Decal Products Co. v. United States

4 Cust. Ct. 672, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3953
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 4, 1940
DocketNo. 4748; Entry Nos. 91686, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 4 Cust. Ct. 672 (Decal 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
Decal Products Co. v. United States, 4 Cust. Ct. 672, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3953 (cusc 1940).

Opinion

Kincheloe, Judge:

The merchandise involved in these appeals to re appraisement, all of which were consolidated for the purposes of trial by consent of the parties, consists of certain ceramic prints or decalcomanias imported from Germany during the years 1936, 1937, and 1938.

At the outset of the trial counsel for the respective parties entered into a stipulation, wherein it was agreed, in substance, as follows:

(1) That certain decalcomanias are sold and freely offered for sale to all buyers in the ordinary course of trade in the usual wholesale quantities of 50 sheets in the principal markets of Germany, for home [673]*673consumption and for export to countries other than the United States, at prices which were at the times of exportation of the instant merchandise the same as the appraised values of the decalcomanias covered by the appeals to reappraisement involved herein, and that such appraised values constitute the dutiable foreign values if I find that foreign value is the proper basis of appraisement for the merchandise at bar.

(2) That certain other decalcomanias, not identical with those just referred to, but which are the subject of the importations covered by the appeals to reappraisement before me, are and were at the times of exportation of the instant merchandise sold and freely offered for sale in Germany to all purchasers in the ordinary course of trade, in the usual wholesale quantities of 2,000, in the principal markets of Germany, but only for exportation to the United States at prices which are and were at the times of such exportations the same as the unit entered values, or the importers’ claimed unit values on the items to which the importers added on entry because of advances made by the appraiser, plus cases and packing as invoiced, and that such values constitute the dutiable export values, if I should find that export value is the proper basis for appraisement of the instant merchandise.

By virtue of said stipulated facts the issue before me has been narrowed to the sole question whether the decalcomanias sold or freely offered for sale in Germany for home consumption or for export to countries other than the United States are similar, within the meaning of that term for the purposes of finding dutiable value as used in section 402 of the Tariff Act of 1930, to the decalcomanias covered by appeals to reappraisement before me.

All of the evidence introduced herein was offered by the plaintiffs. Defendant offered nothing to support its contention, but was satisfied to submit its case after moving to dismiss the instant appeals on the ground that plaintiffs had failed to make out a prima facie case.

The proof introduced by plaintiffs is very complete and thorough in detail. In addition to documentary evidence and the oral testimony of witnesses, there were also offered and admitted in evidence as illustrative exhibits pieces of decorated ware showing the results after applying the different types of decalcomanias under manufacturing conditions here and in Germany.

The documentary evidence before me consists of seven affidavits, three of which are from manufacturers of decalcomanias in Germany, and four from managers of German factories that manufacture porcelain and use decalcomanias in the process of producing such ware.

The three affidavits of German manufacturers of decalcomanias, which were admitted in evidence as Collective Exhibits A-l, A-2, and A-3, are affidavits from the owners or managers of the exporting firms [674]*674of the merchandise at bar, all of whom testified they are thoroughly familiar with the manufacture of decalcomanias in Germany. It appears from said affidavits that there are two types of decalcomanias manufactured in Germany to wit, a so-called simplex type, which is manufactured for use in Germany and which will hereinafter be referred to as the “German type of decalcomania,” and a so-called duplex type, which is manufactured exclusively for export to the United States, and which hereinafter will be referred to as the “American type of decalcomania.” Said affidavits further disclose that both types of decalcomanias differ in their essential characteristics; that the so-called German type is made on what is known as simplex or meta paper, which is a special German-manufactured paper with an adhesive coating; that the so-called American type is made on English duplex paper, which is a specially made paper imported from England, under governmental regulations, for the sole purpose of manufacturing decalco-manias for export to the United States, consisting of two sheets, an upper sheet, which is thin and transparent and carries a thin adhesive layer which serves at the same time as a support or carrier of the color and on which the design is printed, and a lower sheet, which is known as the backing and consists of heavy paper or matrix. The colors used in the German decalcomanias are hard colors containing little or no flux (an average of 1 per centum), and are capable of withstanding a firing temperature of from 750 degrees, Centigrade (1,382 degrees, Fahrenheit), to 850 degrees, Centigrade (1,562 degrees, Fahrenheit), without burning or scorching. The colors used in the American type decalcomanias are soft colors containing an average of 10 per centum flux to allow them to fire satisfactorily at a firing temperature not to exceed 700 degrees, Centigrade (1,292 degrees, Fahrenheit). It further appears from said affidavits that all of the materials used in the production of the German type of decalcomanias are required, by a decree issued by the German Government in 1935, to be made entirely of German materials; and that the English duplex paper and the colors used in the American type of decalcomanias may be imported only with permission of the German Government and with the understanding that they are to be used in the manufacture of decalco-manias for exportation to the United States. Said affiants further testified that each of the two different types of decalcomanias are specially adapted for use in the market where they are sold; that they never successfully sold the German type of decalcomania to customers in the United States; and that the American type of decalcomania cannot be used for the decoration of pottery manufactured in the German market. Samples of both types of decalco-manias are attached to all of said affidavits, the American type of decalcomanias attached thereto having been properly identified by the appraiser as representative of the merchandise at bar.

[675]*675In each of tbe four affidavits, Collective Exhibits B, C, D, and E, herein, from German porcelain manufacturers, the affiant has described the method of transferring the German type of decalcomania to porcelain under factory operations applied in Germany. The description is substantially the same in each of said affidavits. Such description as set forth in the affidavit of Herman Rudolph, manager of the porcelain factory of C. Tielsch & Co., Collective Exhibit B, is as follows:

The sheet of ceramic color prints used is covered with a varnish, a so-called transfer varnish, and after this varnish has reached a certain consistency, it is transferred to the porcelain. The piece of porcelain itself is also coated with transfer varnish prior to the printing. The transferred sheet is thoroughly moistened with a sponge until the paper which is the carrier of the decoration, separates and the color now adheres to the porcelain article.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 Cust. Ct. 672, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3953, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/decal-products-co-v-united-states-cusc-1940.