Agruba Trading Co. v. United States

14 Cust. Ct. 338, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 404
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 26, 1945
DocketNo. 6104; Entry No. 97707, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 14 Cust. Ct. 338 (Agruba Trading 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
Agruba Trading Co. v. United States, 14 Cust. Ct. 338, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 404 (cusc 1945).

Opinion

Lawbencb, Judge:

Three appeals for reappraisement filed by the importer were consolidated and tried as one case below.

Near the close of the trial the Government moved —

* * * to dismiss the importer’s appeal for reappraisement upon the ground * * * that the exporter has testified that the invoice does not contain a statement of the currency in which this merchandise was bought and sold, and hence it is not a compliance with the provisions of section 481 of the Tariff Act of 1930 * * *.

We assume that, although the motion was addressed to the “appeal” in the singular form, it was meant to relate to the entire case, in. view of the act of consolidation.

This motion was taken under advisement by the trial judge, and in his determination of the case the motion was denied.

Concerning the value of the merchandise, the trial judge was of the opinion that the importer had failed to overcome the presumptively correct export value found by the appraiser for the drawn gut in controversy, imported from Spain in 1937, and accordingly deter[340]*340mined the value of the merchandise to be that returned by the appraiser (Reap. 'Dec. 5957).

Each of the parties to this litigation has filed an application' for review of the decision and judgment of the trial judge.

We shall consider first the application of the Government which alleges that the court below erred in the following particulars:

1. In denying the motion to dismiss importer’s appeals, said motion having been made by the Government upon the grounds that the invoice did not contain a statement of the currency in which the merchandise was bought and sold, as required by section 481 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
2. In finding and holding:
* * * that the testimony of the exporter was sufficient to establish prima facie that the price at which merchandise such as that here in issue was, at the time of exportation of the instant merchandise, freely offered for sale to all purchasers in Barcelona, Spain, in usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, was the invoiced and entered value in each case, less packing; that Barcelona was a principal market of the country of exportation for such merchandise, and that such values were the foreign value, as defined in section 402 (c), suprat as it read prior to the passage of the Customs Administrative Act of 1938.

The conclusion we have reached herein renders it unnecessary for us to review the second assignment of error.

The nature of the first assignment, however, requires that it be-disposed of before considering other phases of the matter.

It is the contention of the Government that since the exporter has. testified-—

* * * that the invoice does not contain a statement of the currency at which this merchandise was bought and sold, * * * the importer has not cómplied with the provisions of Section 481 of the Tariff Act of 1930; *' * * .

The motion was evidently predicated upon the provision in section 501 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (46 Stat. 590), which provides in part that—

* * * . No such appeal filed by the consignee, or his agent shall be deemed valid, unless he has complied with all the provisions of this Act relating to the entry and appraisement of such merchandise.

Pertinent portions of the testimony of the exporter with reference-to the currency of the invoice are here set forth:

Q. Will you please explain why the invoice was made out in American dollars-when your currency of sale was in pesetas?
A. When I had ready for shipment, I made the invoice, and I go to the American consul, and I ask for the consular invoice, which I understand is the blue-onel He told me that has to be in dollars, so I say, “What I have to do?” I asked what kind of rate, so he told me at the rate of 17 pesetas for one dollar, so I go back and make this invoice out. I converted the pesetas into dollars at the rate of 17,,what the consul told me, and I go back and give him the consular-invoice and showed him the bills, and he told me to come an hour later, and I have to pay $2.50, and I shipped it out to the United States. That is why I get here dollars converted from the pesetas.
Q. So that the price in pesetas that you sold to your brother can be determined by multiplying the American dollars by 17; is that right? — A. Yes, youi [341]*341have to get the exact price what is the pesetas if you take the dollar at 17 pesetas per dollar.
Q. You say you were told to do that by the American consul, to change your pesetas on the invoice into dollars?
A. Yes.

In the light of this evidence it is obvious that the witness was precluded by the American consul from setting forth on the invoice a statement of the currency- — pesetas—in which the merchandise was bought and sold. Moreover, the witness also testified that the law of Spain required that in all invoices destined for foreign countries the currency should be stated as that of the country to which shipment was made, that is, if to France, in francs; if to England, in pounds, etc. It is difficult to believe that in .circumstances such as these, if for no other reasons, the Congress ever intended the provision in section 501, supra, together with section 481 (a) (5) or (6) of said act, to deprive the consignee or his agent of the right of review on appeal for reáppraisement.

In denying the Government’s motion to dismiss, the trial judge followed bur decision in Dwyer & Wedemann v. United States, 27 Treas. Dec. 261, T. D. 34809. In that case, which was decided in 1914, the motion to dismiss was predicated upon a provision in paragraph M of section III of the Tariff Act of 1913 (38 Stat. 114) which read:

* * * if the importer, owner, agent, or consignee of such merchandise shall deem the appraisement thereof , too high, and shall have complied with the requirements of law with respect to the entry and appraisement of merchandise, he may within ten days thereafter appeal for reappraisement by giving notice thereof to the collector in writing. * * *. [Italics supplied.]

As expressed in the opinion in that case, the Government there urged that the invoice did not contain-—

* * * a true and full statement of the time when, the place where, the person from whom the same (the merchandise involved) was purchased or agreed to be purchased, * * *.

as required by paragraph D of said act of 1913, a predecessor of section 481, supra.

The Dwyer & Wedemann case was quoted at length and with evident - approval by the trial judge herein. It is so ably reasoned, and the facts of that case so closely parallel the facts here, as to justify its repetition. We there said in part:

Paragraph P of said section [3] provides:
That whenever merchandise imported into the United States is entered by invoice, a declaration upon a form to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, according to the nature of the case, shall be filed with the collector of the port at the time of entry * * *.

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14 Cust. Ct. 338, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agruba-trading-co-v-united-states-cusc-1945.