Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co. v. United States

16 Cust. Ct. 36, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 10
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 13, 1946
DocketC. D. 981
StatusPublished

This text of 16 Cust. Ct. 36 (Procter & Gamble Manufacturing 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
Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 16 Cust. Ct. 36, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 10 (cusc 1946).

Opinion

OliveR, Presiding Judge:

This suit involves an importation which, was entered as citronella oil free of duty under the eo nomine provision, therefor in paragraph 1731 of the Tariff Act of 1930. It was classified as a mixture or combination containing essential or distilled oils under the provisions of paragraph 60, as modified by the trade agreement with France (T. D. 48316), and assessed with duty at the rate of 40 cents per pound and 30 per centum ad valorem. The competing paragraphs, insofar as pertinent, read as follows:

Par. 1731. Oils, distilled or essential: * * * citronella * * *
Par. 60. Perfume materials: * * * All mixtures or combinations containing essential or distilled oils, or natural or synthetic odoriferous or aromatic substances, not containing more than 10 per centum of alcohol.

The record establishes that the imported merchandise is citronella oil containing an average of about 8 per centum distillate of petroleum (kerosene) which had been intentionally added prior to shipment. This particular shipment consisted of approximately 10 tons, being part delivery of a contract order for 20 tons. The quantity of petroleum distillate in the various drums in which the oil was shipped varied from 6 to 13.6 per centum (exhibit 3, R. 18).

It appears that citronella oil is distilled from certain grasses grown in India, Ceylon, and Java and that at least two qualities of Ceylon citronella oil are recognized in the trade. One is known as Estate oil and the other as F. A. Q., these initials indicating “Fair Average Quality” (R. 77, 170).

It is not disputed that the imported merchandise was ordered as citronella oil, invoiced as citronella oil, accepted by the purchaser as a good delivery for citronella oil, and was used by plaintiff in its formulas as citronella oil.

The issue before us is whether citronella oil diluted or adulterated by the addition of a quantity of petroleum distillate has so far lost its identity for tariff purposes as to be no longer free of duty as citronella oil.

Plaintiff, a large manufacturer of soaps, introduced the testimony of 12 witnesses. One was the buyer of essential oils for the plaintiff corporation. One was the Government chemist who analyzed a sample from each of the 32 drums involved and reported the content [38]*38of petroleum distillate in each sample. Two were fully qualified technicians connected with the plaintiff corporation, who testified that this merchandise was citronella oil and was so accepted by them, that it was used by their company in the manufacture of certain grades of soaps, such as laundry and other soaps for general household use, not to impart an odor or perfume to the product but as a deodorant to kill the offensive odors of the fats and other component materials in these soaps; that only minute quantities, ranging from 0.02 to 0.12 or 0.2 per centum of this oil, were required to affect a whole batch of soap (R. 68, 109), and that their formulas for their soaps were prepared in their laboratories and sent out to their various plants to control production; that the present shipment was used, despite its petroleum distillate content, in the same proportions as indicated in their standard formula, and that no greater quantities were used because of the presence of the distillate.

In addition, the plaintiff introduced the testimony of several trade witnesses having experience with this product.

One of these witnesses, a chemist of long experience who had been analyzing citronella oil since 1921, not only from Ceylon but from Java and other sources as well, estimated that he had analyzed from 500 to 1,000 samples submitted by importers or purchasers. He stated that examinations of Ceylon oils for the past 20 years have generally disclosed the presence of petroleum distillate in varying quantities (R. 38).

Another of these witnesses, the president of a large company dealing in essential oils, testified he had been buying and selling Ceylon citronella oil for 35 years, coming in contact with the trade throughout the country. He stated that there is always a certain amount of petroleum distillate in the so-called pure oil from Ceylon and that he had never known of any importation of Ceylon citronella oil that was absolutely pure; that it always contained an adulterant, and that this was usually understood in the trade (R. 204,205).

The testimony of the other trade witnesses was to the same effect. They all testified that some petroleum distillate as an adulterant was usually present and was expected in Ceylon citronella oil, but their opinions varied as to how high the percentage could go before they would consider the product unacceptable as a good delivery of citronella oil. They all agreed, however, that Ceylon citronella oil containing 8 to 8K per centum of petroleum distillate would be considered and accepted in the trade as citronella oil, some stating that oil containing as high as 13}¿ per centum would still be considered and accepted in the trade as citronella oil (R. 187), although of inferior quality (R. 217). As one witness expressed it, more attention was paid to the odor than to the technical analysis” (R. 200).

The field covered by the testimony of the numerous witnesses pro-[39]*39chiced by the plaintiff as to their purchase or sale of citronella oil constituted collectively the entire United States. The testimony given by these witnesses indicated that everywhere throughout the country at the time of the passage of the tariff act, the term “citronella oil” had a uniform, definite, and general trade understanding which embraced such citronella oil adulterated with petroleum distillate, even in some instances to a degree greater than that here before us.

Plaintiff’s claim is that the imported merchandise is commercially known and accepted in the trade and commerce of the United States as citronella oil; that it is a physical and not a chemical mixture, and that the presence of the petroleum distillate has not changed its name or use as citronella oil. Plaintiff further contends that under no circumstances can the classification under paragraph 60 be sustained, since that paragraph applies only to perfume materials and the record establishes that this citronella oil is not a perfume material; that should its claim under paragraph 1731 be denied, then it must fall under the provisions of paragraph 1558 as an unenumerated manufactured article.

The Government contends that the imported merchandise is a combination or mixture containing essential or distilled oils and is a perfume material dutiable as assessed under the provisions of paragraph 60. It is further contended that plaintiff has failed to establish a commercial meaning for citronella oil different from the com-' mon meaning and has failed to establish that oil such as here imported is commercially known as citronella oil; that since the imported merchandise is not a pure product but has been intentionally diluted or adulterated, it is not entitled to entry free of duty as citronella oil.

The latest expression of our appellate court on this general subject is United States v. Dreyer, 28 C. C. P. A. 325, C. A. D 162. The merchandise there before the court was claimed to be origanum oil. It contained a small quantity (one-fourth to one-half of 1 per centum) of orthocresol, a product not normally found in pure or natural origanum oil. The court there (Garrett, P.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 Cust. Ct. 36, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/procter-gamble-manufacturing-co-v-united-states-cusc-1946.