Reliance Trading Corp. v. United States

60 Cust. Ct. 777, 279 F. Supp. 452, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2626
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 1968
DocketR.D. 11486; Entry No. 9178
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 Cust. Ct. 777 (Reliance Trading 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
Reliance Trading Corp. v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 777, 279 F. Supp. 452, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2626 (cusc 1968).

Opinion

Landis, Judge:

This appeal for reappraisement is limited to entry items described as artificial flowers (R. 2), exported from Hong Kong in July 1962. The parties, both in their rule 15 statements and again in their briefs, agree that export value, section 402(h) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C., section 1401a, is the correct basis for valuing the artificial flowers. Section 402, as amended, defines export value as follows:

(b) Expoet Value. — For the purposes of this section, the export value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the time of ex-[778]*778porfcation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing ap-praisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for exportation to the United States, plus when not incluuded in such price, the cost of all containers and covering of whatever nature and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States. [19 U.S.O., sec. 1401a.]

The appraiser returned export values equal to the invoice unit prices, plus 11 percent, plus charges designated on the invoice as buying-commission and loading charges. The sole dispute here is the 11 percent addition. Plaintiff claims the entered invoice unit prices, plus buying-commission and loading charges, without the 11 percent addition, are the proper export values. While buying commission, if proven to be such, is not part of export value, United States v. Nelson Bead Co., 42 CCPA 175, C.A.D. 590, plaintiff has elected not to contest the buying commission charges included in these appraised export values.

The record before me consists of testimony of two witnesses for plaintiff, an affidavit (exhibit 1), lists of sales to plaintiff in 1962 (exhibits 2 and 3), lists of sales to other purchasers in the United States in 1962 (exhibits 4 and 5), and Treasury reports (defendant’s exhibits A and B).

I find much in the record that is extraneous to the basic issue, namely, the price, at the time of exportation, at which merchandise such or similar to these artificial flowers was “freely sold” in the ordinary course of trade, in the principal markets of Plong Kong. The term “freely sold,” as defined in section 402(f) (1) means:

(A) to all purchasers at wholesale, or
(B) in the ordinary course of trade to one or more selected purchasers at wholesale at a price which fairly reflects the market value of the merchandise, * * *.

The facts which control the price at which these artificial flowers were “freely sold” are undisputed and can be briefly stated.

These artificial flowers, manufactured by Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works, Hong Kong, were exported to the United States by Reliance Trading Corporation, Hong Kong. Mr. Duncan Tong, the affiant in exhibit 1, is the sole owner of the manufacturing and exporting companies. Mr. Tong, together with his wife, also owns a 50 percent interest in Reliance Trading Corporation of Illinois, the importer and plaintiff in this case.

The export of these artificial fl-owers was subject to the terms and conditions of a written agreement between Reliance, Hong Kong, and Reliance, Illinois, dated October 10, 1961 (exhibit A, attached to exhibit 1). Under the agreement, Reliance, Hong Kong, appointed [779]*779Reliance, Illinois, its exclusive sales agent in the United States for artificial flowers; Reliance, Hong Kong, agreed not to sell any of its products in the United States except through Reliance, Illinois; Reliance, Illinois, agreed to use “its best efforts to promote the sale of the Hong Kong Company’s products” in the United States, and Reliance, Hong Kong, agreed that:

* * * in the event any business comes to it from said exclusive territory that it [Reliance, Hong Kong] will pay to the Illinois Company a flat commission of ten percent (10%) on shipment of goods delivered to the abovementioned territory.

It is a fact that, during the year 1962, Reliance, Hong Kong, sold artificial flowers, identical to those sold to Reliance, Illinois, in this case, direct to other purchasers in the United States, at selling prices 11 percent higher than the selling prices to Reliance, Illinois. It charged the 11 percent in view of its agreement to pay Reliance, Illinois, 10 percent on all such sales. The agreement to pay a flat 10 percent commission on sales to other buyers in the United States, notwithstanding, Mr. Tong’s affidavit (exhibit 1) equates the 10 percent with services performed and expenses incurred by Reliance, Illinois, in the United States, in connection with sales of artificial flowers to other buyers in the United States. These services and expenses, says Mr. Tong, consisted of importing samples, submitting the samples to other buyers, handling complaints on orders not properly filled, making showrooms available to other buyers thus saving them the time and expense of traveling to Hong Kong, for all of which Reliance, Illinois, incurred expenses “that would otherwise have been incurred by the other buyers.” (Exhibit 1.) Mr. Maurice Goldblatt, who organized Reliance, Illinois, in 1961, gives substantially the same explanation for the 10 percent commission in his direct testimony. (R. 11 through 15.)

Plaintiff argues that, on the above facts, the invoice unit prices, plus the invoiced charges, are the prices at which these artificial flowers, were “freely sold” under section 402(b). It rationalizes that, in the ordinary course of trade with Reliance, Illinois, the 11 percent was not part of price and “submit[s] thait payments made by an importer for services rendered by the exporter or his agent in the Unite States, are not a part of the export value of the merchandise in the foreign country.” (Plaintiff’s brief, page 10. Emphasis quoted.) What plaintiff factually infers, of course, is that the other buyers in the United States knew that, included in the price they were paying Reliance, Hong Kong, for artificial flowers, was a charge for services performed for them in the United States by Reliance, Illinois. The record just does not support such inference.

Assuming the buyers did know, export value is not concerned with the cost of services or where they are performed, except as they [780]*780affect the price at which, merchandise is “freely sold.” When I examine their relationship on this record, Reliance, Illinois, was either a selected purchaser or agent in the United States of Reliance, Hong Kong. The price to a selected purchaser does not come into the play of export value unless the sales to the selected purchaser are so restricted as to exclude sales to all purchasers at wholesale. Aceto Chemical Co., Inc. v. United States, 51 CCPA 121, C.A.D. 846. The fact here is that Reliance, Hong Kong, sold to all purchasers in the United States at a price 11 percent more than the price to its selected buyer, Reliance, Illinois. The fact that Reliance, Illinois, got 10 percent of the 11 percent does not make the 11 percent any less a part of the Reliance, Hong Kong, price to all purchasers. Nor does the record establish what happened to the remaining one percent. Presumably, it was profit to Reliance, Hong Kong.

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Related

Reliance Trading Corporation of Illinois v. The United States
440 F.2d 1377 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1971)
Reliance Trading Corp. of Illinois v. United States
63 Cust. Ct. 675 (U.S. Customs Court, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
60 Cust. Ct. 777, 279 F. Supp. 452, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reliance-trading-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1968.