Acme Shear Co. v. United States

73 Cust. Ct. 168, 386 F. Supp. 513, 73 Ct. Cust. 168, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2994
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 2, 1974
DocketC.D. 4569; Court No. 73-2-00440
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 73 Cust. Ct. 168 (Acme Shear Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acme Shear Co. v. United States, 73 Cust. Ct. 168, 386 F. Supp. 513, 73 Ct. Cust. 168, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2994 (cusc 1974).

Opinion

Boe, Chief Judge:

Plaintiff has moved for summary judgment under rule 8.2 of this court. Defendant, agreeing that no genuine issue of fact exists, has cross-moved for summary judgment in its favor.

From the pleadings and from the testimony submitted by affidavits, it appears that the merchandise in question consists of nonmalleable cast-iron articles not alloyed and not coated or plated with precious metal. The articles, described in the customs invoices as “Grey Iron Castings, Art. 101C,” were imported by the plaintiff from West Germany' and entered at the port of Bridgeport, Connecticut, on February 25 amd July 7,1971.

Exhibits introduced by the plaintiff (exhibits 1, 2, 3 and 4) ‘and by the defendant (exhibit A) disclose that the imported merchandise in question is castings of good quality bearing a well-defined dedication to a particular use and purpose; that is — blades or parts of scissors. From the affidavits submitted by the parties, it appears to be undisputed that.the articles are rough castings not processed beyond the casting stage except for cleaning an excess of the metal, referred to as “gate,” remaining after molten metal is poured into the mold for the purpose of creating the casting. Accordingly, further processing consisting of numerous other operations is required to be performed ‘by the plaintiff before the imported castings attain the stage of completion as a finished shear blade.

The articles in question were assessed with a duty of 4.5 cents each plus 13 per centum ad valorem under item 650.89 of the Tariff Schedules of the United ¡States, as modified by Presidential Proclamation 3822 (T.D. 68-9), providing:

[169]*169Schedule 6, Part 3, Subpart E, TSTJS
Scissors and shears (except machines and except shears provided for in any of the foregoing provisions), and blades therefor:
* * * * * * *
650.89 Valued over 50 cents 'but not over $1.75 per dozen_4.50 each +13% ad val.

The plaintiff, however, contends that the articles are subject to a duty at a rate of 0.5 per centum ad valorem tinder item 657.09 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States, as modified, providing:

Schedule 6, Part 3, Subpart G, TSUS
Subpart G headnote:
1. This subpart covers only articles of metal which are not more specifically provided for elsewhere in the tariff schedules.
* # 3c í*í ‡ ‡ %
Articles of iron or steel, not coated or plated with precious metal:
Cast-iron articles, not alloyed:
657.09 Not malleable_ 0.5% ad val.

In support of its contention, the plaintiff submits that the instant case is controlled by the decisions in a series of cases relating to castings and forgings heretofore determined by this court and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. United States v. The Singer Manufacturing Company, 37 CCPA 104, C.A.D. 427 (1950) ; Ford Motor Company v. United States, 27 Cust. Ct. 22, C.D. 1342 (1951); United States v. J. Gerber & Co., Inc., et al., 58 CCPA 110, C.A.D. 1013 (1971) and John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 316, C.D. 4209, 326 F.Supp. 973 (1971).

It will be noted that in the Singer case, supra, which has been cited repeatedly as authority for the several subsequent decisions relating to “castings” as well as “forgings,” the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals viewed as inapplicable the general principle of customs law formerly enunciated in the case of B. A. McKenzie & Co., Inc. v. United States, 3 Cust. Ct. 72, C.D. 206 (1939), i.e. — that material so advanced in manufacture as to cause it to clearly appear that it is incapable of being made into more than one article shall be deemed, even though unfinished, to have been so dedicated to a single use as to find its status as a part of the article. In rejecting the application of this doctrine of “dedication to a single use” as it relates to “rough castings,” the [170]*170court predicated its decision on the provisions of paragraph 327 of the Tariff Act of 1930,19 U.S.0.1001, which provided:

[As modified by the trade agreement with Canada] Cast-iron andirons, plates, stove plates, sadirons,' tailors’ irons, hatters’ irons, but not including electric irons, and castings and vessels wholly of cast iron, including all castings of iron or cast-iron plates which, have been chiseled, drilled, machined, or otherwise advanced in condition by processes or operations subsequent to the casting process but not made up into articles, or parts thereof, or finished machine parts -L- 10% ad val.
[Emphasis supplied.]

In construing paragraph 327, the court stated (Id., p. 107) :

It seems clear to us that the first provision of paragraph 327, supra, above referred to, to wit: “castings and vessels wholly of cast iron,” covers castings of iron as they first arrive in commerce in their rough cast condition as they come from the foundry and that the second provision above referred to includes castings of iron which have been “advanced in condition by processes or operations subsequent to the casting process” provided they were “not made up into articles, or parts thereof, or finished machine parts.”
The provision for excluding “finished machine parts” convinces us that castings of iron which might be regarded as unfinished machine parts are within the paragraph provided they are not made up into articles or parts thereof.

Again, the court continued (Id., p. 108) :

* * * They are castings of iron; they have not been advanced in condition subsequent to the casting process so as to be made up into articles, or parts thereof, or into finished parts. * * *

The construction of paragraph 327 of the Tariff Act of 1930 relating to castings, thus adopted in the Singer case, has been followed by this court in the case of Ford Motor Company v. United States, 27 Cust. Ct. 22, C.D. 1342 (1951) and in the case of John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 316, C.D. 4209, 326 F. Supp. 973 (1971).

Were the provisions of paragraph 327 ,of the Tariff Act of 1930 in effect at the time of the importation of the merchandise in the instant case, this court, indeed, would be reluctant to stray from the decisions afore-cited. However, the provisions of the Tariff Schedules of the. United States existing at the time the merchandise in this case entered the United States are materially different. To predicate a decision in the;case.at bar, therefore, upon prior court decisions, which, in turnj were based upon a tariff' provision no longer in, existence, would do' [171]*171violence to the congressional intent expressed in'the present applicable schedule.

In the revised Tariff Schedules of the United States proposed by the Tariff Commission in its classification study of November 15, 1960, it' was provided:

Schedule 6, Part 3, Subpart G-
Subpart G.

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Related

Acme Shear Co. v. United States
524 F.2d 1212 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1975)
John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States
74 Cust. Ct. 10 (U.S. Customs Court, 1975)

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73 Cust. Ct. 168, 386 F. Supp. 513, 73 Ct. Cust. 168, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acme-shear-co-v-united-states-cusc-1974.