Geo. S. Bush & Co. v. United States

41 C.C.P.A. 33
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 1953
DocketNo. 4749
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 41 C.C.P.A. 33 (Geo. S. Bush & Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Geo. S. Bush & Co. v. United States, 41 C.C.P.A. 33 (ccpa 1953).

Opinion

O’ConNell, Judge,

delivered tbe opinion of tbe court:

Tbis is an appeal from a judgment of tbe United States Customs Court, Second Division, entered pursuant to its decision C. D. 1429, 28 Gust. Ct. 308.

Two separate protests, consolidated for trial and overruled, claimed that gasoline engines, carburetor type, and four saws, imported at tbe port of Seattle in a knocked-down condition, together witb an assortment of parts, were improperly classified as entireties by tbe Collector of Customs as machines and parts thereof not specially provided for and assessed by him witb duty at tbe rate of 27% per centum ad valorem under tbe provisions of paragraph 372 of tbe Tariff Act of 1930 as modified'by tbe trade agreement witb the United Kingdom, T. D. 49753.

Appellant claimed tbe parts which constituted tbe gasoline engine should have been assessed at 17% per centum under paragraph 372 as amended by T. D. 49753; and tbe imported parts, other than tbe engine, should have been likewise assessed at 17% per centum ad [35]*35valorem under tbe same trade agreement as parts of internal combustion engines.

Appellant introduced tbe testimony of three witnesses and submitted seven exhibits. Tbe controversy between tbe parties does not however concern tbe essential facts, but their legal significance. Tbe Government in its brief observes (1) that under an amendment to appellant's protest, appellant contended tbe engine portion of each imported saw should have been constructively segregated, and (2):

The invoice covered four complete saws and a list of parts, and appellant contended that these parts also should have been constructively segregated. The Collector classified the imported gasoline powered saws [and the parts] as entireties, and assessed them under paragraph 372 of the Act itself at 27% per centum ad valorem as machines not [specially provided for and parts thereof * * *.

Tbe issue presented involves tbe question of whether tbe units of tbe imported merchandise constitute an entirety for customs purposes.

Tbe pertinent provisions of tbe Tariff Act and tbe British Trade Agreement read:

Paragraph 372:

all other machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 27K per centum ad valorem; Provided, That parts, not specially provided for, wholly or in chief value of metal or porcelain, of any of the foregoing, shall be dutiable at the same rate of duty as the articles of which they are parts: * * *.

Paragraph 372, as amended by T. D. 49753:

Internal-combustion engines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Carburetor type_ 17}i % ad val.
Parts, not specially provided for, wholly or in chief value of metal or porcelain, of any articles provided for in any item numbered 372 in this schedule, shall be dutiable at the same rate of duty as the articles of which they are parts.

Each machine, when tbe imported parts were put together, was composed of various assemblies, pictured by appellant's Illustrative Exhibit 1. Appellant’s witness Birks stated be was able to give tbe relative values to tbe whole of those several assemblies or portions:

Q. Will you do so, please, Mr. Birks? A. The value of the engine unit alone is slightly under 50% of the value of the entire sawing machine; the value of the gearhousing assembly is approximately 28 %; the value of the handle-bar assembly, approximately 4%; the value of the cutter bar, approximately 6%; the value of the cutting chain approximately 5% and the value of the tailstock assembly, approximately 7%.

Tbe trial court in sustaining tbe action of tbe collector referred to the case of Altman & Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 315, T. D. 41232, as “perhaps tbe outstanding decision on the question of what constitutes an entirety for customs purposes” and remarked:

[36]*36There, the importation consisted of corsets and lace trimmings. Pinned to each piece of lace was a label with words and figures indicating a number and size corresponding to one of the corsets in the importation. Despite testimony that the corsets and lace trimmings were sometimes sold separately, the court found they were designed and intended to be used together as a completed article of commerce. After reviewing various cases concerned with the problem of entireties, the court stated:
“A consideration of these pronouncements of the courts leads to the conclusion that if an importer brings into the country, at the same time, certain parts, which are designed to form, when joined or attached together, a complete article of commerce, and when it is further shown that the importer intends to so use them, these parts will be considered for tariff purposes as entireties, even though they may be unattached or inclosed in separate packages, and even though said parts might have a commercial value and be salable separately.”

The trial court in the instant case further remarked:

This principle has been applied whenever subsequently the question of entireties has been in issue, modified only in the respect that each of the component parts must be essential to the complete entity, and so merged therein as to have lost its identity as an independent article.1
Where, however, the components, whether or not designed to be used together, preserved their separate identities, were not essential each in the use of the others, and did not merge to form a new and distinct article of commerce, they were held to be segregable for tariff purposes.2

The court below rejected the pertinency of the principle last named and decided that the law applicable to the corsets and lace involved in the Altman case “applies with equal vigor to the facts of the instant case,” namely:

It is manifest, from a consideration of these facts, that these goods were imported for the purpose of making therefrom a finished and completed article of commerce; that the various parts were designed to be used together and not separately, and that this was, in fact, the actual major use which was made of them by the importers.

The court further concluded that the various component parts at bar were made into a finished and completed article of commerce so that each of its essential elements lost its individual identity and became submerged in the assembled mechanism.

The trial court noted that among appellant’s exhibits were imported auger attachments which when segregated and assembled constituted an additional or substitute accessory for use with the power saw and that—

when the machine is utilized for the purpose of drilling holes, not only the engine, but the gearhousing assembly, the handlebar and tailstock assemblies, and all the other parts of the power saws, except the cutting bar and chain of the mechanism, are retained.

[37]*37On the separate nse of the auger as a segregated entity, the witness McKee testified in response to questions by appellant’s counsel:

Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
41 C.C.P.A. 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/geo-s-bush-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1953.