Leather's Best, Inc. v. United States

4 Ct. Int'l Trade 152, 555 F. Supp. 1064, 4 C.I.T. 152, 1982 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1988
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedOctober 8, 1982
DocketCourt No. 77-10-04197
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 4 Ct. Int'l Trade 152 (Leather's Best, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leather's Best, Inc. v. United States, 4 Ct. Int'l Trade 152, 555 F. Supp. 1064, 4 C.I.T. 152, 1982 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1988 (cit 1982).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

Plaintiff has instituted this action to obtain duty free treatment for certain leather under provisions of the General System of Preferences (GSP), as set forth in Headnote 3(c) of the General Headnotes and Rules of Interpretation of the Tariff Schedules of the United States. The merchandise was classified under item 121.57, TSUS (1976 entries) or 121.58 (1977 entries) TSUS, as modified by T. D. 68-9 as other leather, not fancy, and assessed with duty at 5 per centum ad valorem.

Plaintiff contends the leather, which was subjected to one of two embossing processes, is fancy leather within the definition contained in Schedule 1, Part 5, Subpart A, headnote 1(b) and which is subject to classification under item A121.65, TSUS, and accordingly entitled to entry free of duty under the GSP provisions. The leather was embossed either with a “hair cell” pattern or was smooth plated on an embossing machine. The former produced an artificial cattle hair cell type pattern and the latter flattened the natural hair cell pattern and created a smoother and glossier appearance.

The pertinent statutory provisions are as follows:

Leather, in the rough, partly finished, or finished:

***** * *
Other
*******
Other
[153]*153Not fancy:
* * * * * * *
121.58 Other. 5% ad val. (121.57)
*******
Fancy:
*******
121.65 Other Free
Schedule 1, Part 5, Subpart A:
Subpart A headnotes:
1. For the purposes of this subpart—
*******
(b) the term “fancy”, as applied to leather, means leather which has been embossed, printed, or otherwise decorated in any manner or to any extent (including leather finished in aluminum, gold, silver, or like effects and leather on which the original grain has been accentuated by any process).
*******

This action was the subject of cross-motions for summary judgment which were denied on May 27, 1981. Plaintiff in the above motions abandoned the following entries which are hereby dismissed:

Date of Entry No.: 109889 158394 144452 10-8-76 11-16-76 11-5-76

The record herein consists of the testimony of five witnesses, two called on behalf of plaintiff and three by defendant. Eighteen exhibits were received in evidence for plaintiff and two for defendant. The evidence establishes the imported bovine leather has been embossed. Exhibits 6, 8, and 10 are representative samples of the imported merchandise. Exhibits 6 and 8 are hair cell embossed while exhibit 10 is a sample of smooth plated leather. The same merchandise, not hair cell embossed, is represented by exhibits 7 and 9, and exhibit 11 represents merchandise similar to exhibit 10 except for the smooth plating.

[154]*154The leather was fully tanned prior to the hair cell embossing or the smooth plating. The tanning process requires the rawhide as received in the tannery to be dehaired and defleshed. It is then put in solutions which impart the characteristics to the hide. The split and grain side is placed in a drum where it is colored, after which it is removed and dried. At this point the hair cell embossing or smooth plating takes place after which the leather is wrapped and shipped to the United States. In order to emboss the leather, it is placed in an embossing machine and a plate, either with a design or plain, is utilized under heat and pressure to imprint the design or smooth pattern on the leather. The purpose of utilizing hair cell embossing is to imprint a more uniform and permanent grain design which in turn improves the cutability of the leather. The hair cell embossing hides tick bite marks and other defects and blemishes, while smooth plating increases the glossiness and smooths the leather. According to plaintiffs witnesses both processes decorated and also enhanced or beautified the leather. Defendant’s witnesses, Loewengart and Gunnerfos, while admitting the leather was embossed, denied the leather was decorated or its appearance enhanced or beautified.

Based upon the record plaintiff contends the imported hair cell embossed leather and the smooth plated leather fall within the definition of fancy as set forth, supra. Defendant takes the position that embossing alone is not suffficient since the definition of fancy provides “embossed, printed or otherwise decorated” and therefore requires the leather to be decorated.

The question of whether the leather is decorated varied with the witnesses. Plaintiffs witnesses considered the leather decorated or enhanced in appearance while defendant’s witnesses, Loewengart and Gunnerfos, denied the imported leather was decorated, based upon the small amount of design applied. However the definition states, “or otherwise decorated to any extent". This obviously does not require the embossing to be extreme such as in plaintiffs exhibit A. Defendant’s witness Bailey relied upon the definition of embossed leather as set forth in ASTM Standard Definitions of Terms Relating to Leather, D 1517-67 (defendant’s exhibit’s B) which requires the leather be “ornamented with a geometrical or fancy design by heavy pressure in a machine”.

The definition of fancy leather in the ASTM Standards (Defendant’s Exhibit B) provides as follows:

fancy leather — leathers made from hides and skins of all kinds that have commercial importance and value primarily because of grain, or distinctive finish, whether natural or the result of processing. Such processing may be graining, printing, embossing, ornamenting (including in gold, silver, and aluminum finishes), or any other finishing operation enhancing the appeal of leather. [P. 118.]

[155]*155The above definition is broader than intended by Congress as is evidenced by the following legislative history in the Tariff Classification Study (1960), Schedule 1:

In the proposed schedule on which public hearings were held, the existing distinction between the regular leathers and the so-called “fancy” leathers was eliminated. Paragraph 1530(d), as originally enacted, imposed a rate of 30 percent ad valorem on fancy leathers, but this rate has been reduced under trade agreement negotiations to 12.5 percent. This provision has been troublesome. Under this broad classification is included in both trade and popular terminology a group of heterogeneous leathers for which it is very difficult to find a suitable definition. The Tariff Act of 1930 provides for “Leather * * * grained, printed, embossed, ornamented, or decorated * * * or by any other process (in addition to tanning) made into fancy leather.” In 1930, these effects were obtained by mechanical manipulation of the leather after tanning, but some of these effects are now achieved by newly developed chemical reactions in the tanning process. Appraising officers find it extremely difficult to determine whether some of the “fancy effects” in leather have been created in the tanning process or in additional operations.

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Related

Leather's Best, Inc. v. The United States
708 F.2d 715 (Federal Circuit, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
4 Ct. Int'l Trade 152, 555 F. Supp. 1064, 4 C.I.T. 152, 1982 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leathers-best-inc-v-united-states-cit-1982.