Rosenthal Bercow Co. v. United States

40 Cust. Ct. 69
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 29, 1958
DocketC. D. 1960
StatusPublished

This text of 40 Cust. Ct. 69 (Rosenthal Bercow 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
Rosenthal Bercow Co. v. United States, 40 Cust. Ct. 69 (cusc 1958).

Opinion

Wilson, Judge:

The importation under consideration, invoiced as “High Test Bleaching Powder 70% granular,” was classified under paragraph 5 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 52739, as a chemical compound, not specially provided for, dutiable at 12% per centum ad valorem. The plaintiffs claim the product properly assessable at three-tenths of 1 cent per pound under paragraph 14 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as bleaching powder. Two protests, to wit, 263469-K and 276813-K, were consolidated for trial.

The tariff statutes here involved, so far as applicable, are as follows:

Paragraph 5, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 52739:

All chemical elements, all chemical salts and compounds, * * * all the foregoing obtained naturally or artificially and not specially
provided for * * *_ 12%% ad val.
Paragraph 14, Tariff Act of 1930:
Par. 14. Bleaching powder or chlorinated lime, three-tenths of 1 cent per pound.

Seven witnesses were called in this case, two by the plaintiffs and five by the Government. In addition to the testimony of the witnesses, the court has before it three exhibits. Plaintiffs’ exhibit 1 consists of a grayish-white granulated substance, admitted by the parties to be representative of the importation, properly designated calcium hypochlorite. Defendant’s collective exhibit Á is composed of two separate circulars issued by one of the plaintiffs, Rosenthal Bercow Co., Inc., to advertise the imported product. Defendant’s exhibit B contains certain Federal specifications, designated by the numbers O-C-114, which set forth certain Government standards for calcium hypochlorite and chlorinated lime.

The plaintiffs’ evidence may be fairly condensed to the following essential points: Merchandise similar to plaintiffs’ exhibit 1 is sold on the market as bleaching powder and as calcium hypochlorite. This latter material is generally not defined as a chlorinated lime, but could be. It is not improper to use the terms “calcium hypochlorite” and “bleaching powder” synonymously. The first chlorine product sold as bleaching powder contained from 30-35 per centum available [71]*71chlorine, while calcium hypochlorite contains up to 70 per centum chlorine. The uses of the two products are, for all practical purposes, the same, i. e., for water purification, for sanitizing, as a disinfectant, a germicide, and a bleaching agent, in each instance the effectiveness of the product depending upon the amount of available chlorine. Defendant’s collective exhibit A was admitted to be advertising material, prepared and issued by the plaintiff company,, and defendant’s exhibit B to be a pamphlet specifying United States Government standards for “calcium hypochlorite” and for “chlorinated lime.” The chemical symbol for calcium hypochlorite is Ca(OCl)2.

In substance, the defendant’s witnesses testified as follows: The product under consideration, calcium hypochlorite, Ca(OCl)2, is used as a bleaching agent, but is not properly designated bleaching powder, since the latter term is properly limited in its application to a product containing 35-37 per centum available chlorine, which is the same as chlorinated lime. Calcium hypochlorite is not sold on the market as bleaching powder. The uses of the material known as calcium hypochlorite, offered on the market as such, and as H. T. H., and “Pittchlor” and “Perchloron” (trade names), and 35-37 per centum bleaching powder, also known as chlorinated lime, are substantially the same. The commercial value of any chlorine bleaching agent “depends on the amount of available chlorine.” Calcium hypochlo-rite may be said to compete with bleaching powder, known as chlorinated lime. Calcium hypochlorite was produced in the United States and sold as H. T. H. prior to the enactment of the Tariff Act of 1930. There are impurities in calcium hypochlorite, though it contains 70 per centum available chlorine. Different processes are followed in manufacturing bleaching powder and calcium hypochlorite. The latter, it was said, is a more stable material than the former.

From the testimony as a whole, it is clear that the imported product is a bleaching powder. That much is conceded by the Government in its brief. However, the defendant contends that, although the substance here involved is a bleaching powder it is not the bleaching powder contemplated by paragraph 14 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The defendant further argues that only that bleaching powder which is also known as chlorinated lime comes properly within the meaning of the term “bleaching powder,” as used in paragraph 14 of the Tariff Act of 1930. In other words, the heart of the Government’s contention is that the terms “chlorinated lime” and “bleaching powder,” as used in paragraph 14, are synonymous, and that plaintiffs have not discharged the burden of establishing that the calcium hypochlorite under consideration is chlorinated lime. On the other hand, the plaintiffs take the position that the record clearly shows that the imported merchandise is bleaching powder (a high-test bleaching powder), which for all practical purposes is competitive with, [72]*72and is used in substantially the same manner as, the so-called standard bleaching powder with 35-37 per centum available chlorine; that the evidence shows that the commercial value of bleaching powder containing chlorine is determined by the amount of chlorine released or available when the product is used; and that, even though it should be found that the calcium hypochlorite involved herein is not properly designated as chlorinated lime, yet, as a bleaching powder, it is more specifically provided for under the provisions of paragraph 14 of the Tariff Act of 1930 than it is under the terms of paragraph 5 of the said act.

From the testimony of the defendant’s witnesses, it appears that what is known as calcium hypochlorite, identified by the chemical symbol Ca(OCl)2, containing more than 37 per centum available chlorine, was available as a commercial article in the United States prior to the enactment of the Tariff. Act of 1930. This conclusion is borne out by reference to the Summary of Tariff Information, 1929, page 93:

PARAGRAPH 14
ACT OP 1922 REVISION OF 1929
Pab. 14. Bleaching powder or chlorinated lime, three-tenths of 1 cent per pound.
BLEACHING POWDER
(Calcium hypochlorite)
Description and jises. — Bleaching powder, commonly known as bleach, chloride of lime, or chlorinated lime, is a white powder with a characteristic odor resembling that of chlorine. The fact that it can oxidize gives rise to its uses. A good grade contains about 75 per cent of soluble chlorinated lime and from 18 to 20 per cent of excess hydrated lime which stabilizes the bleach and maintains its keeping quality. Commercial standards require that bleaching powder have a chlorine content of 35 per cent, which is the measure of its effectiveness as a bleaching agent.
The largest use of bleaching powder is as a bleach for wood pulp paper stock and for vegetable fibers. Smaller quantities are used in power laundries both as a bleach and as a disinfectant. For hospital and household use, it is an effective disinfectant and a deodorizer.

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Bluebook (online)
40 Cust. Ct. 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenthal-bercow-co-v-united-states-cusc-1958.