Geigy Chemical Corp. v. United States

70 Cust. Ct. 259, 358 F. Supp. 1275, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3448
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 8, 1973
DocketR.D. 11775; Entry Nos. 863926, 1082619 and 1097215
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 70 Cust. Ct. 259 (Geigy Chemical Corp. 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
Geigy Chemical Corp. v. United States, 70 Cust. Ct. 259, 358 F. Supp. 1275, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3448 (cusc 1973).

Opinion

Watson, Judge:

These three appeals for reappraisement were the subject of a joint trial. The merchandise involved consists of dyestuffs of benzenoid origin imported from Switzerland in 1965. The central [260]*260issue in the case involves the calculation oí the United States value of these importations, in particular the correct allowance to be made for profit and general expenses to be deducted from the United States price of such merchandise. The relevant portion of the Tariff Act of 1930 reads as follows:

Section 402(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956:
(c) UNITED States Value. — For the purposes of this section, the United States value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the time of exportation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing appraisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal market of the United States for domestic consumption, packed ready for delivery, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, with allowances made for—
(1) any commission usually paid or agreed to be paid, or the addition for profit and general expenses usually made, in connection with sales in such market of imported merchandise of the same class or kind as the merchandise undergoing appraisement;

A commendable series of stipulations between the parties, as well as subsequent developments, served to eliminate factual issues in the case. Attention has thereby been focused on the legal issue of how the usual “addition for profit and general expenses” should be determined under the facts and circumstances of this case. In this connection, the defendant relies heavily on the provisions of section 402(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, supra, the relevant portion of which reads as follows:

(g) TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN RELATED PERSONS
(1) For the purposes of subsection (c) (1) or (d), as the case may .be, a transaction directly or indirectly between persons specified.in any one of the subdivisions in paragraph (2) of this subsection may be disregarded if, in the case of any element of value required to be considered, the amount representing that element does not fairly reflect the amount usually reflected in sales in the market under consideration of merchandise of the same general class or kind as the merchandise undergoing appraisement. If a transaction is disregarded under the preceding sentence and there are no other other transactions available for consideration, then, for the purposes of subsection (d), the determination of the amount required to be considered shall be based on the best evidence available as to what the amount would have been if the transaction had occurred between persons not specified in any one of the subdivisions in paragraph (2).
(2) The persons referred to in paragraph (1) are:
[261]*261(E) Any person directly or indirectly owning, controlling, or bolding with power to vote, 5 per centum or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of any organization and such organization; * * *

The stipulation of the parties reads as follows:

It Is Hereby Stipulated AND Agreed by and between counsel for the parties hereto, subject to the approval of the Court, that:

1. This is to be considered as the only stipulation relating to the submission of this case and supersedes any previous partial stipulations.

2. The three above-captioned cases, having common issues of law and fact, are hereby consolidated for all purposes. All evidence presented in any of the cases by any party thereto shall be a part of the record in each of the above-captioned cases, hereinafter respectively referred to as “the Geigy case” (K66/10120-S), “the Sandoz case” (B65/16280), and “the Ciba case” (B65/20992), and collectively referred to as “the three consolidated cases.”

3. The subject merchandise in the Geigy case is limited to “Solophenyl Brown BGL 100%” which was exported from Switzerland to the United States on or about November 3, 1965. The subject merchandise in the Sandoz case is limited to “Artisil Bed EL granules 100%” which was exported from Switzerland to the United States on or about May 26,1965. The subject merchandise in the Giba case is limited to “Cibalan Brilliant Scarlet EL 43 %” which was exported from Switzerland to the United States on or about June 11, 1965. The subject merchandise in each of the three consolidated cases:

a) is a coal tar dye,
b) is a benzenoid chemical product described in Headnote 4 of Schedule 4, Part 1, of TSUS.
c) is not a product enumerated on the Final List (T.D. 54521).
d) was advisorily classified by the Appraiser at the rate of 40% ad valorem, under Item 406.50, TSUS.
e) was manufactured or produced in Switzerland,
f) is of the same class or kind, and
g) is of the same class or kind as the merchandise imported by Carbic-Hoechst Corporation upon which the appraisement is in part based.

At the time of exportation of the subject merchandise in each of the three consolidated cases, there was no similar competitive article manufactured or produced in the United States.

4. The merchandise which is the subject of each of the three consolidated cases was appraised on the basis of United States value under Section 402(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, computed as follows:

a) a stated price per pound, less 1% cash discount, which the Appraiser found was the price at which such merchandise was freely sold in the principal market of the United States for domestic consumption, packed ready for delivery, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, at the [262]*262■time of exportation, of the subject merchandise to the United States;

b) less 19.1%, which the Appraiser concluded was “the addition for profit and general expenses usually made, in connection with sales in such market of imported merchandise of the same class or kind” within the meaning of Section 402 (c) (1);

c) less an amount per pound, which the Appraiser found was the usual cost of transportation and insurance incurred with respect to such merchandise from the place of shipment to the place of delivery;

d) divided by 1.40, which the Appraiser found was the correct amount by which the value should be reduced, pursuant to Section 402(c) (3), to allow for customs duty payable on such merchandise.

The respective dollar amounts and computations adopted by the Appraiser in each of the three consolidated cases were as follows (the parenthetical letters correspond to the subparagraphs above) :

Geigy Sandoz Ciba
Case Case Case
a) Selling Price per pound, less 1 % Cash Discount $5.6430 $5. 3064 $4. 2075
b) Less 19.1% Allowance for Profit and General Expenses 1.0778 4.5652 1. 0135 .8036 4. 2929 3.4039
c) Less Transportation and Insurance .0703 4. 2250 3.

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Related

United States v. Geigy Chemical Corp.
523 F.2d 1400 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1975)
Coats & Clark, Inc. v. United States
74 Cust. Ct. 13 (U.S. Customs Court, 1975)
United States v. Geigy Chemical Corp.
73 Cust. Ct. 215 (U.S. Customs Court, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
70 Cust. Ct. 259, 358 F. Supp. 1275, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/geigy-chemical-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1973.