ARTICLE: “The Ambiguity of ‘Made in France’? An Overview of the (Customs!) Laws Applicable to ‘Made in’ Products” – February 4, 2021
"Made in France" does not necessarily mean 100% French. Labeling a product as "Made in" requires compliance with complex but clear customs regulations that are strictly enforced.
The “Made in France” label is a marketing claim—optional except in certain cases—that is entirely unambiguous and clear… (1) provided that one understands the complex customs rules governing the determination of “non-preferential origin” and (2) provided that the buyer understands (after translation!) that “made in France” does not necessarily mean 100% French.
1. There is no legal ambiguity regarding the customs rules that allow for the use of the “Made in France” label, which corresponds to the non-preferential origin of the goods. What does “non-preferential origin” mean? It is difficult to explain this here in just a few lines, except through highly simplified examples. It involves determining the “nationality” of a good, that is, the country where the “last substantial processing” took place. For illustrative purposes only, examples include:
- involves a specific process (cutting and sewing Argentine leather in France to make a bracelet);
- The work carried out in France on Argentine leather is considered substantial if it results in a new product that falls under a different tariff code than that of the raw material (each good corresponds to a 4-, 6-, 8-, or 10-digit numerical code). This is known as the “change in tariff classification” rule. Argentine leather enters the factory; a French watchband comes out;
- The "French content" is considered substantial if the value of each French component and the cost of French labor exceed a certain percentage of the price of components sourced from third countries (such as Argentina or Tunisia).
Non-preferential origin, therefore, involves determining the SINGLE nationality of an item of jewelry, for example, even though its components (gold, leather strap, clasp, gemstone, etc.) originate from different countries and the successive manufacturing steps (melting the gold, cutting the leather, gilding the clasp, etc.) are carried out in one or more countries. Note that the supplier to the manufacturer claiming the “made in” designation could be a French company… that sources its materials from Argentina! In absolute terms, this piece of jewelry has no country of origin—or, rather, it has five. However, through a legal fiction, it is possible to determine THE SINGLE country of origin for the jewelry.
There can be no “Made in France” without a thorough understanding of the rules governing non-preferential origin, which cannot be mastered without knowing the customs fundamentals of type, origin, and value.