Monarch Mfg. Co. v. United States

9 Cust. Ct. 201, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 787
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1942
DocketC. D. 694
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 9 Cust. Ct. 201 (Monarch Mfg. 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
Monarch Mfg. Co. v. United States, 9 Cust. Ct. 201, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 787 (cusc 1942).

Opinion

Walker, Judge:

These protests are directed against tbe refusal of tbe collector of customs at tbe subport of Atlanta, Ga., to allow drawback, under tbe provisions of section 313 (d) of tbe Tariff Act of 1930, of tbe internal revenue tax paid on domestic alcohol used in the manufacture of flavoring extracts which were subsequently exported. Tbe said section reads as follows:

SEC. 313. DRAWBACK AND REFUNDS
* * * * * * *
(d) Flavoring Extracts and Medicinal or Toilet Preparations. — Upon the exportation of flavoring extracts, medicinal or toilet preparations (including perfumery) manufactured or produced in the United States in part from domestic alcohol on which an internal-revenue tax has been paid, there shall be allowed a drawback equal- in amount to the tax found to have been paid on the alcohol so used.

Preliminary to disposing of tbe case on tbe merits, we find that a motion has been made in respect to protest 10363-K to dismiss tbe same for failure of compliance with article 1038 of tbe Customs Regulations of 1931, in force and effect at tbe time of tbe manufacture and exportation of tbe flavoring extracts in question.

That article was prescribed by tbe Secretary of tbe Treasury apparently under authority contained in section 313 (i) of tbe Tariff Act of 1930, and required, among other things, that within 2 years from tbe date of clearance of tbe exporting vessel or conveyance a draw[203]*203back entry and certificate of manufacture on customs Form 7575. be filed in duplicate, and that when filed such entry be complete as to all documents necessary to the liquidation thereof, the penalty for failure to complete such claims within the 2 years prescribed being the treatment of the' claim as abandoned.

A similar regulation contained in the Customs Regulations of 1923 (article 976) was held, in the case of United States v. Champion Coated Paper Co., 22 C. C. P. A. 414, T. D. 47422, to be “in effect a statute of limitations, unauthorized by law and * * * unreasonable and invalid.”

Of course, under the drawback provisions of the Tariff Act of 1922, in connection with which article 976, supra, was prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, there was no specific authority given in the act to the Secretary to prescribe regulations governing the time within which drawback entries should be filed and completed. In subsection (i) of section 313 of the Tariff Act of 1930 specific authority was given to the Secretary to prescribe such regulations, but careful examination of the provision reveals that such authority is limited to. entries filed ip connection with drawback claimed on articles made with the use ©f imported merchandise under the provisions of section 313 (a). The authority of the Secretary to prescribe regulations with reference to drawback of the internal revenue tax paid on domestic alcohol used in the manufacture of flavoring extracts seems to be confined to those regulations contained in the third subdivision of subsection (i), and does not include authority to fix a limit upon the time when drawback entries in connection with such alcohol so used may be filed.

Section 313 (i), so far as material, reads as follows:

(i) Regulations. — The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to prescribe regulations governing (1) the identification of imported merchandise used in the manufacture or production of articles entitled to drawback of customs duties, the ascertainment of the quantity of such merchandise used, of the time when such merchandise was received by the manufacturer or producer of the exported articles, and of the amount of duties paid thereon, the determination of the facts of the manufacture or production of such articles in the United States and their exportation therefrom, the time within which drawback entries on such articles shall be filed and completed, to entitle such articles to drawback, and the payment of drawback due thereon; * * * (3) the determination and payment of drawback of internal-revenue tax on domestic alcohol, including the requirement of such notices, bonds, bills of lading, and other evidence of payment of tax and exportation as the Secretary of the Treasury .deems necessary * * *. [Italics added.]

It will be observed that subdivision (1), supra, relates only to drawback of the duties paid on imported merchandise used in the manufacture or production of articles exported from the United States. Under the circumstances, and following the Champion Coated Paper Co. case, supra, we must hold that article 1038 of the Customs Regu[204]*204lations of 1931 bad no force or effect insofar as drawback entries in connection with domestic alcohol used in the manufacture or production of flavoring extracts were concerned, and the motion to dismiss protest 10363-K must be, and it is, denied.

Proceeding to the merits of the case, we find that the basis of the collector's refusal to allow drawback apparently was failure of compliance on the part of the plaintiff-corporation with the provisions of a so-called “drawback decision,” a synopsis of which is published as T. D. 40533 (B), and the general regulations with respect to manufacturing records contained in article 1074 of the Customs Regulations of 1937 and article 1053 of the Customs Regulations of 1931.

The last-named articles are couched in identical language and read as follows:

Manufacturing record. — The description of the alcohol required to be stated in the entry may be obtained from the package containing the tax-paid alcohol, and there shall be kept by the manufacturer of the flavoring extracts, medicinal or toilet preparations on which drawback is claimed, a record of all such preparations manufactured, the quantity of wastage, if any, and a full description of the alcohol. This record shall be open at all times to the inspection of officers of the customs. ,

With respect to the requirements of T. D. 40533 (B), the following explanation is necessary. On or about June 30, 1924, the predecessor of the plaintiff-corporation which was then a co-partnership doing business under the same name as the plaintiff, applied, under the provisions of the then existing customs regulations for the establishment of what is known as a “rate of drawback” on soda water flavors and bottlers’ concentrates, or flavoring extracts, manufactured with the use of domestic tax-paid alcohol. The establishment of a “rate of drawback” involved a showing by the applicant to the satisfaction of certain Treasury officials that arrangement had been or would be made by the applicant to keep records which would properly identify the tax-paid material used in the manufacture of the extracts to be exported, and which would enable the determination of the quantities thereof which might be entitled to drawback. It should be noted that there is no provision in the tariff act for the “establishment of a rate of drawback,” but it is obvious that the procedure was prescribed in the interests of efficient administration of the drawback laws.

In conformity with the customs regulations concerning drawback rates the predecessor of the plain tiff-corporation filed a sworn statement, dated vSeptember 2, 1924, setting forth various items of information required and reciting certain promises concerning the keeping of records.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sterling Drug, Inc. v. United States
27 Cust. Ct. 151 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
9 Cust. Ct. 201, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 787, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monarch-mfg-co-v-united-states-cusc-1942.