Indianapolis Machinery & Export Co. v. United States

42 Cust. Ct. 137
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 13, 1959
DocketC.D. 2076
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 42 Cust. Ct. 137 (Indianapolis Machinery & Export Co. 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
Indianapolis Machinery & Export Co. v. United States, 42 Cust. Ct. 137 (cusc 1959).

Opinion

Johnson, Judge:

This is a protest against the collector’s assessment of duty on the full value of a lathe, imported from Italy on July 13, 1956, at 15 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 of [138]*138the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802. It is claimed that duty should have been assessed at the appropriate rate on the value of the repairs only under paragraph 1615(g) of said tariff act, as amended.

Counsel have submitted this case on a stipulation reading as follows:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between counsel for the Plaintiff and the Assistant Attorney General for the United States, subject to the approval of the Court, that the merchandise involved in the above protest is one Model L-230 Lathe, Serial No. 2113, exported from the United States on April 9, 1955 for repairs, that application to export under customs supervision was filed with the Collector of Customs on Customs Form 4455 on March 30,1955 and was granted; that the merchandise now before the Court is the same as that exported under customs supervision; that duty on the entire value of the lathe plus cost of repairs was assessed instead of on the value of the repairs only because of failure to file a shipper’s affidavit of repairs as required by section 10.8 of the Customs Regulations; and that said affidavit is now on file with the Collector.
IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that had the shipper’s affidavit of repairs been timely filed, duty would have been assessed only on the value of the repairs instead of on the value of the entire lathe plus cost of repairs.
IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that said lathe was not in a bonded warehouse prior to exportation for repairs and had not been in continuous customs custody; that no benefit of drawback was claimed or granted by reason of the exportation; and that said lathe was not exported for any purpose except for repairs.
IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that Customs form 4455, referred to above, the shipper’s affidavit of repairs, the entry and all other papers included in the Court’s jacket on this protest be admitted in evidence as Plaintiff’s Collective Exhibit 1.

The pertinent provisions of paragraph 1615 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938 and the Customs Simplification Act of 1954, provide:

(g) (1) Any article exported from the United States for repairs or alterations may be returned upon the payment of a duty upon the value of the repairs or alterations at the rate or rates which would apply to the article itself in its repaired or altered condition if not within the purview of this subparagraph (g).
(h) The allowance of total or partial exemption from duty under any provision of this paragraph shall be subject to such regulations as to proof of identity and compliance with the conditions of this paragraph as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

Pursuant to the authority granted by the statute, regulations have been issued from time to time by the Secretary of the Treasury. The regulations applicable in the instant case (section 10.8, Customs Regulations) set out certain registration requirements to be met in connection with articles exported for repairs and provide further:

(i) There shall be filed m connection with an entry covering articles entered under the provisions of paragraph 1615(g) (1) or (2), Tariff Act of 1930, as [139]*139amended, where the value of the repairs, alterations, or processing performed exceeds $500, a statement of the person who performed such repairs, alterations, or processing in substantially the following form: [Italics supplied.]
[The form includes a place for the description of the repairs, alterations, or processing, and the cost thereof.].
(1) In any ease where an imported article was exported for repairs, alterations, or processing without compliance with the registration requirements of this section, the collector may waive such evidence if he is satisfied that the returned merchandise is entitled to entry under paragraph 1615(g) (1) or (2) and that the failure to comply with the registration requirements was due to inadvertence, mistake, or inexperience, and not to negligence or bad faith.

These regulations are mandatory and compliance therewith is a condition precedent to entry upon payment of duty on the repairs only. H. F. Keeler v. United States, 45 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 67, C.A.D. 675, Page & Jones v. United States, 26 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 124, C.A.D. 5.

According to the stipulated facts, duty was assessed on the entire value of the merchandise involved herein because of failure to file a shipper’s affidavit of repairs as required by the regulations. It is apparently claimed that the subsequent filing thereof is sufficient compliance.

The entry was liquidated on April 18, 1957, and the protest filed value of the repairs as $1,618. On the hack of the entry, there is typewritten under the heading “MissiNG DocttMENts” :

Bond fob Shippees Affidavit of Repaib

This has been crossed out in ink with a notation thereafter “not furnished.”

The entry was liquidated on April 18, 1957, and the protest filed on April 29, 1957. A collector’s memorandum, dated July 18, 1957, states:

Importer bus failed to comply with C.R. governing registered mdse, entered under P. 1615(g).

The statement of the shipper, included in plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1, is dated September 29, 1958.

It thus appears that the said shipper’s statement was not filed at the time of entry, but after the bonded period had expired, subsequent to liquidation, and after the period during which the collector might reliquidate had elapsed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

E. Dillingham, Inc. v. United States
67 Cust. Ct. 226 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)
Hertvy Co. v. United States
45 Cust. Ct. 210 (U.S. Customs Court, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 Cust. Ct. 137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indianapolis-machinery-export-co-v-united-states-cusc-1959.