Elof Hansson, Inc. v. United States

178 F. Supp. 922, 43 Cust. Ct. 627, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 20
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 9, 1959
DocketReappraisement 262982-A
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 178 F. Supp. 922 (Elof Hansson, Inc. 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
Elof Hansson, Inc. v. United States, 178 F. Supp. 922, 43 Cust. Ct. 627, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 20 (cusc 1959).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

This is an application for review by the appellant (plaintiff below) of a decision and judgment of the trial court holding that a finding of dumping with respect to hardboard imported from Sweden, made by the Acting Secretary of the Treasury on August 26, 1954 (89 Treas.Dec. 197, T.D. 53567), was valid, and that the values returned by the appraiser under the Antidumping Act of 1921, 19 U.S.C.A. § 160 (May 27, 1921, ch. 14, § 201, 42 Stat. 11; June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, § 651(d), 46 Stat. 763), with respect to the merchandise involved herein, were valid. Elof Hansson, Inc. v. United States, 41 Cust.Ct. 519, Reap. Dec. 9212.

The primary issue before us is whether the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.A. § 1001, June 11, 1946, ch. 324; 60 Stat. 237, as amended) applied to findings of dumping made under the Antidumping Act of 1921.

The following facts were stipulated at the trial or appear from the record presented :

An investigation which culminated in the said finding of dumping was commenced by the Secretary of the Treasury on or about March 31, 1953, and, thereafter, on October 15, 1953, the Acting Commissioner of Customs directed ap-praisement to be withheld on all unap-praised entries of hardboard from Sweden. This importer and others received a notice of such withholding as to entries unappraised as of said date and succeeding entries, and such withholding continued until the issuance of said finding of dumping. No notice in regard to the dumping investigation was published in the Federal Register prior to the publication of the finding of dumping, T.D. 53567, and no finding or statement was made therein that notice and public procedure thereon were impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.

*924 During the course of the investigation, Examiner Herbert Geller discussed with representatives of the plaintiff the fact that the Treasury Department had received a complaint alleging dumping of hardboard from Sweden and was making an investigation and desired certain data from plaintiff’s Swedish suppliers. Pursuant to this request, analytical data from Sweden were submitted to the appraiser on May 5, 1953. In addition, Treasury Department officials received correspondence and documents from the plaintiff and its attorneys, other importers and their representatives, and the domestic industry (defendant’s exhibits B-l through B-15, C-l through C-12). Conferences were held with plaintiff’s attorneys and with representatives of the Swedish Embassy.

John Patterson Weitzel, assistant general counsel of the United States Treasury Department, testified that, in the opinion of the Treasury Department, the Administrative Procedure Act did not apply to the procedure followed in the hardboard investigation, and counsel for the plaintiff was so advised.

The Antidumping Act of 1921, under which the Secretary’s finding was made, provides:

“Sec. 201. (a) That whenever the Secretary of the Treasury (hereinafter in this Act called the ‘Secretary’), after such investigation as he deems necessary, finds that an industry in the United States is being or is likely to be injured, or is prevented from being established, by reason of the importation into the United States of a class or kind of foreign merchandise, and that merchandise of such class or kind is being sold or is likely to be sold in the United States or elsewhere at less than its fair value, then he shall make such finding public to the extent he deems necessary, together with a description of the class or kind of merchandise to which it applies in such detail as may be necessary for the guidance of the appraising officers.
*•**•»**
“Sec. 202. (a) That in the case of all imported merchandise, whether dutiable or free of duty, of a class or kind as to which the Secretary has made public a finding as provided in section 201, and as to which the appraiser or person acting as appraiser has made no appraisement report to the collector before such finding has been so made public, if the purchase price or the exporter’s sales price is less than the foreign market value (or, in the absence of such value, than the cost of production) there shall be levied, collected, and paid, in addition to the duties imposed thereon by law, a special dumping duty in an amount equal to such difference.”

Under this statute, it has been held that the Secretary has taken every step required by the law where he has made such investigation as he thought necessary, has found that an industry of the United States is being or is likely to be injured by reason of the importation of the merchandise, has found that the merchandise has been sold or is likely to be sold at less than fair value, and has made his finding public to the extent he deems necessary, together with a description of the merchandise in such detail as is necessary for the guidance of appraising officers. Kleberg & Co., Inc. v. United States, 71 F.2d 332, 21 CCPA 110, 114, T.D. 46446.

All of this has been done in the instant case, but plaintiff claims that by reason of the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, supra, additional procedural requirements must be met.

The Administrative Procedure Act was enacted subsequent to the Anti-dumping Act of 1921 for the purpose of improving the administration of justice by prescribing fair administrative procedures for Federal agencies. The term “agency” is defined as “each authority (whether or not within or subject to review by another agency) of the Government of the United States other than Congress, the courts, or the governments *925 of the possessions, Territories, or the District of Columbia.” Section 2(a), 5 U.S.C.A. § 1001. (Certain agencies, not here pertinent, were expressly excluded from the operation of the act.) The act further defines certain agency procedures as follows:

“Definitions
“Sec. 2. As used in this Act—
“ * * * (c) Rule and rule making. — ‘Rule’ means the whole or any part of any agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy or to describe the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of any agency and includes the approval or prescription for the future of rates, wages, corporate or financial structures or reorganizations thereof, prices, facilities, appliances, services or allowances therefor or of valuations, costs, or accounting, or practices bearing upon any of the foregoing. ‘Rule making’ means agency process for the formulation, amendment, or repeal of a rule.
“(d) Order and adjudication.— ‘Order’ means the whole or any part of the final disposition (whether affirmative, negative, injunctive, or declaratory in form) of any agency in any matter other than rule making but including licensing. ‘Adjudication’ means agency process for the formulation of an order.”

The section which the plaintiff claims is applicable to antidumping proceedings and was not complied with by the Secretary provides:

“Rule Making
“Sec. 4. * * *

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Bluebook (online)
178 F. Supp. 922, 43 Cust. Ct. 627, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elof-hansson-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1959.