Japan Import Co. v. United States

1 Cust. Ct. 607, 1938 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1468
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedSeptember 19, 1938
DocketNo. 4389; Entry Nos. 826361, 704079, 836414
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1 Cust. Ct. 607 (Japan Import 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
Japan Import Co. v. United States, 1 Cust. Ct. 607, 1938 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1468 (cusc 1938).

Opinion

Sullivan, Judge:

These reappraisements relate to certain shoes having paper and cotton uppers and rubber soles, imported by the plaintiff from Japan. The invoices are dated Kobe, Japan, April 17, May 16, and June 11, 1934, respectively. According to the memo-randa of “Appraiser’s Advance to Invoice Value” attached to the invoices in each reappraisement, these shoes were advanced in value by the appraiser “over 100 per centum.”

Appraisement was made on the basis of the American selling price as provided in section 402 (g) of the Tariff Act of 1930, by virtue of the President’s proclamation under section 336 of said act, issued February 1, 1933, and set forth in T. D. 46158, 63 Treas. Dec. 232, “changing the basis for the assessment of duty on certain rubber-soled footwear and rubber footwear from the foreign-market value to the American selling price.”

It will be observed that the President’s proclamation does not refer specifically to rubber-soled footwear having uppers of cotton and paper, but to such footwear “the uppers of which are composed wholly or in chief value of wool, cotton, ramie, animal hair, fiber, rayon, or other synthetic textile, silk, or substitutes for any of the foregoing,” and for this reason plaintiff contends that these shoes are not covered by the proclamation, and accordingly should not have been appraised on the American selling price, but that the correct dutiable value of the imported shoes is their export or entered value.

It will be observed that said section 336 of the tariff act provides, among other things, for an investigation by the Tariff Commission of “the differences in the costs of production of any domestic article and of any like or similar foreign article” and for a report to the President of “the results of the investigation and its findings with respect to such differences in costs of production.” As a result of such investigation as to certain rubber-soled footwear, the President issued his proclamation heretofore referred to providing that the duty on such footwear with the uppers of the material specified in the proclamation “is 35 per centum ad valorem based upon the American selling price as defined in section 402 (g) of said act.”

The sole question for determination is: Should these shoes have been appraised upon the American selling price or upon their export value?

As further reasons for its contention that this merchandise should have been appraised upon its export value, the plaintiff calls attention to the wording of section 402 (g) that “The American selling price - * * * shall be the price * * * at which such article is freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal market of the United States” and that inasmuch as the shoes at bar are not such articles as are provided for in the Presidential proclamation, but [609]*609only similar articles, “it was illegal for the appraiser to appraise the imported shoes in the case at bar, which have uppers composed of substitutes, on the American selling price of domestic shoes having uppers composed of cotton”; that “the imported shoes are not like or similar to the domestic shoes upon the basis of which they were appraised”; that “Inasmuch as shoes ‘such as’ or even ‘like or similar t'o’ the imported shoes, were not manufactured in the United States, the entered value, * * * constitutes the dutiable value.”

As a further argument for its contention that section 402 (g) does not cover this merchandise, plaintiff calls attention to the fact that section 402 (g) differs from the other provisions of section 402, providing for foreign, export, United States value, and cost of production. Section 402 (g) provides that the American selling price shall be the price at “which such article” is freely offered for sale, etc., while the provisions as to foreign, export, United States value, and cost of production, provide that such values and cost shall be those “at which such or similar merchandise is freely offered” etc., or the cost, etc., •of producing “such or similar merchandise”; and that this indicates the intent of Congress that section 402 (g), by reason of the difference of wording we have indicated, was intended to relate to the exact merchandise, or the same merchandise as imported, and not similar merchandise; that this exact merchandise is not “manufactured or produced in the United States” and is not “freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal market of the United States,” and therefore should not have been appraised under section 402 (g) as the proclamation does not affect the exact merchandise at bar.

I gather from the record (pp. 10, 14 to 16) that both sides have conceded orally in open court that if the American selling price is not the proper dutiable value, the proper dutiable value is the export value, and that there is no higher foreign value; also that, if there is an American selling price for this merchandise, the appraised value is correct. These so-called concessions, however, are not entirely clear from the record. The Government admits (p. 14):

* * * that if this Court should find as a fact that the imported shoe is not like or similar to the domestic shoe, under all section^ 336 and 402 (g) of the Tariff Act of 1930, that then the entered value represents the correct dutiable value, as the export value of the imported shoe.

Plaintiff’s witness Gold testified he is an examiner in the office of the .appraiser of merchandise at the port of New York, and has been such for twenty-six years, passing upon, among other things, “footwear of all ■descriptions”; that he passed upon the merchandise at bar, and saw it when it was imported. He described this merchandise as follows:

It covers rubber-soled oxfords, with uppers, two piece uppers, consisting of a veneer of paper, and a lining of cotton.

[610]*610He testified he made an advisory classification of this merchandise under paragraph 1530 (e), and that his classification “was motivated on the basis of the decision of the United States Customs Court in T. D. 44004,” or Tai Lung Co. v. United States, 18 C. C. P. A. 35.

The witness then testified be sought to find whether there was a like or similar domestic article to that at bar, and stated the investigation he made.

The witness then produced four samples of the shoes at bar. They were received in evidence as Collective Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 4. He testified he found a shoe like the imported article “with the exception of the upper part,” or “the outer part of the imported shoes,” and that he would not consider it identical; that prior to his appraisement it was his opinion there were not any domestic articles like or similar to the shoes at bar.

The witness then produced certain domestic shoes on the basis of which he appraised the imported shoes in this case. They were received in evidence as Exhibits 1-A, 2-A, 3-A, and 4-A. He testified he appraised the shoes at bar on the American selling price of the shoes represented by Exhibits 1-A, 2-A, 3-A, and 4-A; that he changed his mind from his opinion prior to appraisement, and found that the domestic article was like and similar to the imported article “under the broad meaning of 336,” as a matter of fact. The witness in response to questions by the court then stated the similarity between the shoes at bar and the domestic articles as follows:

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1 Cust. Ct. 607, 1938 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/japan-import-co-v-united-states-cusc-1938.