United States v. Ash

23 C.C.P.A. 360, 1936 CCPA LEXIS 22
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMarch 2, 1936
DocketNo. 3906
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 23 C.C.P.A. 360 (United States v. Ash) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Ash, 23 C.C.P.A. 360, 1936 CCPA LEXIS 22 (ccpa 1936).

Opinion

Hatfield, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States Customs Court in reappraisements 90752-A, etc.

This cause was before us in United States v. T. E. Ash, 22 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 395, T. D. 47401. We quote from our former decision:

This is a reappraisement proceeding in which the Government has appealed from a judgment of the First Division of the United States Customs Court holding cost of production as respectively defined in sections 402 (e), Tariff Act of 1922, and 402 (f), Tariff Act of 1930, to be the proper dutiable value of the merchandise and that such value had been shown by the record in the case.
The merchandise consists of what are called “torsion balances” and “magnetic field balances,” and accessories for each, which are used on the surface of the ground for locating the position and probable depth of mineral deposits (especially oil) below the surface.
Forty-three entries are involved, of which 42 were made under the Tariff Act of 1922 and one (for a relatively minor part) under the Tariff Act of 1930. Forty-one of the entries were made at the port of Houston, Tex., and two at the port [362]*362of New York. For the purposes of trial and determination, all appeals were consolidated in a single case.
ijí * * * * * *
The important factor is that certain evidence, admissible under the provisions of the respective statutes, was presented showing the issuance by the manufacturer in Germany of catalogues and price lists offering such merchandise for sale in Germany, during the period when the exportations here involved were made, and no evidence has been presented to negative the fact of such offers, nor has any effort been made to show that these were not free offers open to any and all purchasers in whatever quantity or quantities — whether 1 device or 100 devices, or more — that such purchaser or purchasers might have desired.
We are thus confronted with a situation wherein both the trial court and the appellate division made negative findings as to the existence of foreign value without even having referred in their decisions to the evidence relating to offers of sale in Germany. We have no means of determining whether those tribunals considered the evidence upon that point and rejected it as not being true, or for some other reason or reasons, or whether they held simply as a matter of law, that, even if accepted as proving a fact, the said fact of offers of sale made in the manner so shown, did not establish foreign value within the purview of the respective statutes.

In its decision upon which the judgment herein appealed from was based, the Appellate Division of the Customs Court held that the offers of sale referred to in the opinion of this court, sufra, were not offers of sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, within the purview of sections 402 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1922, and 402 (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930; that the imported merchandise had no foreign, export, or United States values, as defined in those acts; that its dutiable value was the cost of production, as defined in sections 402 (e) of the Tariff Act of 1922, and 402 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930; and that the cost of production, as shown by the record, was the invoice values of the merchandise as claimed by the importers.

It is contended by counsel for the Government that it affirmatively appears of record the involved merchandise had foreign values on the dates of its exportation, but that if there is substantial evidence of record to support the decision of the Appellate Division of the Customs Court that there were no such values, the court, nevertheless, erred in holding cost of production had been established in conformity with sections 402 (e) and 402 (f), supra. The Government does not contend that subsections (e) and (f) of sections 402, supra, have not been complied with in part. It does contend, however, that the importers have failed to establish the proper addition for profit provided for in paragraph 4 of those subsections.

The provisions of the paragraphs in question being identical, we deem it necessary to quote only paragraph 4, section 402 (f), Tariff Act of 1930. It reads:

(4) An addition for profit (not less than 8 per centum of the sum of the amounts found under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subdivision) equal to the profit which
[363]*363ordinarily is added, in the ease of merchandise of the same general character as the particular merchandise under consideration, by manufacturers or producers in the country of manufacture or production who are engaged in the production or manufacture of merchandise of the same class or kind.

As was stated in the quoted excerpt from our former opinion, the instruments here involved are “torsion balances,” “magnetic field balances,” and accessories therefor, and “are used on the surface of the ground for locating the position and probable depth of mineral deposits (especially oil) below the surface.”

In an affidavit, Exhibit 3, signed by seven officials and employees of the German manufacturer (Askania Werke) it appears that the—

* * * torsion balances * * '* determine the direction and distribution of the force of gravity. The field balances determine the distribution and direction of the vertical or horizontal intensity of the earth magnetism. Their object is to allow the geologists and geophysicists, through these mathematical, physical results, to obtain certain ideas about the structure, dipping, extent and depth of the nonvisible strata of the underground on the surface. As a result of these measurements and knowledge gained by them, the geologists and geophysicists determine such places in an area where a boring has to be made in order to obtain definite information about the whole surveyed territory, through one or a few borings systematically selected. By this method, in all countries where trained geophysicists have been working with torsion balances, or magnetic field balances, new deposits have been discovered. For instance, petroleum, salt domes, potash, or coal deposits.

There is substantial evidence of record to establish that, due to their highly scientific and technical character, it was necessary that the mechanism and the method of handling and using the involved instruments be explained by experts to the users, and, for that reason, the manufacturer refused to sell them to dealers for resale, but restricted its sales to ultimate consumers; that the exporter was the only manufacturer in Germany of instruments like those here involved; that no instruments “similar” thereto, in a tariff sense, were produced in Germany; that such parts and accessories as were purchased by the manufacturer for use in the construction of the involved and like merchandise were made for its exclusive use in accordance with its special specifications, and were neither sold nor offered for sale to any other manufacturer or consumer in Germany.

Relative to sales of the involved and like instruments, the “Assistant Customs Attaché, Acting in Charge,” reported (Exhibit 2) as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
23 C.C.P.A. 360, 1936 CCPA LEXIS 22, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ash-ccpa-1936.