United States v. Hugo Stinnes Steel & Metals Co.

599 F.2d 1037, 66 C.C.P.A. 84, 1979 CCPA LEXIS 242
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 1979
DocketNo. 78-16
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 599 F.2d 1037 (United States v. Hugo Stinnes Steel & Metals Co.) 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. Hugo Stinnes Steel & Metals Co., 599 F.2d 1037, 66 C.C.P.A. 84, 1979 CCPA LEXIS 242 (ccpa 1979).

Opinion

Rich, Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment of the Customs Court, 80 Cust. Ct. 175, C.D. 4753, 453 F. Supp. 94 (1978), granting appellee’s motion for summary judgment and denying appellant’s cross-motion, holding that the merchandise in question, 415 coils of cold-rolled steel sheets, was “exported to the United States before 12:01 a.m., August 16, 1971,” and is accordingly exempt from the 10-percent supplemental duty provided by Presidential Proclamation 4074 within the intent of additional duty order No. 3. We affirm.

Presidential Action

The economic crisis of 1971 that spawned the modification of duties by President Nixon is presented in this Court’s opinion in United States v. Yoshida International, Inc., 63 CCPA 15, 526 F. 2d 560, C.A.D. 1160 (1975), which considered the validity of Proclamation 4074,1 the application of which is here in question. Basically, the proclamation imposed a supplemental duty to help quell an increasingly unfavorable balance of payments. In pertinent part, it provided:

B. (2) * * * Such supplemental duty - [amounting to 10 percent ad valorem] shall be imposed on all dutiable articles imported [86]*86into the customs territory of the United States from outside thereof, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption after 12:01 a.m., August 16, 1971 * * *.

The President then specifically provided that the supplemental duty would be effected by inclusion of section B, supra, in the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202):

C. To implement section B of this Proclamation, the following new subpart shall be inserted after subpart B of part 2 of the appendix to the Tariff Schedules of the United States:
SUBPART C — TEMPORARY MODIFICATIONS FOR BALANCE OF PAYMENTS PURPOSES
* * * ❖ * * *
Item Article Rates of duty 1 2
948.00 Articles, except as exempted under headnote 5 of this suhpart, which are not free of duty under these schedules and which are the subject of tariff concessions granted by the United States in trade agreements.10% ad val. (See head- No change. note 3 of this sub-part.)

Included in the proclamation were headnotes to subpart C explaining that the duty rate under column 1 of item 948.00 would be added to that imposed on the imported article under the appropriate item in schedules 1 through 7 to determine an aggregate rate:

Subpart Oheadnotes:
1. This subpart contains modifications of the provisions of the tariff schedules proclaimed by the President in Proclamation 4074.
2. Additional duties imposed. — The duties provided for in this subpart are cumulative duties which apply in addition to the duties otherwise imposed on the articles involved. The provisions for these duties are effective with respect to articles entered on and after 12:01 a.m., August 16, 1971, and shall continue in effect until modified or terminated by the President or by the Secretary of the Treasury (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary) in accordance with headnote 4 of this subpart.
3. Limitation on additional duties. — The additional 10 percent rate of duty specified in rate of duty column numbered 1 of item 948.00 shall in no event exceed that rate which, when added to the column numbered 1 rate imposed on the imported article under the appropriate item in schedules 1 through 7 of these schedules, would result in an aggregated rate in excess of the rate provided for such article in rate of duty column numbered 2. [Italic ours.]

Continuing, the President authorized the Secretary of the Treasury — “For the purposes of this subpart” — to establish exemptions [87]*87from the rate of additonal duty, consistent with the purpose of the proclamation:

4. For the purposes of this subpart—
(a) Delegation of authority to Secretary. — The Secretary may from time to time take action to reduce, eliminate or reimpose the rate of additional duty herein or to establish exemption therefrom, either generally or with respect to an article which he may specify either generally or as the product of a particular country, if he determines that such action is consistent with safeguarding the balance of payments position of the United States.

Pursuant to this delegation of authority, the Secretary of the Treasury exempted certain articles from the supplemental duty in “Additional Duty Order No. 3,” 2 which became headnote 5(h) of subpart C:

Pursuant to the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by headnote 4(a) subpart C of part 2 of the appendix to the Tariff Schedules of the United States, I hereby determine that it is consistent with safeguarding the balance of payments position of the United States to establish exemptions from the additional duty provided for in subpart C as set forth in headnote 5 thereof which I hereby amend to add the following:
(h) Articles exported to the United States before 12:01 a.m., August 16, 1971, provided that any such articles entered for warehouse or placed in foreign trade zone shall be exempt only if withdrawn from warehouse for consumption or entered or withdrawn for consumption from a foreign trade zone under a request properly filed on or before October 1, 1971.
By virtue of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury, including the authority in Reorganization Plan No. 26 of 1950 (3 CFR ch. Ill), the Commissioner of Customs, with the approval of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Enforcement and Operations) is authorized to prescribe such regulations and issue such instructions as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. [Italic ours.]

This suit is concerned with whether the merchandise was “exported to the United States before 12:01 a.m., August 16, 1971,” and whether judicial review of the decision of the Commissioner of Customs on that question should be restricted to the reasonableness of that decision, as determined from the administrative record, or considered under the review procedures of 28 U.S.C. 2637(a) 3 permitting additional evidence.

[88]*88 Facts

The U.S. Customs Service determined that the 10-percent surcharge was applicable on the basis of the following evidence. Information supplied to the Government by appellee indicated that (a) La Métallurgie Liégeoise S.A., a Belgian steel trader, purchased the imported merchandise from Koyo Boeki Co., Ltd., of Japan on a C.I.F. Antwerp basis; (b) appellee Hugo Stinnes Steel & Metals Co.

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Bluebook (online)
599 F.2d 1037, 66 C.C.P.A. 84, 1979 CCPA LEXIS 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hugo-stinnes-steel-metals-co-ccpa-1979.