Boll v. United States

57 Cust. Ct. 256, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1777
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 3, 1966
DocketC.D. 2777
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 57 Cust. Ct. 256 (Boll 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
Boll v. United States, 57 Cust. Ct. 256, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1777 (cusc 1966).

Opinion

Rao, Chief Judge:

The court is called upon to determine the classification for customs duty purposes of numerous importations of Klystron and photomultiplier tubes imported from England covered by the above-enumerated protest and 62 others listed in schedule A, attached to and forming part of this decision.

The Klystron and photomultiplier tubes were classified by the collector of customs as laboratory apparatus or parts thereof within the provisions of paragraph 360 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108, and duty was imposed thereon at the rate of 27 per centum or 25y2 per centum ad valorem, according to the date of entry for consumption.

The contention of plaintiffs is that both types of tubes are properly subject to classification as articles suitable for producing, rectifying, modifying, controlling, or distributing electrical energy within the purview of paragraph 353 of said act, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T.D. 51802, for which duty at the rate of 15 per centum ad valorem is provided.

"Wlien the case was called for hearing, plaintiffs offered in their behalf the rather extensive testimony of four witnesses. A continuance of the trial was thereupon requested and granted for the presentation of additional testimony. On the appointed day, no new oral testimony was presented, but the parties entered into a stipulation with regard to the Klystron tubes covered by the instant protests, which stipulation was received in evidence as plaintiffs’ exhibit 6, and is set forth in full below:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between counsel for the parties hereto that the merchandise represented [258]*258by the item numbers appearing on Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 3 and on each of the invoices included in the entries, the subject of the protests enumerated in Schedule “A” attached hereto and made a part hereof, consist of klystrons which were classified either as laboratory apparatus or parts of laboratory apparatus under the provision of Paragraph 360, as modified by T.D. 52739, T.D. 52820, and T.D. 54108, and assessed with duty at 25^ or 27 per centum ad valorem;
IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that the merchandise covered by this stipulation consists of articles which in themselves control, modify, distribute, produce or rectify electrical energy; that said articles are in chief value of metal, and that said articles were imported after the effective date of T.D. 51802 which modified the applicable rate contained in Paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to 15 per centum ad valorem;
IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that said articles did not belong to a class or kind of articles which at the times of the importations involved was chiefly used in laboratories either alone or as part of any scientific or laboratory instrument, apparatus, utensil or applicance, or for experimentation or study.

In view of the foregoing stipulation of the parties, it is apparent that the defendant concedes error on the the part of the collector of customs in classifying the Klystron tubes as laboratory instruments or parts thereof in paragraph 360 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the sixth protocol, supra, and the assessment of duty thereon at the appropriate rates, and the validity of the plaintiffs’ claim for classification of said Klystron tubes as articles suitable for producing, rectifying, modifying, controlling, or distributing electrical energy in paragraph 353 of said act, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra, which provides duty thereon at the rate of 15 per centum ad valorem. Judgment will, therefore, be entered sustaining said claim of plaintiffs insofar as it relates to the Klystron tubes covered by the protests before the court.

There remains for the court’s determination the proper classification and dutiable status of the photomultiplier tubes in issue which are specifically identified by the invoice item numbers appearing in a list received in evidence as plaintiffs’ exhibit 1.

During the course of the testimony of plaintiffs’ four witnesses above referred to, the parties orally agreed “that all the photomulti-pliers before the court produce, amplify, and modify electrical energy and perform no other function whatsoever.” But the Government holds to its position that the photomultiplier tubes are, nevertheless, more specifically provided for as classified by the collector of customs as laboratory instruments or parts thereof in paragraph 360 of the tariff act, as modified.

It is basic that to the plaintiffs falls the burden of proof. By the collector’s classification of the photomultiplier tubes as laboratory instruments or parts thereof, it follows that it was his decision that said [259]*259tubes meet the requirements judicially set forth for laboratory instruments and parts. It has been held in the case of R. J. Saunders & Co., Inc. v. United States, 45 CCPA 87, C.A.D. 678, that the term “laboratory instruments” implies use of said instruments for “laboratory purposes.” And, in the case of The A. W. Fenton Co., Inc. v. United States, 49 Cust. Ct. 242, Abstract 67085, this court indicated that “laboratory purposes” referred to use for experiment or study.

For the plaintiffs to succeed herein, it is necessary for them to sustain the twofold burden of overcoming the presumption of correctness attaching to the collector’s classification and of presenting satisfactory evidence to support their opposing claim. Bob Stone Cordage Co. et al. v. United States, 51 CCPA 60, C.A.D. 838. And inherent in the collector’s classification is the presumption that he has found every fact necessary to support his classification. F. H. Kaysing v. United States, 49 CCPA 69, C.A.D. 798; United States v. John A. Steer Co., 46 CCPA 132, C.A.D. 715. As applied to the present controversy, said presumption is that the collector of customs found that the photomultiplier tubes presently before the court were used for laboratory purposes of experiment or study.

Our first consideration, therefore, is, has said presumption been overcome? While, as stated above, plaintiffs have presented the rather extensive testimony of four witnesses, in the opinion of the court, said testimony falls short of the proof required. In the first place, the experience of two of plaintiffs’ witnesses did not relate back to the time of the early importations of the photomultiplier tubes at bar. The entry papers before the court disclose that the importations covered a period from March 11, 1958, to March 24, 1961. Two of plaintiffs’ witnesses had no familiarity with photomultiplier tubes or their uses prior to 1960. Moreover, the testimony is in vague and general terms rather than in language clear and specific as to the nature and function of the uses to which the photomultiplier tubes were put in order to negate the presumption of the collector’s classification that, in their use, said tubes were used for laboratory purposes of experiment and study. As typical of the generality of the testimony, we quote the following excerpt from the record:

If we consider the tube type 9524 which is listed as 9524, 9524A, 9524B, and 9524S, I have seen this equipment in use in oil well lugging equipment;

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Related

Boll v. United States
61 Cust. Ct. 282 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
Boll v. United States
55 C.C.P.A. 86 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Cust. Ct. 256, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boll-v-united-states-cusc-1966.