Lloyds Electronics, Inc. v. United States

15 Ct. Int'l Trade 164
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedApril 15, 1991
DocketCourt No. 86-06-00781
StatusPublished

This text of 15 Ct. Int'l Trade 164 (Lloyds Electronics, 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
Lloyds Electronics, Inc. v. United States, 15 Ct. Int'l Trade 164 (cit 1991).

Opinion

Re, Chief Judge:

The question presented in this case pertains to the proper classification, for customs duty purposes, of certain merchandise imported from Taiwan and described on the customs invoice as “AM/FM-FM Receiver with Clock Radio and Stereo Cassette Recorder Player.”

The imported merchandise was classified by the Customs Service under a basket provision for radio combinations, “whether or not incorpo[165]*165rating clocks or other timing apparatus,” under item 685.50, TSUS, with duty assessed at the rate of 6.2 per centum ad valorem. Plaintiff protests this classification, and contends that the imported merchandise is properly classifiable as “[m] achines not specially provided for, and parts thereof,” under item 678.50, TSUS, with duty assessed at the rate of 4.4 per centum ad valorem.

The pertinent statutory provisions of the tariff schedules are as follows:

Classified Under:
Schedule 6, Part 5
Radiotelegraphic and radiotelephonic transmission and reception apparatus; radiobroadcasting and television transmission and reception apparatus, and television cameras; record players, phonographs, tape recorders, dictation recording and transcribing machines, record changers, and tone arms; all of the foregoing, and any combination thereof, whether or not incorporating clocks or other timing apparatus, and parts thereof:
# sfc #
Other:
685.50 Other.6.2% ad val.
Claimed Under:
Schedule 6, Part 4, Subpart H
678.50 Machines not specially provided for, and parts thereof.,.4.4% ad val.

The question presented is whether the imported merchandise has been properly classified by the Customs Service as radio combinations, “whether or not incorporating clocks or other timing apparatus, ” under item 685.50, TSUS, a basket provision, or is properly classifiable as “[mjachines not specially provided for, and parts thereof,” under item 678.50, TSUS, as claimed by the plaintiff.

In order to decide the question presented, the court must consider “whether the government’s classification is correct, both independently and in comparison with the importer’s alternative.” Jarvis Clark Co. v. United States, 733 F.2d 873, 878, reh’g denied, 739 F.2d 628 (Fed. Cir. 1984).Pursuantto 28 U.S.C. § 2639(a)(1) (1988), the government’s classification is presumed to be correct, and the burden of proof is upon the party challenging the classification.

After an examination of the stipulated facts and exhibit, pertinent tariff provisions, and relevant case law, it is the determination of the court that the plaintiff has not overcome the presumption of correctness that attaches to the classification by Customs, and that the imported [166]*166merchandise has been properly classified by the Customs Service as radio combinations, “whether or not incorporating clocks or other timing apparatus,” under item 685.50, TSUS, a basket provision.

In lieu of a trial, the parties have stipulated to the facts. As stated by the parties in their stipulation, “[t]he imported merchandise consists of AM/FM radio reception apparatus in combination with cassette recorder/players and solid-state digital timekeeping devices. * * *” Each of the imported machines “possesses an integral solid-state digital timekeeping device portion.” The timekeeping device portions of the imported merchandise “contain LED displays, the purpose of which is to display time in various modes.” The stipulation expressly provides that the imported merchandise does not contain any “moving parts,” nor any “movements, mechanisms, or synchronous motors.”

In addition to the stipulation, the parties admitted into evidence a joint exhibit. The joint exhibit consisted of plaintiffs product service manuals and various marketing materials for solid-state timekeeping devices marketed by the plaintiff, and similar to the timekeeping devices contained in the imported merchandise.

In support of its contention that the imported merchandise is properly classifiable under item 678.50, TSUS, the plaintiff asserts that the imported merchandise “is ‘more than’ that which Customs classified it as, being properly classifiable as machines not specially provided for.” The plaintiff asserts that the imported merchandise contains a “solid-state digital timekeeping device,” and that the device is not a clock or other timing apparatus, for purposes of the tariff schedules. Hence, plaintiff submits that the imported merchandise is “more than” a radio combination, “whether or not incorporating clocks or other timing apparatus,” as provided by item 685.50, TSUS.

In order to establish that the imported merchandise is properly classifiable under item 678.50, TSUS, the plaintiff must show that the timekeeping device contained in the imported merchandise is not a “clock[ ] or other timing apparatus, ” within the meaning of item 685.50, TSUS. In support of its contention that the imported merchandise does not contain a “clock[ ] or other timing apparatus” within the meaning of the tariff schedules, the plaintiff cites Texas Instruments, Inc. v. United States, 82 Cust. Ct. 272, C.D. 4810, 475 F. Supp. 1183 (1979), aff'd, 67 CCPA 59, C.A.D. 1244, 620 F.2d 269 (1980) (Texas Instruments I).

In Texas Instruments I, the imported merchandise consisted of integrated circuit devices, which were used as components in modules of solid-state electronic digital watches. The merchandise was classified by the Customs Service as assemblies and subassemblies for clock movements, under item 720.75, TSUS. Plaintiff protested the classification, and contended that the imported merchandise was properly classifiable “as transistors and other related electronic crystal components,” under item 687.60, TSUS. 82 Cust. Ct. at 274, 475 F. Supp. at 1184.

The Customs Court noted that implicit in Customs’ classification of the merchandise as assemblies and subassemblies for clock movements [167]*167“is the premise that the module in a solid-state digital watch of which the subject merchandise is an assembled component part is a ‘watch movement’ within the purview of the tariff schedules.” Id. at 277, 475 F. Supp. at 1186. The court reviewed the testimony at trial and several lexicographic definitions, and concluded that the term “movement” has a specific and unambiguous common meaning in the horological industry. See id. at 278, 475 F. Supp. at 1187. The court explained that “the term ‘movement’ as used in the horological industry refers to a mechanism, whether mechanical or electro-mechanical, which possesses some moving parts to which or from which motion is transferred.” Id.

The defendant contended, however, that in enacting the applicable tariff provisions “Congress intended the term ‘watch movement’ as used in the tariff schedules to include any device capable of measuring time.

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15 Ct. Int'l Trade 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lloyds-electronics-inc-v-united-states-cit-1991.