Border Brokerage Co. v. United States

44 Cust. Ct. 124
United States Customs Court·Decided April 11, 1960·No. C.D. 2165·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Rao, Judge:

The instant case raises the question of the dutiable status of certain imported machine parts, consisting of transfer chairs with chain, and relay valves, for use in connection with whole log debarking machines. The collector of customs at the port of entry classified these articles within the provisions of paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, for parts of machines, not specially provided for. Accordingly, duty was assessed on the transfer chairs and chain at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the modification of said paragraph in the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T.D. 52739, and on the relay valves at the rate of 11% per centum ad valorem, as provided in the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108.

Plaintiff claims that said merchandise is more specifically provided for in paragraph 372, as modified by said trade agreements, at the respective rates of 10 per centum and 8% per centum ad valorem, depending upon the date of entry, as parts of machines for making paper pulp or paper.

The pertinent modifications of paragraph 372 read as follows:

As modified by T.D. 52739, supra:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
* * * * * * *
Machines for making paper pulp or paper_10% ad val.
Other (except * * *)-13%% ad val.
Parts, not specially provided for, wholly or in chief value of metal or porcelain, of any article provided for in any item 372 in this Part:
* * * * * * *
Other -The rate for the article of which they are parts.

[126]*126As modified by T.D. 54108, supra:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
* * * * * * *
Combination candy cutting and wrapping machines; machines for making paper or paper pulp; machines for packaging pipe tobacco; machines for wrapping candy; and machines for wrapping cigarette packages. 8%% ad val.
* * * * * * *
Other (except * * *) 11%% ad val.
Parts, not specially provided for, wholly or in chief value of The rate for metal.or porcelain, of any article provided for in any item 372 the article in this Part. of which they are parts.

The record in this case consists of the testimony of one witness called on behalf of plaintiff, together with certain pictorial and documentary exhibits. It establishes that the imported articles are used in connection with machinery for the removal of the bark from whole logs. The relay valves serve to control and vary the air pressure necessary for the debarking process; the transfer chairs and chain, which are in a cradle shape, help direct the log and carry it through the center of the machine. According to the witness, both items are essential parts of whole log debarkers, without which those machines would not function for their intended purpose. Although there is evidence in the form of advertising matter describing the relay valves tending to indicate that such valves have a multiplicity of uses (defendant’s exhibit A), the witness was of opinion that in the particular size imported, the valves were dedicated to use in whole log debarkers.

A whole log debarker, of the kind here involved, and represented by plaintiff’s illustrative exhibits 2, 3, and 4, is a device used mostly by sawmills, although it is sometimes sold to pulpmills. The main purpose of debarking a whole log with this machine is to permit the utilization of the waste otherwise resulting from the squaring of logs. When a log is squared without prior debarking, the edges and slabs which are cut off are useless, and can only be burned. If tire bark is removed first, the slabs and edges can be sold to pulpmills for making pulp; but pulpmills have no use for these cuttings if the bark has not been removed, as they do not make satisfactory pulp.

The record also establishes that there are several different types of log debarkers. Plaintiff’s witness was familiar with three. He described them as mechanical log debarkers, as illustrated by plaintiff’s illustrative exhibits 2, 3, and 4; hydraulic barkers, which use high-pressure water; and veneer debarkers, used in the plywood industry for barking short logs.

[127]*127It is the position of plaintiff in this case that the subject items are parts of whole log debarking machines, and that such machines are machines for making paper or pulp. The argument is made that since the only reason a lumbermill uses a whole log debarker is to prepare the slabs or edgings for use in making pulp or paper, the whole log debarker is a machine used in the process of making paper pulp or paper.

Counsel for defendant urges that a log debarker is too remote from the pulp or papermaking process to be considered a machine for making either product. It is argued that a log debarker makes neither paper nor pulp, nor even slabs and edgings, and that a machine which merely prepares a material for use by another machine does not fall into the same category as the machine which processes that material, citing United States v. Frank P. Dow Co., Inc., 29 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 48, C.A.D. 169.

The Dow case was concerned with the construction of the provision in paragraph 872 of the Tariff Act of 1930, for parts of paper box machinery, in connection with certain parts of a machine for corrugating paper, a material subsequently used in the making of corrugated paper containers. In holding that the initial machine was not encompassed by the provision for paper box machinery, the court stated:

We think that in the instant ease it cannot be logically held that the term “paper-box machinery” and the parts provision cover parts of a machine which merely prepares material used in the manner described. To hold otherwise, we think, would lead to confusion. * * *
* * * * * * *
We hold, therefore, that the term “paper-box machinery” means machinery used principally in the making of paper boxes. The rollers in controversy are not parts of paper-box machinery but are parts of a machine used to make material, most of which, according to the testimony submitted by the importer, is chiefly used by one American firm to make paper boxes. The mere fact that in tiie instance at bar the rollers may be used in the same factory where paper boxes are made is a matter of no importance. If the rollers were parts of paper-box machinery, their operation away from a paper-box factory would hardly change the situation. To hold that a machine that makes the components of a paper box is for that reason paper-box machinery would lead us far afield.

It would appear that the principle of the Dow case has relevant application to the issue raised in the instant case, and that a machine which prepares wood for use in the manufacture of paper pulp is not itself a machine for making paper pulp or paper, within the contemplation of the provision here invoked. A fortiori, where it is shown as here that a machine is primarily designed to eliminate [128]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Border Brokerage Co. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 124 (cusc 1960).

44 Cust. Ct. 124 (Border Brokerage Co. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Bird Machine Co. v. United States
49 Cust. Ct. 65 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)
Owens-Illinois Glass Co. v. United States
48 Cust. Ct. 263 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)