Preload Construction Corp. v. United States

38 Cust. Ct. 60
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 13, 1957
DocketC. D. 1844
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 38 Cust. Ct. 60 (Preload Construction Corp. 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
Preload Construction Corp. v. United States, 38 Cust. Ct. 60 (cusc 1957).

Opinion

Lawrence, Judge:

This cause of action, embracing four protests which were consolidated for trial, relates to merchandise described in the consular invoices as “Silico Manganese Bar Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete,” being 1 inch in diameter by 37 feet, 7 inches in length. The number of bars in each invoice is accompanied by an equal number of “sets” of nuts and washers. The bars are also referred to in the record in more abbreviated form as “Macalloy bars.”

[61]*61The collector of customs apparently treated the bars, nuts, and washers as entireties and classified them as articles of metal upon which duty was assessed at the rate of 22% per centum ad valorem as provided in paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 397), as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802.

In their protests as filed, plaintiffs claimed that the subject merchandise should be classified “as all other structural shapes of iron or steel, fabricated for use or otherwise advanced beyond hammering, rolling or casting,” and subjected to duty at the rate of 7% per centum ad valorem in accordance with the terms of paragraph 312 of said act (19 U. S. O. § 1001, par. 312), as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T. D. 52739.

The protests were later amended to embody the following alternative claims:

1. That the articles described on the invoices as “Nuts and Washers” are dutiable at three-tenths of 1 cent per pound in paragraph 330 of said act (19 U. S. O. § 1001, par. 330), as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra, as to said items covered by protest 206224-K, and as to the nuts and washers covered by the other three protests (206225-K, 206226-K, and 206227-K) the same claim is made, except that paragraph 330 is referred to as being modified by the Torquay protocol, as supplemented by Presidential notification, 86 Treas. Dec. 265, T. D. 52763 (which latter modification we find contains no reference to paragraph 330 and will be referred to infra).

2. That the merchandise described in the motions to amend as “steel reinforcing bars, steel bars, reinforcing bars, and steel plates” should be classified as “concrete reinforcement bars and plates, not specially provided for,” in paragraph 304 of said act (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 304), as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 51802, supra, and dutiable at the rate of 15 per centum ad valorem as to the merchandise covered by protest 206224-K; and as to the merchandise covered by the other three protests (206225-K, 206226-K, and 206227-K) the same claim is made except that the rate specified is 12% per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the Torquay protocol, as supplemented by Presidential notification, T. D. 52763, supra.

The text of the competing paragraphs, so far as pertinent here, reads as follows:

Paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra:

[62]*62Articles or wares not specially provided for, whether partly or wholly manufactured:

# * $ ifc Jfc sfc
Composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel, lead, copper, brass, nickel, pewter, zinc, aluminum, or other metal (not including platinum, gold, or silver), but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer:
íj: sjí ije % %
Other (except slide fasteners and parts thereof)_22)4% ad val.

Paragraph 312 of said act, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra:

Beams, girders, joists, angles, channels, car-truck channels, tees, columns and posts, or parts or sections of columns and posts, and deck and bulb beams, together with all other structural shapes of iron or steel:
Machined, drilled, punched, assembled, fitted, fabricated for use, or otherwise advanced beyond hammering, rolling, or easting_7%% ad val.

Paragraph 330 of said act, as'modified by said general agreement, supra:

Nuts, * * * and washers, of wrought iron or steel_jKojí per lb.

Paragraph 304 of said act, as modified by said general agreement, supra:

* * * concrete reinforcement bars; * * •:
$ $ * $ $ $ ‡
Valued above 16 cents per pound_16% ad val.

Paragraph 304 of said act, as modified by the Torquay protocol to said general agreement, as supplemented by Presidential proclamation, supra:

* * * concrete reinforcement bars; * * * all the foregoing valued
over 16 cents per pound_12K% ad val.

It is important to quote also the provision of paragraph 304 of said act, as modified by the Annecy Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 84 Treas. Dec. 403, T. D. 52373, supplemented by Presidential proclamation, 85 Treas. Dec. 116, T. D. 52462, reading as follows:

* * * concrete reinforcement bars; * * *:
Valued above 5 and not above 8 cents per pound_12)4% ad val.
* * * * * * *

The following exhibits, which will be referred to infra wherever necessary, were offered by plaintiffs and received in evidence:

Exhibit 1, sample representing the imported bars, except as to length, with nut attached. One end of the bar, which is threaded, is called the jacking end; the other end, also threaded, is the same, except for the length of the threads.

[63]*63Exhibit 2, photograph showing the size and construction of a completed tank in which such bars were used.

Exhibit 3, photograph depicting a view of a completed tank.

Exhibits 4 and 5, photographs showing other views of portions of a tank.

Exhibit 6, photograph indicating a bar in stress position with a nut run down to the desired position on the threads. A washer is placed on the bottom of the nut, and the top of a bearing plate rests on the concrete.

Exhibit 7, photograph showing a bar in which the anchor plate was set too low, and it was necessary to use a large number of washers in order to maintain the desired stress in the bar. ,

Exhibit 8, photograph representing a prestressing bar or unit which has been stressed, the nub being turned down to the desired position, and the bar being used as a temporary tie rod for a common reinforcing bar.

Exhibit 9, the front cover of a sketch depicting a schematic diagram of a beam that is made with the use of prestressed steel, the red lines running through the beam representing bars.

Exhibit 10, photograph showing the actual beams that were made with the use of Macalloy steel bars.

Exhibit 11, motion-picture film showing the prestressing principles and certain tests made.

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Simon v. United States
55 Cust. Ct. 103 (U.S. Customs Court, 1965)
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55 Cust. Ct. 388 (U.S. Customs Court, 1965)
United Merchandising Corp. v. United States
48 Cust. Ct. 50 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)
Preload Corp. v. United States
45 Cust. Ct. 240 (U.S. Customs Court, 1960)
Humphrey & MacGregor, Inc. v. United States
42 Cust. Ct. 545 (U.S. Customs Court, 1959)

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38 Cust. Ct. 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/preload-construction-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1957.