Mars Export & Import Co. v. United States

46 Cust. Ct. 551

• Court: United States Customs Court
• Decided: December 29, 1960
• Docket: Reap. Dec. 9884; Entry Nos. 785644; 786380
• Status: Published

Opinion

Oliver, Chief Judge:

Counsel for the respective parties have submitted these two appeals for reappraisement for decision on a written stipulation, reading as follows:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, subject to the approval of the Court, that the issues in the appeals for reappraisement of the above entitled cases are the same in all material respects as the issues in Paramount Import Co., Inc., et al. v. United States, Reap. Dec. 9697, and that the record in said case may be incorporated herein.

IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that the appraised values of the merchandise involved in the above cases, less the amounts added as 15% buying commission, is equal to the market value or the price at the time of exportation of such merchandise to the United States, at which such or similar merchandise was freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal markets of Czechoslovakia in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade for exportation to the United States, packed ready for delivery, and that the foreign values of such or similar merchandise were no higher.

IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that these cases may be submitted on the foregoing stipulation.

In the incorporated case, I held that a charge of 15 per centum paid by the American importer to a foreign commissionaire for services rendered in connection with the purchase of merchandise in the foreign market was a bona fide buying commission and, as such, did not enter into the dutiable value of the merchandise.

On the agreed facts and following my cited decision on the law, I find that the proper basis for appraisement of the merchandise in question is export value, as defined in section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, and hold that such statutory value for the merchandise involved in each of these appeals for reappraisement is the appraised value, less the amount added as 15 per centum buying commission.

Judgment will be rendered accordingly.