Pacific Hardwood Sales Co. v. United States

64 Cust. Ct. 68, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3211
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 1970
DocketC.D. 3960
StatusPublished

This text of 64 Cust. Ct. 68 (Pacific Hardwood Sales 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
Pacific Hardwood Sales Co. v. United States, 64 Cust. Ct. 68, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3211 (cusc 1970).

Opinion

Re, Judge:

The two protests in this case, which were consolidated for purposes of trial and determination, cover importations from Taiwan, entered -at the port of San Francisco. The merchandise referred to in the entry papers as “drawer sides”, was classified for customs duty purposes within the purview of item 727.40 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (hereinafter referred to as TSUS) as “Parts of furniture”, and was subjected to duty at the rate of 17 per centum ad valorem.

Although plaintiffs have made various claims, they appear to rely solely on the claim for classification of the importations in item 202.53 of the TSUS, which provides duty at the rate of 5 per centum ad va-lorem. The language of item 202.53 in its context, together with pertinent explanatory headnotes, is set forth as follows:

“Lumber and wood siding, drilled or treated; and edge-glued or end-glued wood not over 6 feet in length or over 15 inches in width, whether or not drilled or treated:
202.52 Softwood lumber and siding, drilled, or pressure treated with creosote or other wood preservative, or both, but not otherwise treated_ 1.5% ad val.
202.53. Hardwood, edge-glued or end-glued, not drilled or treated_ 5% ad val.
202.54 Other_ 10% ad val.”
Schedule 2, Part 1.
“Subpart B. — Lumber, Flooring, and Moldings Subpart B headnotes:
1. This subpart covers lumber, wood siding, wood flooring, wood moldings, and certain wood carvings and ornaments', including such products when they have been drilled or treated.
[70]*702. For the purposes of this part, the following terms have the meanings hereby assigned to them:
(a) Lumber: A product of a sawmill or sawmill and planing min derived from a log by lengthwise sawing which, in its original sawed condition, has at least 2 approximately parallel flat longitudinal sawed surfaces, and which may be rough, dressed, or worked, as set forth below:
(i) rough lumber is lumber just as it comes from the saw, whether in the original sawed size or edged, resawn, crosscut, or trimmed to smaller sizes;
(ii) dressed lumber is lumber which has been dressed or surfaced by planing on at least one edge or face; and
(iii) worked lumber is lumber which has been matched (provided with a tongue-and-grooved joint at the edges or ends), shiplapped (provided with a rabbeted or lapped joint at the edges), or patterned (shaped 'at the edges or on the faces to a patterned or molded form) on a matching machine, sticker, or molder.
Edge-glued or end-glued wood over 6 feet in length and not over 15 inches in width shall be classified as lumber if such wood as a solid piece without glue joints would be deemed to be lumber as defined above.
(b) Softwood: Wood from trees of coniferous species (order Coniferae).
(c) Hardwood: Wood from trees of non-coniferous species.
(d) Drilled or treated: Drilled at intervals for nails, screws, or bolts, sanded or otherwise surface processed in lieu of, or in addition to, planing or working, or treated with creosote or other wood preservatives, or with fillers, sealers, waxes, oils, stains, varnishes, paints, or enamels, but not including anti-stain or other temporary applications mentioned in headnote 4 of this subpart.”

The following facts were stipulated and agreed to by the parties:

“That the items marked “A” and initialed
_MAM_ , Milton A. Murayama (Import Specialist’s Initials) ^ (Import Specialist’s Name) on protest 65/4197 are in fact %" thick, 6f8" wide, and 15,16,17, 21% and 28%" long, are of 2 piece construction and made from lauan wood.
That the items marked “A” and initialed
_MAM_ i Milton A. Murayama (Import Specialist’s Initials) ^ (Import Specialist’s Name) marked on protest 66/7416 are in fact %" thick, 6%" wide, and 14, 15, 16, 21%" or 28%" long, are of 2 piece construction, and are made from lauan wood.
That lauan wood is the wood of a non coniferous species of tree.”

It is well settled in customs law that, in addition to overcoming the presumption of correctness attaching to the action of customs [71]*71officials in classifying merchandise for dnty purposes, plaintiffs have the burden of proving the correctness of their claimed classification. Hayes-Sammons Chemical Co. v. United States, 55 CCPA 69, C.A.D. 935 (1968).

From the foregoing stipulation of the parties, two of the requisite points of proof resting upon plaintiffs herein to bring the importations within the purview of item 202.53 have been satisfied, to wit, that since the merchandise in controversy is wood of a non-coniferous species of tree, it consists of hardwood, and that in dimensions it is “not over 6 feet in length or over 15 inches in width”. During the course of the trial, it was further agreed that the merchandise was edge-glued.

For other essential elements of proof, the court has examined the testimonial record and the physical exhibits.

Five witnesses testified at the trial, three on behalf of plaintiffs and two for defendant, all of whom were experienced in either the lumber or furniture manufacturing business. From their testimony the following facts are gleaned. The merchandise in controversy, represented by plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, is produced from the many strips and short pieces remaining after lumber is manufactured from logs. These strips and short pieces are resawn to proper thickness, usually by band saw or similar device. The pieces are then surfaced on two edges to various widths, some as narrow as one inch. The material is placed in a gluing machine and glued into long strips of various widths by an electronic gluing process. It is then ripped to the required widths, with allowance made for subsequent surfacing. The material is placed in a surfacing machine, also known as a matcher or a molder, which surfaces the four sides, automatically spaces the groove, and eases the edge. The surfacing referred to was described as synonymous to planing. The only remaining thing to be done to produce merchandise such as exhibit 1 is to cut it to the size specified in purchase orders. This cutting is only to size of tolerance, the size necessary to allow a certain tolerance in width, thickness, and in length. The material had not been sanded in any form prior to importation. The groove on exhibit 1 is provided for the purpose of inserting a thin piece of plywood as a drawer bottom. Exhibit 1 represents the merchandise as it is imported into the United States.

According to the evidentiary record, before the merchandise can be utilized as drawer sides, additional manufacturing processes must be performed. Since in furniture manufacturing the length must be exact, the material must be sized for length. It must be sanded to eliminate tears and defects, or the defects must be filled with putty to produce a finished product. The ends of the drawer sides must be dovetailed, a process by which a series of fantails or extensions are [72]

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Bluebook (online)
64 Cust. Ct. 68, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-hardwood-sales-co-v-united-states-cusc-1970.