Railtech Boutet, Inc. v. United States

27 Ct. Int'l Trade 1023, 2003 CIT 88
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 22, 2003
DocketCourt 96-01-00265
StatusPublished

This text of 27 Ct. Int'l Trade 1023 (Railtech Boutet, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Railtech Boutet, Inc. v. United States, 27 Ct. Int'l Trade 1023, 2003 CIT 88 (cit 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

I. INTRODUCTION

BARZILAY, Judge:

The import invoice for the subject merchandise in this case identifies the product in French as “charge aluminothermique pour procede: QP.” Its proper identification for purposes of classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS” or “Tariff Schedule”) is the central issue before the court. Plaintiff, Railtech Boutet, Inc. (“Railtech”), imported the subject merchandise from France through the Port of Detroit. On January 19, 1993, Plaintiff protested the initial classification of the United States Customs Service (“Customs”), 1 which assigned a duty rate to the merchandise that Plaintiff had attempted to enter duty-free. That protest was granted on February *1024 18, 1993, and. for approximately two years the merchandise continued to enter duty-free, under HTSUS subheading 3810.90.20. However, on April 24, 1995, Customs reconsidered its granting of the earlier protest and reclassified the merchandise under HTSUS 3810.10.00 at a duty rate of 5.0 percent. Plaintiff protested this classification. The protest was denied, and Plaintiff filed a complaint with this court.

II. Background

The subject merchandise is identified in multiple ways as “thermite, thermite powder, thermite mixture, thermite compound, thermite charge, thermite welding charge, welding charge, thermite oxide charge, welding portion, or aluminothermic welding charge.” Def’s St. of Mat. Facts to Which There Are No Genuine Issues to Be Tried (“Def.’s St. of Facts”) ¶2; PL’s St. of Genuine Issues in Opp. to Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. (“Pl.’s St. of Facts”) ¶2. The product consists of 60.8% iron oxide, 19.5% aluminum, 7.05% steel F category (with slight carbon content), 7.53% steel (with 0.6% carbon) and 5.12% iron (with manganese). Def.’s St. of Facts ¶3.

The product is used for welding railroad tracks. The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (“AREMA”) Manual for Railway Engineering (“AREMA Manual”) explains the product and how it is used:

a. Thermite is defined as a mixture of finely divided aluminum and iron oxide. When the aluminum and iron oxide react, the reaction is called a thermite reaction. Thermite welding is accomplished with the heat produced by the thermite reaction. Filler metal is obtained from the iron reaction product and pre-alloyed steel shot in the mixture.
b. When ignited, the reaction within the thermite mixture develops a temperature approaching 5000 degrees F and produces a filler metal at about 3500 degrees F which, when introduced into a gap between the rails, welds or fuses the ends together. The reaction metal is generally iron which has been enriched with alloys to produce a filler metal assimilating the characteristics of the rail steel being welded.

Pl.’s Mem. in Opp. to Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. (“Pl.’s Opp. Br.”) Ex. 2, section 2.5.1

The relevant portion of the Tariff Schedule reads as follows:

*1025 3810 Pickling preparations for metal surfaces; fluxes and other auxiliary preparations for soldering, brazing or welding; soldering, brazing or welding powders and pastes consisting of metal and other materials; preparations of a kind used as cores or coatings for welding electrodes or rods:

3810.10.00 Pickling preparations for metal surfaces; soldering, brazing or welding powders and pastes consisting of metal and other materials:

3810.90 Other:

3810.90.10 Containing 5 percent or more by weight of one or more aromatic or modified aromatic substances.

3810.90.20 Consisting wholly of inorganic substances.

3810.90.50 Other

Customs’ classification of the subject merchandise in this case has swung back and forth like a pendulum. Plaintiff entered the product in 1992 under HTSUS subheading 3810.90.20, which is a duty-free subheading and covers “fluxes and other auxiliary preparations for soldering, brazing or welding; preparations of a kind used as cores or coatings for welding electrodes or rods: Consisting wholly of inorganic substances.” Plaintiff contends the product should be considered an “auxiliary preparation.” The Customs office at the Port of Detroit rejected this classification and classified the product under HTSUS subheading 3810.10.00, at a duty rate of 5 percent ad valo-rem. Subheading 3810.10.00 covers “pickling preparations for metal surfaces; soldering, brazing or welding powders and pastes consisting of metal and other materials.” Specifically, Customs claims the product should be classified as a welding powder.

Plaintiff protested Customs’ classification of the product as a welding powder on February 18, 1993, and Customs granted the protest. The change in Customs’ position was apparently triggered by a report from the Customs laboratory in Chicago stating that the “merchandise has a particle size greater than powder. Therefore [it is] classified as granular and excluded from classification in 381010 and should be 38109020\free.” Pl.’s Cross-Mot. for Summ. J. (“Pl.’s X-Mot”) Ex. 11.

Customs then began another round of internal reconsideration of the product’s classification, evidenced by an internal communication from the field import specialist in Detroit to the national import specialist regarding entries in 1994. Pl.’s X-Mot. Ex. 15. The field import specialist stated that the “Chicago lab was non committal on using a definition for a powder versus a granule.” However, this second report from the Chicago laboratory seems fairly clear: “The sample consists of disks of aluminum and iron, globules and granules of iron and iron oxide, and grains of aluminum. Most of the particles are *1026 over 1000 micrometers and thus the sample should not be considered a powder.” Lab Report No. 3 — 95—31062—00 in Pl.’s X-Mot. Ex. 14.

The field import specialist also noted Headquarters Ruling 953360 of June 17, 1994 which classified identical merchandise under subheading 3810.10. In response, the national import specialist stated that the “product appears to be a mixture of metal oxide with aluminum and steel, all in a powder form.” Based on this characterization, the national import specialist agreed to classify the product under subheading 3810.10 at a 5 percent duty rate. The national import specialist also noted that the definition of granule in Note 1(h) in Chapter 72 of the HTSUS “was intended for classification of goods in that chapter.”

On April 24, 1995, Customs reconsidered allowing the goods to be classified under Plaintiff’s preferred subheading and issued a Notice of Action, reclassifying the product to subheading 3810.10.00. Pl.’s X-Mot. Ex. 13.

While Railtech’s claims were working their way through the Customs process, another manufacturer imported a similar product from Canada.

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27 Ct. Int'l Trade 1023, 2003 CIT 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/railtech-boutet-inc-v-united-states-cit-2003.