Staalkat of America, Inc. v. United States

54 Cust. Ct. 161, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2509
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 7, 1965
DocketC.D. 2526
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 54 Cust. Ct. 161 (Staalkat of America, Inc. 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
Staalkat of America, Inc. v. United States, 54 Cust. Ct. 161, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2509 (cusc 1965).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

This case involves the proper classification of an article, described on the commercial invoice as a “Staalkat-Libra” 6K6 agricultural machine, which was assessed with duty at the rate of 13% per centum ad valorem under the provisions of paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the [162]*162General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T.D. 52739, which provides as follows:

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, * * * wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
*******
Other (except * * *)_13%% ad val.

It is the contention of the importer herein that said article is properly free of duty under the provisions of paragraph 1604 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which provides as follows:

Agricultural implements: Plows, tooth or disk harrows, headers, harvesters, reapers, agricultural drills and planters, mowers, horserakes, cultivators, thrashing machines, cotton gins, machinery for use in the manufacture of sugar, wagons and carts, cream separators valued at not more than $50 each, and all other agricultural implements of any kind or description, not specially provided for, whether in whole or in parts, including repair parts: Provided, That no article specified by name in Title I shall be free of duty under this paragraph.

Alternatively, plaintiff contends that if the imported article is not an agricultural implement within the purview of paragraph 1604, supra, it is then properly duitable at the rate of 11% per centum ad valorem, under the provisions of paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Sixth Protocol .of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108, which provides as follows:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
* * * * * * *
Other (except * * *)-11%% ad val.

The record herein consists of the testimony of three well-qualified witnesses, two called on behalf of plaintiff and one on behalf of defendant. In addition thereto, a pamphlet describing pictorially the merchandise at issue was received in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 1.

From the record, it would clearly appear that the function of the imported article is threefold. The testimony of Dr. Cliff D. Carpenter with respect to the three functions is as follows:

Generally the machine separates — it has 3 functions: It separates the eggs by sorting, by a weighing device, into various weights, for example, a standard dozen eggs, which we call a standard dozen eggs, weighs 24 ounces. A medium egg, a dozen weighs 21 ounces. Small eggs weigh 18 to 21 ounces; and then we can go on down to peewees in the order of some 15 ounces. Then we get on the larger side, extra large might be considered in the range of 26 or 27 ounces to the dozen. Then we get into jumbos. So we set up from peewees to the extreme end, 8 different recognized weights of eggs. So this machine divides those eggs, because hens don’t lay all eggs the same size.
The second thing it does, it provides for viewing by what we call flash candling, the interior quality of the egg, and this is the word “grading.”
And then it provides also as the eggs are rolled off the weighing scales onto the gathering tables or down the lanes, it provides for a marking service or mechanism for any reason if you wish to identify the egg by a specific symbol.

[163]*163Based upon tlie foregoing description and tbe testimony of the witnesses, there appears to be no question as to the use of the imported article. The issue primarily presented is whether an article performing these three functions falls within the intendment of the provisions for agricultural implements set forth in paragraph 1604, supra. There is no doubt that the raising of poultry for either meat or eggs is an agricultural pursuit. This was affirmatively so held in United States v. S. S. Perry, 25 CCPA 282, T.D. 49395, wherein certain celluloid poultry leg bands, chiefly used for the identification of poultry, were held to be free of duty as agricultural implements under said paragraph 1604, supra. Subsequently, in the case of Inter-Maritime Forwarding Co., Inc. v. United States, 45 CCPA 125, C.A.D. 685, certain “chixexers,” used in making internal optical inspections through the vent or cloaca of chicks to ascertain their sex, were held to be properly entitled to entry free of duty under said paragraph 1604, supra.

It is well-settled law that paragraph 1604 is more specific than paragraph 353 or paragraph 372 of said act, as modified, supra, provided, of course, that the imported article is not specified by name in title I of said act. A review of the dutiable provisions of said act, title I, clearly establishes that the imported article is not specified by name. Accordingly, if the imported article is an agricultural implement, its proper classification lies within the purview of paragraph 1604 of said act.

The provision for agricultural implements first appeared in the Tariff Act of 1913 and was reenacted in the Tariff Acts of 1922 and 1930. The basic test to ascertain whether an article responds to' this provision is whether the article belongs to that class or kind which is chiefly used as an agricultural implement in the production of food from the soil or in the raising of domestic animals thereon for the requirements of life (food) or men’s comfort (raiment). United States v. Boker & Co., 6 Ct. Cust. Appls. 243, T.D. 35472; United States v. Tower, 6 Ct. Cust. Appls. 562, T.D. 36199; Wilbur-Ellis Co. et al. v. United States, 18 CCPA 472, T.D. 44762.

The test of where an implement is used and who uses it has further entered into the picture in United States v. Spreckels Creameries, Inc., 17 CCPA 400, T.D. 43835, wherein certain cylindrical metal 10-gallon cans, intended for use in the transportation of milk, were held not to be agricultural implements, since the record did not clearly establish whether said cans used by the cooperative creamery were the property of the cooperative, or the individual farmers who composed this organization. The court was also of the opinion that the record did not satisfactorily establish the chief use of the milk cans on farms or by farmers. Subsequently, this test was liberalized in Inter-Maritime Forwarding Co., Inc. v. United States, supra, wherein it appeared that [164]*164the “chixexers,” while extensively used by individuals who raised poultry, were also used by so-called contract specialists who did not raise poultry. The court held the article involved therein to be entitled to entry free of duty under paragraph 1604, supra.

Nevertheless, the true test for the determination of whether a machine such as is involved herein, the sole functions of which are the sorting,

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Related

Bruce Duncan Co. v. United States
67 Cust. Ct. 430 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)
Sortex Co. of North America, Inc. v. United States
60 Cust. Ct. 219 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
Staalkat of America, Inc. v. United States
59 Cust. Ct. 241 (U.S. Customs Court, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
54 Cust. Ct. 161, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/staalkat-of-america-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1965.