Foodcomm International, Inc. v. Kantor

19 Ct. Int'l Trade 620, 886 F. Supp. 35, 19 C.I.T. 620, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1616, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 110
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedApril 28, 1995
DocketCourt No. 95-04-00385
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 620 (Foodcomm International, Inc. v. Kantor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Foodcomm International, Inc. v. Kantor, 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 620, 886 F. Supp. 35, 19 C.I.T. 620, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1616, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 110 (cit 1995).

Opinion

Opinion

TSOUCALAS, Judge:

On April 13, 1995, pursuant to Rule 65(b) of the Rules of this Court, Foodcomm International Inc. (“Foodcomm”) requested, and this Court granted, a temporary restraining order. Plaintiff sought to enj oin the continuing liquidation of entries of veal from the Netherlands and the continuing retroactive assessment and collection by the United States Customs Service of 100 percent tariff duty on previously liquidated entries of veal from The Netherlands. Concurrently with the issuance of the temporary restraining order, the Court scheduled a hearing on plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction.

Subsequently, on April 25,1995, a full hearing was held to determine whether a preliminary injunction should issue. Pursuant to Rule 65(a) of the Rules of this Court, Foodcomm filed a motion requesting a preliminary injunction to enjoin the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) and the U.S. Customs Service (“Customs”) from imposing a 100 percent tariff duty on entries of boneless veal from The Netherlands during the pendency of the litigation against the Secretary of the Treasury regarding the same conduct and any appeal thereof.

Defendants move for dismissal pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and (5) of the Rules of this Court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

Background

In 1985, the European Union (“EU”) issued its “Council Directive Prohibitingthe Use of Livestock Farming of Certain Substances Having [621]*621a Hormonal Action” (“Directive”) which prohibited imports into the EU of any meat produced from animals treated with growth hormones. In 1987, the President of the United States responded to that directive by issuing Presidential Proclamation 5759 which subjected “beef, without bone (except offal), fresh, chilled, or frozen (provided for in subheadings 0201.30.60 and 0202.30.60 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (“HTS”)” from the EU to duties of 100 percent, as prescribed in subheading 9903.23.00. Proclamation 5759 of December 24,1987, Increasing the Rates of Duty on Certain Products of the European Community (“Proclamation”) 52 Fed. Reg. 49,131, (December 30,1987). Prior to the Proclamation, beef without bone was subject only to a duty of 4.4 cents per kilogram.

The Proclamation also authorized the USTR to suspend, modify, or terminate the suspension of the increased duties upon publication in the Federal Register of his determination that such action is in the interest of the United States. Id. at 49,132.

In February 1994, the United States recognized that The Netherlands was free of foot and mouth disease and, as a result, Foodcomm began importing boneless veal from The Netherlands, a member state of the EU, under subheading 0201.30.60 of the HTS, the same subheading as the one addressed by the Proclamation. From June 1994 to November 1994, plaintiff made entries of boneless veal through the ports of San Francisco and Boston. These entries are the subject of this action.

Import specialists were in disagreement as to the application of the Proclamation: some applied it to boneless veal and some did not. At the request of another importer of boneless veal, Customs issued a ruling letter on October 6,1994 in which it held that boneless veal is subject to 100 percent duties pursuant to HTS item 9903.23.00. Customs did not consult the USTR before issuing this decision. (In March of 1995, Customs consulted with the USTR and affirmed its earlier ruling.)

On December 5, 1994, after consulting with the USTR, Customs issued administrative instructions (“Customs Instructions”) pursuant to which all shipments of boneless veal from the EU are to be assessed with 100 percent duties under HTS subheading 9903.23.00. The Customs Instructions also required ports to retrieve entries liquidated within the past 90 days and to reliquidate them with the 100 percent duty. Finally, the Customs instructions required all ports to issue notices of rate advance on entries of boneless veal upon which liquidation was pending.

On December 12,1994, plaintiff received two notices of action proposing to increase the rate of duty for importations of boneless veal. Plaintiff responded on December 29, 1994, arguing that because veal is not beef, boneless veal from The Netherlands should be excluded from the imposition of 100 percent duties under HTS 9903.23.00. On March 14, 1995, the Director of the Commercial Rulings Division, United States Customs Service denied plaintiffs petition for relief.

[622]*622On December 30, 1994, Customs liquidated 20 of plaintiffs entries made through the port of San Francisco between June and August 1994. Plaintiff paid the bills issued with respect to these entries on January-27, 1995.

On March 17, 1995, Customs liquidated another 10 entries made through the port of San Francisco with the 100 percent duty and issued bills for the additional duties in the amount of approximately $200,000. According to the bills, the full amount of the additional duties was due on or before April 15,1995, with interest accruing for late payment from that date.

On March 27, 1995, plaintiff protested the liquidation of the entries made through San Francisco. Customs has not yet decided these protests.

On April 7,1995, Customs liquidated the 24 entries made through the port of Boston. Bills for the Boston entries have been sent to plaintiff.

In sum, Foodcomm has paid Customs $230,888.43 in duties on boneless veal which has entered the United States prior to December 1994 and Customs has informed Foodcomm that it owes an additional $196,747.68 in duties for entries at San Francisco and $548,747.68 in duties for entries at Boston. The charges assessed by Customs include interest charged at a compounded rate of nine percent which has been accrued as of October 1,1994. Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiff’s Application fora Temporary Restraining Order anda Preliminary Injunction at 4.

On April 7, 1995, Foodcomm filed the complaint in this action.

Discussion

Jurisdiction:

Foodcomm carries the burden of demonstrating that the Court of International Trade has jurisdiction to hear and determine this case. McNutt v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 189 (1936); Smith Corona Group, SCM Corp. v. United States, 8 CIT 100, 102, 593 F. Supp. 415, 417-18 (1984). Plaintiff asserts that the court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) (1988).1 Specifically, Foodcomm claims that jurisdiction exists under subparagraphs (1), (2) and (4) of this provision.

Defendant contests the court’s jurisdiction, asserting that plaintiff has neither exhausted the administrative remedies available nor dem[623]*623onstrated that the Court has jurisdiction under section 1581(i). For the reasons set out below, this Court agrees with defendant that it does not have jurisdiction to hear this case.

Section 1581 (i) is a residual jurisdictional provision which grants exclusive jurisdiction to the Court of International Trade to hear issues which are not specifically covered by other subparagraphs of section 1581.

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Related

Foodcomm International v. United States
914 F. Supp. 548 (Court of International Trade, 1995)

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19 Ct. Int'l Trade 620, 886 F. Supp. 35, 19 C.I.T. 620, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1616, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foodcomm-international-inc-v-kantor-cit-1995.