Warshawsky & Co. v. United States

70 Cust. Ct. 75, 360 F. Supp. 436, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3468
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 27, 1973
DocketC.D. 4410
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 70 Cust. Ct. 75 (Warshawsky & 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
Warshawsky & Co. v. United States, 70 Cust. Ct. 75, 360 F. Supp. 436, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3468 (cusc 1973).

Opinion

Landis, Judge:

This case involves the tariff classification of grill mounted fog and driving lights imported from Japan and entered at Chicago on March 13,1969.

[76]*76The merchandise here involved to wit: grill mounted 12-volt spot (driving) lights and grill mounted 12-volt fog lights, was classified by customs officials under that tariff provision which provides for illuminating articles, of base metal, dutiable under TSUS (Tariff Schedules of the United States) item 653.39 at 19 per centum ad valorem.1 The imported fog and driving lights are concededly illuminating articles of base metal. There is, however, in TSUS, as amended,2 a relatively more specific provision for particular illuminating articles, designated as item 683.65, that are electric lighting equipment designed for motor vehicles. Plaintiff, as a first cause for complaint, alleges that the imported fog and driving lights are electric lighting equipment designed for motor vehicles and should be so classified under TSUS item 683.65 which provides for a duty rate of only 6.5 per centum ad valorem.3

As a second cause for complaint, plaintiff alleges that the classification under TSUS item 653.39 as illuminating articles was contrary to law because it represented a change from a uniform and long established customs practice of classifying fog and driving lights of the class imported under TSUS item 683.65, as electric lighting equipment designed for motor vehicles. The substance of this second cause is not that a uniform practice cannot be changed, but that as applied to the imported fog and driving lights, the uniform practice was changed without proper notice. Notice of a change in practice is required by section 315(d)4 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.O.A. § 1315(d), and section 16.10 of the Customs Regulations. In view of the decision I have reached herein on the merits of classifying the imported fog and driving lights under TSUS item 683.65, it is unnecessary to treat or discuss the alleged uniform practice and notice requirements.

In the pertinent context of TSUS, items 653.39 and 683.65 provide as follows:

[77]*77Schedule 6.-Metals and Metal Products
Part 3. - Metal Products
SubpaRT F. - Miscellaneous Metal PROducts
Subpart F headnotes:
1. The provisions of this subpart do not include—
$ $ ‡ ‡
(iv) illuminating 'articles provided for in part 5 of this schedule.
* * * ❖ ❖ sjs if!
Illuminating articles and parts thereof, of base metal:
653.30 Incandescent lamps designed to be operated by propane or other gas, or by compressed air and kerosene or gasoline_ * * *
Other:
653.35 Table, floor and other portable lamps for indoor illumination, of brass_ * * *
Other:
Of brass_ * * * iy-CO CO HO
Other_ 19% ad val. Ci CO CO lO
Schedule 6. - Metals and Metal Peoducts PART 5. - ELECTRICAL MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT
* * * * * * *
683.65 Electric lighting equipment designed for motor vehicles, and parts thereof_ 6.5% ad val.

The principal question or issue raised and briefed by both sides is whether fog and driving lights are parts of motor vehicles or merely accessories.

Upon authority of Gallagher & Ascher Company v. United States, 52 CCPA 11, C.A.D. 849 (1964), and cases therein cited, I find and hold that the design, purpose and function of the imported fog and driving lights establish that they are properly classifiable under the TSUS item 683.65 provision for electric lighting equipment designed for motor vehicles, and parts thereof, as claimed by plaintiff.

At the trial of this case, one witness testified for plaintiff and one witness testified for defendant. Exhibits were introduced in evidence by both parties and received without objection. Exhibits 1 and 2, articles representative of the imported fog and driving lights, include the boxes (with printed matter thereon) which contain the articles as imported and sold at retail. Exhibit 3 is a published catalog of “accessories and parts for all makes, years and models for all cars, trucks [78]*78& motorcycles American & imported” sold by plaintiff (the imported fog and driving lights are catalogued at page 26). Defendant’s exhibits A, B and 0 are Bureau letters replying to inquiries with respect to the tariff classification of fog 'and driving lights.5

The parties have stipulated that the imported fog and driving lights are chiefly used on motor vehicles.6

Exhibit 1 is a grill mounted type of fog light with a lens of an amber color. Exhibit 2, the driving light, is essentially the same kind of light except it has a clear lens. The testimony for plaintiff,7 which defendant’s witness 8 did not rebut, materially establishes that the imported fog and driving lights are electrical lamps designed and intended for use on motor vehicles; that the lights come with brackets for mounting or attaching the lights to the grill in front of the motor vehicle; that the lamp unit has a center screw for adjusting the beam of the light in the desired direction; that the wiring for the lights is permanently connected into the electrical system of the motor vehicle ; that the lights are operated from the driver’s seat independently of any other lights on the motor vehicle, by means of a two-position on-and-off “toggle” type switch located on or underneath the dashboard ; that the beam of a fog light gives the driver of an automobile better visibility than the regular headlights in fog conditions; and that the driving light provides a stronger beam than the regular “headlights” for night driving. Grill mounted fog and driving lights are a matter of choice, that is, drivers of motor vehicles may or may not choose to equip their vehicles with them. In that sense, they are auxiliary and not replacement equipment for the original or standard lights that are on every motor vehicle manufactured for sale.

Defendant, in support of its contention that fog and driving lights are not parts of automobiles because they do “not become an integral, constituent or component part of * * * [the] motor vehicle”, inter alia cites United American Bosch Corp. v. United States, 1 Cust. Ct. 1, C.D. 1 (1938), and W. R. Walker v. United States, 8 Cust. Ct. 316, C.D. 628 (1942). Bosch held that fog lights and Walker held that driving lights were not parts of automobiles under paragraph 369(c) of the 1930 Tariff Act principally because they were not the standard [79]*79lights with which motor vehicles function but auxiliary or optional lights for motor vehicles that already have standard lights. However, the rationale of the Bosch and Wailher cases, holding that parts of automobiles do not include auxiliary equipment, cannot be considered controlling in view of

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Bluebook (online)
70 Cust. Ct. 75, 360 F. Supp. 436, 1973 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/warshawsky-co-v-united-states-cusc-1973.