country of origin of the instant
UPanelS will be Taiwan.

Notice of this final determination will be given in the Federal Register, as required by 19
CFR 177.29. Any party-at-interest other than the party which requested this final determination
may request, pursuant to 19 CFR 177.31, that CBP reexamine the matter anew and issue a new
final determination. Pursuant to 19 CFR 177.30, any party-at-interest may, within 30 days of
publication of the Federal Register Notice referenced above, seek judicial review of this final
determination before the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Sincerely,

Alice A. Kipel, Executive Director
Regulations and Rulings
Office of Trade
[FR Doc. 2024-13113 Filed: 6/13/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/14/2024]