J. E. Bernard & Co. v. United States

28 Cust. Ct. 240, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 31
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 13, 1952
DocketC. D. 1415
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 28 Cust. Ct. 240 (J. E. Bernard & 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
J. E. Bernard & Co. v. United States, 28 Cust. Ct. 240, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 31 (cusc 1952).

Opinion

Lawrence, Judge:

A machine described on the consular invoice as “One 40A Patent 5-Roll Vertical Chocolate Refiner” imported for the account of E. J. Brach & Sons, manufacturer of confectionery, includ[241]*241ing chocolate, located in Chicago, Ill., was advisorily returned'for duty by the appraiser as a “food grinding machine.”

The consumption entry describes the merchandise as “4 Cases: Machines NSPF for manufacturing chocolate or confectioners [sic] Vertical Chocolate Refining W/out motor.”

The collector of customs assessed duty upon the importation at the rate of 27}{ per centum ad valorem pursuant to the provision in paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 372) for “all other machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for.”

It is the contention of plaintiff that the machine should be classified and subjected to duty at the rate of 15 per centum ad valorem pursuant to said paragraph 372, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802, effective January 1,1948.

Paragraph 372, as modified, supra, reads so far as pertinent here:

Machines,^finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Machines for packaging pipe tobacco; machines for wrapping cigarette packages; * * *_10% ad val.
* * * * * * *
Other (except wrapping and packaging machines; food grinding or cutting machines; machines for determining the strength of materials or articles in tension, compression, torsion, or shear; machines for making paper pulp or paper; machines for manufacturing chocolate or confectionery; and internal-combustion engines). [Emphasis added.]_15% ad val.

Plaintiff in its brief states the issue in the case as follows: “The important issue is whether or not machines of this type are chiefly used as food grinding or chocolate manufacturing machines,” which is based upon the doctrine of chief use expressed in United States v. Spreckels Creameries, Inc., 17 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 400, T. D. 43835, and numerous cases cited therein.

As indicated above, the collector of customs classified the importation as a machine, not specially provided for, in accordance with paragraph 372 of the statute. Plaintiff claims that it should be classified pursuant to said paragraph 372, as modified. However, to come within the modified provision it is incumbent upon the plaintiff to establish that the imported machine is not within the enumeration of machines in said paragraph, as modified, which are expressly excepted from the benefits of the 15 per centum rate provided in the trade agreement. As will appear infra, we believe plaintiff has failed to sustain its burden.

Paragraph 372, as modified, supra, so far as pertinent here, specifically excepts from the classification of “machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for” which are subject to a 15 per centum assessment, the following items:

* * * food grinding or cutting machines; * * * machines for manufacturing chocolate or confectionery; * * *.

[242]*242At tbe trial testimony was introduced primarily for the purpose of aiding the court to determine whether or not the imported machine was chiefly used as a food-grinding machine or as a machine for manufacturing chocolate.

Plaintiff offered the testimony of one witness, Joseph Gottschalk, who testified in substance that he had been employed by E. J. Bracb & Sons for 13 years and during the past 7 years was foreman in the chocolate-making department, supervising the intermediate stages of the manufacture of chocolate; prior to that time, he had served as mechanical foreman in the chocolate-machine department; previously he had been in the employ of J. M. Lehmann & Co., machinery manufacturer, designing, erecting, installing, and servicing not only chocolate machinery, but also machinery used in manufacturing soap and paint.

When asked to describe the various processes entering into the manufacture of chocolate, Gottschalk gave the following testimony:

Well, you take your imported cocoa beans, as we receive them from all parts of the world, South America, Africa, and so forth. We take those beans; we clean them of any foreign material, such as dirt, stones, iron, etc. Then we roast them. Then we crack them open, remove shells and any light particles, such as dust, again. After that we grind them and make a chocolate-
Q. Just a moment. After you remove the shell what remains is the nib; is that right? Is that called the cocoa nib? — A. Cocoa nib.
# * $ * # * *
The cocoa nib is ground and a liquid results from the grinding of the cocoa nib which is called a cocoa liquor. After that stage you mix your sugar, your milk powder, if you make milk chocolate, and skimmed milk or whatever may go into the particular type of chocolate you are making. You mix that through the cocoa liquor and then you take that paste — after mixing it, it will come out as a paste form — you take that paste and put it over the 5-roll refiner and grind it.
Q. And what comes out of that? What is the resulting product which comes out of the refiner? — -A. A fine powder.
* * * * * * *
Well, it’s a chocolate powder.
* sf: * * * #
After that process, of course, you would have to take your chocolate powder and put it in large or any type of mixer, rather, and add cocoa butter and with a lecithin flavor, such as vanilla and coumarin, or any other type of flavor that you may want and liquefy that powder into a liquid form. Then from that stage you take the liquid form and put it into conches or bramley and develop your flavor, your characteristic chocolate flavor, and at that stage then you determine your viscosity,.your fluidity of your chocolate, which, of course, differs for every type of candy you use and the amount of cocoa butter depends on the fluidity that the chocolate will reach. In other words, the more cocoa butter you have in it the more liquid your chocolate mass will become.

It appears that the imported machine in controversy was installed in the plant of E. J. Brach & Sons and that it is one of the refiners which was used “in a battery of refiners” in performing the operations [243]*243above described. When asked what was the raw material which was introduced into the refiner in controversy, the witness testified:

Cocoa liquor. In other words, processed cocoa beans, milk powder, powdered sugar, skimmed milk powder and that is about all.

He added that the refiner reduced the mixture to a very fine powder.

He was also asked: “When does it become chocolate?” and replied: “Not until it reaches its final stage of going through the whole cycle of manufacturing including your conching, your mixing of other raw materials that go into your final chocolate. I mean it doesn’t become a product known as chocolate until every ingredient is in there.”

He.

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28 Cust. Ct. 478 (U.S. Customs Court, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
28 Cust. Ct. 240, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 31, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-e-bernard-co-v-united-states-cusc-1952.