Paramount Import Co. v. United States

44 Cust. Ct. 702
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 10, 1960
DocketReap. Dec. 9697; Entry No. 792968, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 44 Cust. Ct. 702 (Paramount Import 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
Paramount Import Co. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 702 (cusc 1960).

Opinion

Oliver, Chief Judge:

The appeals for reappraisement, enumerated in schedule “A,” hereto attached and made a part hereof, relate to certain glass beaded necklaces and other items of jewelry, or glassware, that were exported from the Jablonec District of Czechoslovakia during the months of February, March, and April 1949. Entry was made at the port of New York.

The fer se values of the various articles are not in dispute. The sole question before me is whether an item described on the invoices as “15% buying commission” is a part of export value, section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, concededly the proper basis for appraisement of the merchandise in question. The limited issue brings into application the well-established principle that when, as here, only one item of an appraisement is challenged, the presumption of correctness as to all others is not destroyed, ,and, therefore, they stand as presumptively correct. United States v. Fritzsche Bros., Inc., 35 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 60, C.A.D. 371.

Whether or not an item is a buying commission is dependent on the facts in each particular case. United States v. Bauer et al., 3 Ct. Cust. Appls. 343, T.D. 32627. Judicial authorities are consistent to the effect that a charge for services associated with the purchase of merchandise in the foreign market, and which is not an amount that inures to the benefit of the seller, is a buying commission, which, although affecting the cost of goods to the importer, is not part of the market value of the merchandise, and, hence, is a nondutiable item. United States v. Case & Co., Inc., 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 122, T.D. 40958; United States v. Alfred Kohlberg, Inc., 27 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 223, C.A.D. 88; Stein v. United States, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 36, T.D. 31007. In this case, plaintiffs contend that the. item in question meets the [704]*704judicial interpretation of a buying commission and, therefore, should not be included in determining statutory export value. Defendant contends that, at the time of exportation of the merchandise in question, the industry affecting the articles under consideration was nationalized by the Government of Czechoslovakia, requiring all transactions to be handled through the Czechoslovakia Glass Export Co., Ltd., a governmental agency, and that, therefore, the said invoice item is not, in fact, a buying commission, but part of the market value for tariff purposes.

The case was the subject of my decision in Paramount Import Co., Inc., et al. v. United States, 40 Cust. Ct. 672, Reap. Dec. 9061, which sustained plaintiffs’ contention. It comes before me at this time pursuant to an order granting defendant’s motion for rehearing (Paramount Import Co., Inc. v. United States, 40 Cust. Ct. 800, Reap. Dec. 9138).

My previous decision, Reap. Dec. 9061, analyzed in detail the evidence adduced by both parties at the original trial. To repeat the outline of that evidence would unduly lengthen this opinion. Suffice to say that the outline of the evidence, as set forth in that decision, is incorporated herein by reference. The summary of the record before ■me at the conclusion of the original presentation of this case appears in my previous decision as follows:

From tile foregoing analysis of tlie record, it appears that, at the time of exportation of the merchandise in question, trade practices in the export market of the Jablonec District of Czechoslovakia were undergoing changes. Government control over all elements of trade was being developed, yet there remained effective the ordinary course of trade in which sales were made through commissionaires who acted as buying agents and received a commission for their services. Defendant’s .evidence (exhibit B, supra) includes the admission that ■various firms continued to export in their own names “partly because they had previously specialized in particular articles, and their organization had been geared to handle special requests.” There is nothing in the record before me to indicate the foreign exporter of the merchandise under consideration was not among those firms that continued to export in their own names. On the contrary, plaintiffs’ positive proof — oral testimony and documentary proof, coupled with the collection of “Purchase Order” forms — is persuasive toward the conclusion, which I find to be applicable, that employing the services of a commissionaire, such as were employed in all of the transactions involved herein, followed the ordinary course of trade during the period covered by the shipments under consideration.

At the trial on rehearing, defendant introduced certain documentary evidence which, Government counsel contends, as stated in his brief, supplies “any deficiency which may have previously existed.” Following is a review of defendant’s additional or supplementary evidence, so far as pertinent to the present discussion.

The “Czechoslovak Economic Bulletin” (defendant’s exhibit C) released by the Czechoslovak Commercial Attache of the Czechoslovak [705]*705Embassy in Washington, D.C., is a promotional publication, extolling the virtues of Government-controlled industry in Czechoslovakia. It has no evidentiary value in this case.

The “OpeRations Memorandum” (defendant’s collective exhibit D), from the American Consul at Prague to the Department of State, transmitted a “note” from the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, advising that the Czechoslovak Glass Export Co., Ltd., was the governmental agency authorized to be exclusively engaged in foreign trade involving Jablonec goods, and concluding with the statement that “it has no longer been possible since January 1, 1949, to purchase J ablonec goods directly from the manufacturer or from other company.” That conclusion, however, is not altogether consistent with the contents of a directive issued by the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, under date of December 28, 1948 (part of defendant’s collective exhibit E), relating to items, such as those covered by the shipments in question, and stating that the authority of the Czechoslovak Glass Export Co., Ltd., would not become effective until March 1,1949, as to transactions that were “concluded before the publication of this directive or the import or export permits for the goods were issued prior to January 1, 1949.” The combination of documents just referred to tends to corroborate the report (defendant’s exhibit B) offered by defendant at the original presentation of this case and stating, in effect, that there was a general trend in Czechoslovakia to nationalize the industry dealing with the production and distribution of J ablonec goods. Further evidence that Government control over Jablonec export trade was gradual and was not completely established during the period under consideration is shown by the “Operations Memorandum” from the American Embassy at Prague to the Department of State (defendant’s collective exhibit H), enclosing a “note,” dated January 21, 1960, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, answering certain questions that 'had been presented through the American Embassy at Prague (defendant’s exhibit F), pursuant to request by counsel for defendant in this case. The two questions and answers, most pertinent to the present issue, are set forth in plaintiffs’ brief as follows:

Questions No. 4 and 6 posed by tbe American Embassy are as follows:

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44 Cust. Ct. 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paramount-import-co-v-united-states-cusc-1960.