Pacific Suppliers, Ltd. v. United States

62 Cust. Ct. 517, 299 F. Supp. 1134, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3472
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 6, 1969
DocketC.D. 3819
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 62 Cust. Ct. 517 (Pacific Suppliers, Ltd. 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 Suppliers, Ltd. v. United States, 62 Cust. Ct. 517, 299 F. Supp. 1134, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3472 (cusc 1969).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

This protest places in issue the classification of certain free standing cast iron ingot molds. The importations were classified under the provisions of item 674.10, Tariff Schedules of the United States (hereinafter referred to as TSUS), as ingot molds and assessed with duty at the rate of 9 per centum ad valorem. Plaintiffs claim that the articles in question are properly classifiable as non-malleable cast iron articles pursuant to item 657.09 of the TSUS and should be assessed with duty at the rate of 3 per centum ad valorem. The relevant statutory provisions read as follows:

674.10 Converters, ingot molds, and casting machines, all the foregoing of types used in metallurgy and in metal foundries, and parts thereof_9% ad val.
Articles of iron or steel, not coated or plated with precious metal:
Cast iron article, not alloyed:
657.09 Not malleable_3% ad val.

[519]*519Full testimony regarding the nature and use of the importations was offered by three witnesses on behalf of the plaintiffs. They were Albert Furuya, assistant secretary-treasurer of Pacific Suppliers, Ltd., the importers herein; Charles Meihle, head melter at Hawaiian Western Steel, user of the molds in question and Shoji Fujimoto, assistant chief of the ingot mold section of Kubota Iron & Machinery Works, Ltd., the manufacturer of the merchandise in issue.

Although the issues in this case are primarily legal in nature, the testimony regarding the imported molds is informative and useful. It establishes that the molds in question are ingot molds, approximately 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighing approximately 474 pounds. They were made in Japan by Kubota to the specifications of Hawaiian Western Steel for use in the production of steel which, it is generally agreed, constitutes an involvement in metallurgy. A photostatic copy of the blueprint drawing of the ingot mold in question was introduced in evidence as plaintiffs’ exhibit 1. In addition, photographs of molds such as the one in issue standing alone, in groups and receiving molten metal from a converter, were introduced in evidence as plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibits 2, 3, and 4. The molds in question are designed to be free standing, as distinguished from certain ingot molds which are designed to be attached in rows to the moving belt or platform of a casting machine (depicted in photographs introduced in evidence as plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibit 7) and still others which give form to the unbroken strip of metal emerging from a continuous casting machine (depicted in a schematic drawing introduced in evidence as plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibit 6).

Testimony was also offered to the effect that the function of a converter is to convert liquid pig iron into steel and that said converter contains a mold as an integral part. An illustration of the converter’s mechanism was introduced into evidence as plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibit 5.

It was stipulated between the parties that had the importations been classifiable under the Tariff Act of 1930, the commodity specialist would have advisorily classified it under paragraph 327 of said act, providing for casting and vessels wholly of cast iron.

Plaintiffs’ claim, made in the face of a provision which appears to provide explicitly for the articles in question, is based entirely on legislative history and although we are not ordinarily inclined to enter into an examination of such a nature in connection with unambiguous language, we are aware that in certain instances a literal reading of the statute can be in conflict with the intent of Congress, Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Co.v. United States, 19 CCPA 415, T.D. 45578, or that words may have been employed with a meaning [520]*520different from that commonly attributed to them. Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178; Acheson v. Fujiko Furusho, 212 F. 2d 284. It is therefore out of a scrupulous desire to avoid such an occurrence that we undertook a study of the legislative history of this provision. This study, however, revealed no support for a classification other than that given to the importations, uncovered no intent of Congress contrary to that contained in the plain language and no ambiguity in the use of the phrase “ingot molds.”

Plaintiffs’ basic assertion is that the intent of Congress was to include in item 674.10 only such articles as were machines or parts of machines and hence the ingot molds named therein were meant to be only those which were parts of converters or casting machines. It would follow from this line of reasoning that the instant molds, being unattached articles and not parts would be classifiable under item 657.09 which is the TSUS continuation in part of paragraph 327.

In support for this restrictive view of the term ingot molds, plaintiffs offer the following analysis of legislative history: That it was the general intent of Congress to reduce the scope of so-called “basket” provisions of the 1930 Act; that in keeping with this general intent a large number of specific new provisions such as item 674.10 were created for machines and parts which had formerly been indiscriminately lumped together under paragraph 353 as articles having as an essential feature an electric element or device or under paragraph 372 as machines not specially provided for; that it was the intention of Congress to confine the ambit of these new provisions derived from paragraphs 353 and 372 to machines and parts and to exclude other articles. Plaintiffs contend that this view is reinforced by the Tariff Commission’s explanatory notes to part 4 of schedule 6 and by the improbability that Congress would change the classification followed under the 1930 Act without an express indication to that effect. Plaintiffs also draw attention to the fact that the title of subpart F containing the item under which the importation was classified is “Machines for Working Metal, Stone, and Other Materials” and to the fact that the rate of duty for item 674.10 is stated in the explanatory notes of the Tariff Commission to be the result of an approximate arithmetical average of the existing rates in paragraphs 353 and 372. Finally, plaintiffs cite the maxim of nosoitur a soeiis to suggest that the phrase “ingot molds” as used in item 674.10 must have the character of a machine or machine part which character is dominant in the articles with which it is associated in that provision and subpart.

It is indeed correct that Congress intended to reduce the scope of the “basket” provisions of the 1930 Act. This is made abundantly clear by material such as the following from the Tariff Classification Study Submitting Eeport, part II, section 4, page 15:

[521]*521If,. The similitude provision and other “basket” provisions
The Tariff Act of 1930 has a number of provisions which are popularly referred to as “basket” or “catchall” provisions. These provisions are expressed in general terms which usually include the clause “not specially provided for.” Many of these basket or catchall provisions include heterogeneous groups of significant classes of articles.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 Cust. Ct. 517, 299 F. Supp. 1134, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3472, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-suppliers-ltd-v-united-states-cusc-1969.