Garza v. United States

66 Cust. Ct. 212, 324 F. Supp. 91, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2386
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1971
DocketC.D. 4192
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 66 Cust. Ct. 212 (Garza 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
Garza v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 212, 324 F. Supp. 91, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2386 (cusc 1971).

Opinion

Rosenstein, Judge:

The merchandise in this case, invoiced as “ground phosphate rock in bulk”, was exported from Mexico and en[213]*213tered in October 1965 at the port of Eagle Pass, Texas, where it was classified under TSUS (Tariff Schedules of the United States) item 184.75 as other animal feeds and ingredients therefor, not specially provided for, and assessed with duty thereunder at the rate of 10 per centum ad valorem.

Plaintiff relies upon the claim 1 made in its amended protest that the rock phosphate at bar is properly free of duty under the provision for “phosphates, crude, and apatite” in item 480.45 of Schedule 4, Part 11 of TSUS and is thereby excluded from classification under item 184.75 by virtue of Schedule 1, Part 15, Subpart C headnote 1 (a), as amended by section 6(b) of the Tariff Schedules Technical Amendments Act of 1965, Public Law 89-241.2

The pertinent provisions of the Tariff Schedules of the United States are as follows:

Schedule 1, Part 15, Subpart C:
Subpart C headnotes:
1. For the purposes of this subpart—
(a) the term “animal feeds, and ingredients therefor” embraces products chiefly used as food for animals, or chiefly used as ingredients in such food, respectively, but such term does not include any product provided for in schedule 4 (except part 2E thereof) or schedule 5 (except part IK thereof); * * *
$ $ $ $ ij; ‡
Animal feeds, and ingredients therefor, not specially provided for:
184.75 Other- 10% ad val.
Schedule 4, Part 11:
480.45 Phosphates, crude, and apatite_Free

The record, which has a trial transcript running over 400 pages in length, consists of the testimony of five witnesses, three of whom appeared for plaintiff, and of 80 exhibits, 19 of which were offered by defendant (most of which were received in evidence). We shall summarize only that portion of the record which bears on the issue before us, namely, whether the merchandise comes within the provision for “phosphates, crude, and apatite.”

The imported ground rock phosphate was mined from an underground deposit of phosphate rock which is chemically known as calcium phosphate. It contains calcium, phosphorous, less than 0.5 [214]*214percent fluorine, and some impurities. Tire material was formed by the chemical reaction of phosphoric acid (resulting from bat excrement deposited in the cave) and limestone, or calcium carbonate. It is obtained from the mine in the form of rocks (illustrative exhibit 1), sandlike particles and very fine dust. The material is taken to the railroad site where it is crushed, dried to reduce the moisture content, ground to a 14 mesh, stored in a silo and then carried by chute to railroad cars. The merchandise is not defluorinated or subjected to any other process.

The imported ground rock phosphate, of which exhibit 2 is a representative sample, is a good source of phosphorous and calcium, two minerals essential to animal growth. As it is not palatable, the material is either mixed with salt in a block form and placed out in the pasture for animals to lick or, after being coated with molasses, or mixed with other minerals, is added to animal feed.

The first witness, a medical doctor and assistant manager of the company that operates the rock phosphate mines from which the subject shipment was extracted (and son of the plaintiff-importer), testified that the material was dried and ground solely to save money and to facilitate transportation. In 1957 and 1958, when his company shipped the material in the form that it came from the mine, i.e., in big chunks and dust, it took ten men an entire day using wheelbarrows to load a car, but that now, when ground and collected in silos, a carload can be handled by one man in four hours.

On cross-examination, the witness stated that in 1957 and 1958 he sold unground rock phosphate to George Bernhardt, president of San Antonio Foreign Trading Company; that, subsequently, he sold him the ground rock phosphate which had to meet a 20 mesh specification ; and that in 1964 the specification was changed to a 14 mesh.

The. witness testified that the importation conforms to the definitions of “phosphate rock” and “apatite” in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. Unabridged (R. 70-72), and that the material would be called apatite. He stated:

It would be apatite because it is a form of calcium, dicalcium phosphate, that has some other components, such as flúor, magnesium, and different components and it also has some calcium carbonate. That is in the earth from the mine that comes with the material. It is a very impure calcium phosphate. [E. 157.]
$ $ $ ‡ 3$ ?£ ❖
A. The phosphoric acid reacts with the calcium carbonate of the limestone and it forms the dicalcium phosphate, but since it has some other elements present, such as the flúor we have been talking about, then it wouldn’t be a pure dicalcium phosphate, it would be an apatite, which is an impure form of dicalcium phos-[215]*215pliate, an impure form of plrospliate rock. It is a broad term we use. [E. 158-159.]

Plaintiffs second witness, sales manager of San Antonio Trading Company, testified that lie offered merchandise such as the importation at bar for salo as “rock phosphate” (R. 90). The third witness, vice president and general manager of Vit-A-Way, Inc., a manufacturer of vitamin-mineral supplements and fortifications for the livestock industry, stated that he describes the imported merchandise on his company’s labels and advertising matter as “low fluorine rock phosphate” (R. 196,219).

Defendant’s first witness, a rancher and part owner of Lare-Tex Feed & Mineral Company of Laredo, Texas, testified that his company has been importing and processing low fluorine rock phosphate since 1966 from Mexico. He defined this product as a “natural occurring material which contains calcium and phosphorous, and not more than one half of one percent fluorine” (R. 275). He defined apatite as—

* * * a natural occurring substance containing calcium, phosphorous, and fluorine, usually in other various elements, in varying amounts. [R. 310.]

Defendant’s second witness, national sales manager of International Minerals & Chemical Corporation of Skokie, Illinois, the world’s largest miners of phosphate and potash, testified that he majored in chemistry at college, that the merchandise in issue is a “raw rock phosphate” (R. 387); and that “apatite” is a “phosphate structure found in a natural rock, phosphate rock” (R. 394). Although replying in the negative when asked if he ever used the term apatite to refer to ground rock phosphate (R. 394), the witness (who had testified that he was familiar with Mexican low fluorine rock phosphate (R. 399-402)) gave the following answers on redirect examination:

Q. Is it [plaintiff’s exhibit 2] a crude rock phosphate ? — A. It would appear to be.
Q. Is it apatite? — A. Yes, it 'would appear to be. (E. 410.) [Emphasis supplied.]

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Bluebook (online)
66 Cust. Ct. 212, 324 F. Supp. 91, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garza-v-united-states-cusc-1971.