19 CFR § 191.9 - Agency.
(a) General. An owner of the identified merchandise, the designated imported merchandise and/or the substituted other merchandise that is used to produce the exported articles may employ another person to do part, or all, of the manufacture or production under 19 U.S.C. 1313(a) or (b) and § 191.2(q) of this subpart. For purposes of this section, such owner is the principal and such other person is the agent. Under 19 U.S.C. 1313(b), the principal shall be treated as the manufacturer or producer of merchandise used in manufacture or production by the agent. The principal must be able to establish by its manufacturing records, the manufacturing records of its agent(s), or the manufacturing records of both (or all) parties, compliance with all requirements of this part (see, in particular, § 191.26 of this part).
(b) Requirements—(1) Contract. The manufacturer must establish that it is the principal in a contract between it and its agent who actually does the work on either the designated or substituted merchandise, or both, for the principal. The contract must include:
(i) Terms of compensation to show that the relationship is an agency rather than a sale;
(ii) How transfers of merchandise and articles will be recorded by the principal and its agent;
(iii) The work to be performed on the merchandise by the agent for the principal;
(iv) The degree of control that is to be exercised by the principal over the agent's performance of work;
(v) The party who is to bear the risk of loss on the merchandise while it is in the agent's custody; and
(vi) The period that the contract is in effect.
(2) Ownership of the merchandise by the principal. The records of the principal and/or the agent must establish that the principal had legal and equitable title to the merchandise before receipt by the agent. The right of the agent to assert a lien on the merchandise for work performed does not derogate the principal's ownership interest under this section.
(3) Sales prohibited. The relationship between the principal and agent must not be that of a seller and buyer. If the parties' records show that, with respect to the merchandise that is the subject of the principal-agent contract, the merchandise is sold to the agent by the principal, or the articles manufactured by the agent are sold to the principal by the agent, those records are inadequate to establish existence of a principal-agency relationship under this section.
(c) Specific manufacturing drawback rulings; general manufacturing drawback rulings—(1) Owner. An owner who intends to operate under the principal-agent procedures of this section must state that intent in any letter of notification of intent to operate under a general manufacturing drawback ruling filed under § 191.7 of this subpart or in any application for a specific manufacturing drawback ruling filed under § 191.8 of this subpart.
(2) Agent. Each agent operating under this section must have filed a letter of notification of intent to operate under a general manufacturing drawback ruling (see § 191.7), for an agent, covering the articles manufactured or produced, or have obtained a specific manufacturing drawback ruling (see § 191.8), as appropriate.
(d) Certificate; Drawback entry; Certificate of manufacture and delivery—(1) Contents of certificate; when filing not required. Principals and agents operating under this section are not required to file a certificate of delivery (for the merchandise transferred from the principal to the agent) or a certificate of manufacture and delivery (for the articles transferred from the agent to the principal). The principal for whom processing is conducted under this section shall file, with any drawback claim or certificate of manufacture and delivery based on an article manufactured or produced under the principal-agent procedures in this section, a certificate, subject to the recordkeeping requirements of §§ 191.15 of this subpart and 191.26 of this part, certifying that upon request by Customs it can establish the following:
(i) Quantity, kind and quality of merchandise transferred from the principal to the agent;
(ii) Date of transfer of the merchandise from the principal to the agent;
(iii) Date of manufacturing or production operations performed by the agent;
(iv) Total quantity and description of merchandise appearing in or used in manufacturing or production operations performed by the agent;
(v) Total quantity and description of articles produced in manufacturing or production operations performed by the agent;
(vi) Quantity, kind and quality of articles transferred from the agent to the principal; and
(vii) Date of transfer of the articles from the agent to the principal.
(2) Blanket certificate. The certificate required under paragraph (d)(1) of this section may be a blanket certificate for a particular kind and quality of merchandise for a stated period.