Semperit Industrial Products, Inc. v. United States

18 Ct. Int'l Trade 578, 855 F. Supp. 1202
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Semperit Industrial Products, Inc. v. United States. Read the opinion of the Court — 855 F. Supp. 1292
United States Court of International Trade·Decided June 14, 1994·No. Court No. 90-10-00566·Published

Opinion

Opinion

Carman, Judge:

Plaintiff initiated this action pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1515(a) (1988) to contest the denial of its protest against the United States Customs Service’s (Customs) appraisal of certain merchandise that plaintiff had imported from Austria and Korea. This Court has [579]*579jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a) (1988) and, for the reasons which follow, enters judgment for plaintiff.

I. Background

A. The Merchandise:

The merchandise at issue in this case consists of industrial conveyor belts produced from a combination of vulcanized rubber and textile material. The textile material has one or more plies of woven textile fabric that contains only man-made textile fiber. The particular fiber in the fabric is polyester in the warp and nylon in the weft, or only polyester.1 The width of all of the imported belts exceeds 20 centimeters.

The subject merchandise has a wide range of applications in the handling of bulk materials. The belts are useful in any industry that requires the transportation of bulk merchandise from one location to another. Companies utilize the subject merchandise in steel works, mining operations, lime and cement works, gravel and sand works, and in the paper, building, and chemical industries.

B. Statutory Provisions:

Plaintiff relies on the following provisions of the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States (HTSUS):2

1. 4010 Conveyor or transmission belts or belting, of vulcanized rubber:
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Other:
Of a width exceeding 20 cm: Combined with textile materials:
[[Image here]]
4010.91.19 Other * * * 2.4% .
2. GENERAL RULES OF INTERPRETATION
Classification of goods in the tariff schedule shall be governed by the following principles:
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3. When, by application of rule 2(b) or for any other reason, goods ar e,prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings, classification shall be effected as follows:
(a) The heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. However, when two or more headings each refer to part only of the materials or substances con[580]*580tained in mixed or composite goods or to part only of the items in a set put up for retail sale, those headings are to be regarded as equally specific in relation to those goods, even if one of them gives a more complete or precise description of the goods.
(b) Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to 3(a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, insofar as this criterion is applicable.
(c) When goods cannot be classified by reference to 3(a) or they shall be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration.
3. ADDITIONAL U.S. RULES OF INTERPRETATION
1. In the absence of special language or context which otherwise requires—
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(d)the principles of section XI regarding mixtures of two or more textile materials shall apply to the classification of goods in any provision in which a textile material is named.
[[Image here]]
4. SECTION XI TEXTILES AND TEXTILE ARTICLES
Notes
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2. (A) Goods classifiable in chapters 50 to 55 or in heading 5809 or 5902 and of a mixture of two or more textile materials are to be classified as if consisting wholly of that one textile material which predominates by weight over each other single textile material.

Plaintiff also cites to the following item from the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (1987):

Belting and belts, for machinery, of textile fibers or of such fibers and rubber or plastics:
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Other
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358.16 Other * * * 2.4% ad val.
[581]*581Defendant, in turn, relies on the following HTSUS provision:
4010 Conveyor or transmission belts or belting, of vulcanized rubber:
[[Image here]]
Other:
Of a width exceeding 20 cm:
Combined with textile materials:
[[Image here]]
4010.91.15 With textile components in which man-made fibers predominate by weight over any other single textile fiber * * * 8% ....

C. Customs’ Classification:

The United States Customs Service (Customs) classified the conveyor belts at issue under subheading 4010.91.15, HTSUS. Subheading 4010.91.15applies to the following merchandise: “Conveyor or transmission belts or belting, of vulcanized rubber: * * * Other: Of a width exceeding 20 cm: Combined with textile materials: * * * With textile components in which man-made fibers predominate by weight over any other single textile fiber.” Pursuant to this subheading, Customs imposed duties totalling 8% ad valorem.

Plaintiff filed timely protests pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a) (1988) to contest Customs’ classification. Customs subsequently denied the protests under 19 U.S.C. § 1515 (1988) and, after having paid all liquidated duties, plaintiff commenced this action within the time allowed by law. On March 4,1992, the Court granted plaintiffs motion to designate this action a test case.

II. Contentions of the Parties

A. Plaintiff:

Plaintiff advances several arguments in support of its position. First, plaintiff contends subheading 4010.91.15 is inapplicable to the imported belts because the belts’ textile components consist only of man-made fibers. Pl.’s Br. at 9. According to plaintiff, subheading 4010.91.15“explicitly requires that the textile component of the conveyor belts be comprised of more than one class of textile fiber. ” Id. at 10.

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Semperit Industrial Products, Inc. v. United States, 18 Ct. Int'l Trade 578, 855 F. Supp. 1202 (cit 1994).

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