The Manufacturer’s I.D. – What Is It?

When merchandise is entered into the U.S., part of the declaration made to US Customs on the entry summary (CBP Form 7501) is that of the Manufacturer Identification Code (MID).

This code is intended to identify the manufacturer of the merchandise and together with the name and address of the invoicing party (whose invoice accompanies the Customs entry), an MID code is constructed.

Special attention should be paid to textile shipments, as the manufacturer should be construed to refer to the actual manufacturer in accordance with 19 CFR §102.23(a) and the Appendix to 19 CFR Part 102 – Textile and Apparel Manufacturer Identification.

This code is required for all entry and entry summaries, including informal entries, filed on CBP form 7501.

So how do we put this code together anyway? The following rules explain how to construct the MID.*

These instructions provide for the construction of an identifying code for a manufacturer or shipper from its name and address. The code can be up to 15 characters in length, with no inserted spaces.

To begin, for the first 2 characters, use the ISO code for the actual country of origin of the goods. The exception to this rule is Canada. “CA” is NOT a valid country for the manufacturer code; instead, show as one of the appropriate province codes listed below:

ALBERTA - XA
BRITISH COLUMBIA - XC
MANITOBA - XM
NEW BRUNSWICK - XB
NEWFOUNDLAND (LABRADOR) - XW
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES - XT
NOVA SCOTIA - XN
NUNAVUT - XV
ONTARIO - XO
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - XP
QUEBEC - XQ
SASKATCHEWAN - XS
YUKON TERRITORY - XY

Next, use the first three characters from the first two “words” of the name. If there is only one “word” in the name, then use only the first three characters from the first name. For example, Amalgamated Plastics Corp. would be “AMAPLA” and Bergstrom would be “BER.”

If there are two or more initials together, treat them as a single word. For example, A.B.C. Company or A B C Company would yield “ABCCOM.” O.A.S.I.S. Corp. would yield “OASCOR.” Dr. S.A. Smith yields “DRSA,” Shavings B L Inc. yields “SHABL.”

In the manufacturer name, ignore the English words a, an, and, of, and the. For example, “The Embassy of Spain” would yield “EMBSPA.”

Portions of a name separated by a hyphen are to be treated as a single word. For example, “Rawles-Aden Corp.” or “Rawles – Aden Corp.” would both yield “RAWCOR.” Some names will include numbers. For examples, “20th Century Fox” would yield “20TCEN” and “Concept 2000” yields “CON200.”

Some words in the title of the foreign manufacturer’s name should not be used for the purpose of constructing the MID. For example, most textile factories in Macau start with the same words, “Fabrica de Artigos de Vestuario” which means “Factory of Clothing.” For a factory named “Fabrica de Artigos de Vestuario JUMP HIGH Ltd,” the portion of the factory name that identifies it as a unique entity is “JUMP HIGH.” This is the portion of the name that should be used to construct the MID. Otherwise, all of the MIDs from Macau would be the same, using “FABDE,” which is incorrect.

Similarly, many factories in Indonesia begin with the prefix PT, such as “PT Morich Indo Fashion.” In Russia, other prefixes are used, such as “JSC,” “OAO,” “OOO,” and “ZAO.” These prefixes should be eliminated for the purpose of constructing the MID.

Next, find the largest number on the street address line and use up to the first four numbers. For example, “11455 Main Street Suite 9999” would yield “1145.” A suite number or a post office box should be used if it contains the largest number. For example, “232 Main Street Suite 1234” would yield “1234.” If the numbers in the street address are spelled out, such as “One Thousand Century Plaza,” there will be no numbers in this section of the MID. However, if the address is “One Thousand Century Plaza Suite 345,” this would yield “345.”

When commas or hyphens separate numbers, ignore all punctuation and use the number that remains. For examples, “12,34,56 Alaska Road” and “12-34-56 Alaska Road” would yield “1234.” When numbers are separated by a space, the space is a delimiter and the larger of the two numbers should be selected. For example, “Apt. 509 2727 Cleveland St.” yields “2727.”

Finally, use the first three alpha characters from the city name. “Tokyo” would be “TOK,” “St. Michel” would be “STM,” “18-Mile High” would be “MIL,” and “The Hague” would be “HAG.” Notice that numerals in the city line are to be ignored.

For city-states, use the country name to compose the first three alpha characters. For examples, Hong Kong would be “HON,” Singapore would be “SIN,” and Macau would be “MAC.”

General Rules:

Ignore all punctuation, such as commas, periods, apostrophes and ampersands. Ignore all single character initials, such as the “S” in “Thomas S. Delvaux Company.” Ignore leading spaces in front of any name or address.

Listed below are examples of manufacturer names and addresses and their MID codes:

LA VIE DE FRANCE
243 Rue de la Payees
62591 Bremond, France
MID: FRLAVIE243BRE

20TH CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES
5 Ricardo Munoz, Suite 5880
Caracas, Venezuela
MID: VE20TCEN5880CAR

THE E.K. RODGERS COMPANIES
One Hawthorne Lane
London, England SW1Y5HO
MID: GBEKRODLON

CARDUCCIO AND JONES
88 Canberra Avenue
Sidney, Australia
MID: AUCARJON88SID

N. MINAMI & CO., LTD.
2-6, 8-Chome Isogami-Dori
Fukiai-Ku
Kobe, Japan
MID: JPMINCO26KOB

*These rules are taken from Appendix 2 of DHS’ CBP Form 7501 Instructions, updated March 17, 2011, a copy of which may be obtained here.

Questions/comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com