Biological Raw Products Co. v. United States

25 Cust. Ct. 1, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 20, 1950
DocketC. D. 1253
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 25 Cust. Ct. 1 (Biological Raw Products 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
Biological Raw Products Co. v. United States, 25 Cust. Ct. 1, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1 (cusc 1950).

Opinion

Cole, Judge:

Vandegrift & Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 30, T. D. 40865, concerned certain ovarian and pituitary cattle glands containing active ingredients used by drug manufacturers. While the fresh gland was most desirable, it could not be safely transported from Argentina, the country of exportation, unless continuously frozen prior to the time of use. Lack of sufficient refrigerator space, when required, made shipment of the fresh glands impractical. The only feasible method of transporting the glands, to retain the valuable therapeutic substances, was to dry and grind them, and ship them in powdered form. The drying and grinding processes were found by the court to be essential for proper packing and to prevent decay or deterioration pending manufacture. Accordingly, the merchandise was held to be classifiable as a crude drug, as [2]*2the importer had claimed, rather than an advanced drug, as assessed by the collector.

The same issue was presented in G. D. Searle & Co. v. United States, 21 Cust. Ct. 112, C. D. 1138. There, the merchandise consisted of concentrated ox gall used for treatment of biliary disorders and diseases of the biliary tract. The substance was obtained from the gall bag after its removal from the livers of cattle. The green or fresh gall is highly perishable, easily putrifies, and undergoes considerable decomposition in very short time. -To preserve its medicinal value, the substance was subjected to a heating process through the medium' of a steam-jacketed kettle in which the moisture content of 90 to 93 per centum was reduced to 25 per centum. The quantity evaporated was not limited to the amount intended to be withdrawn to bring the concentrated material to the advanced condition desired for further processing.' On the contrary, following importation, water had to be added to give the substance a usable concentration. We found, as a . matter of fact, that the imported concentrated ox gall was no more than fresh gall with water removed, that it contained the same therapeutically valuable constituents as the fresh gall, and that the treatment applied prior to importation did not advance the substance beyond a crude state within the contemplation of the statute. The conclusion .reversed the collector’s classification as an advanced drug and sustained one for crude drug, claimed by the importer.

The cited cases are controlling of the present one, involving the identical issue. Here, the merchandise consists of dried brains of bovine animals, classified as an advanced drug under paragraph 34 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par'. 34),1 carrying a duty assessment of 10 per centum ad valorem, and claimed to be free of duty as a crude drug under paragraph 1669 of the Tariff Act of-1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1201, par. 1669).2

. Under the fundamental principle that the collector’s action carries the presumption that he found every fact essential to the classification [3]*3adopted by him, United States v. Albers Bros. Milling Co. et al., 35 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 119, C. A. D. 380, it follows that the substance in question meets the statutory definition of a drug, paragraph 34, supra, thereby limiting the issue to the question whether the imported commodity was advanced in condition, as assessed, or crude, as' claimed.

Three witnesses testified on behalf of plaintiff, i. e., the managing director of the foreign exporter who has been familiar with the product for 12 years, an employee of the importing company who saw the merchandise at the time of arrival in this country, and the manufacturing chemist of Ciba Pharmaceutical Products Co. that used the imported material in the manufacture of drug products. Defendant offered no proof. Plaintiff’s undisputed evidence supports the following factual foundation. " ;

The natural brain from the bovine animal, being 80 per centum water, will deteriorate very readily if not maintained under refrigeration or preserved in an acceptable manner. A recognized preservative method is known as the spray process to which the merchandise in question was subjected.

The raw or fresh brain is fed to a rapidly rotating disc that scatters the material into a large chamber, 12 to 15 feet in diameter, with circulating hot air, thus removing the moisture and collecting the resulting bead-like forms at the bottom of the chamber for conveyance into bins or drums.

The sole purpose of the spraying process is to remove water from the natural brain, thereby preventing deterioration and preserving the therapeutic cholesterol (i. e., a substance contained in nerve tissue, blood, bile, etc.), extracted after importation and used in making “various hormones which might be described as male hormones, tes-trones, or female hormones, projestron, which are ingredients of our drugs.” The processing effects no chemical change in the substance. In no way is it advanced in condition. On the contrary, there is a disadvantage in having the finer product because it clouds the screen or filter in manipulating the material after importation to acquire the desired cholesterol.

Counsel for defendant, in their brief, cite several cases containing reference to the term “crude” and its statutory use. None of them, however, follows the reasoning or applies an interpretation different from what is to be found in the Vandegrift & Co. and G. D. Searle & Co. cases, supra. The cases cited by defendant are briefly reviewed.

United States v. Danker & Marston, 2 Ct. Cust. Appls. 522, T. D. 32251, which arose under the Tariff Act of 1897, cited with approval Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Co. v. United States, 94 Fed. 822, and Leber & Meyer v. United States, 135 Fed. 243, presented under the Tariff Act of 1894. All of the cases concerned merchandise classified by [4]*4the collector as a nonenumerated manufactured article. The importer in each instance invoked a provision for articles in a crude state used in dyeing. In sustaining the importer’s claim, the court found that the merchandise was chiefly used for dyeing purposes, and that the processing in the country of exportation did nothing to change the character of the imported article to remove it from the crude state.

The importance of the three cases, just referred to, is their adherence to the established principle that “the term 'crude,’ as used in tariff legislation, is a relative term, its meaning depending upon its use in the context.” United States v. Richard & Co., 8 Ct. Cust. Appls. 304, T. D. 37583.

The rule was applied in Perry Ryer & Co. v. United States, 2 Ct. Cust. Appls. 374, T. D. 32096, which defendant contends — and we agree — is applicable to the present case. There, the merchandise consisted of young fustic dyewood obtained from a shrub or small tree grown in the Mediterranean countries. The roots and branches, containing the valuable dyeing properties, were generally gnarled, irregular, and jagged in shape, so before shipment they were reduced in size by a process of cutting or shredding and then packed in coarse burlap sacks, the condition in which they were imported.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Cust. Ct. 1, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/biological-raw-products-co-v-united-states-cusc-1950.