Western Dairy Products, Inc. v. United States

373 F. Supp. 568, 72 Cust. Ct. 75, 72 Ct. Cust. 75, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3068
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 22, 1974
DocketC.D. 4506; Court 72-12-02554
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 373 F. Supp. 568 (Western Dairy Products, 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
Western Dairy Products, Inc. v. United States, 373 F. Supp. 568, 72 Cust. Ct. 75, 72 Ct. Cust. 75, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3068 (cusc 1974).

Opinion

LANDIS, Judge:

This action by plaintiff in this court follows denial of plaintiff’s protest filed with the district director of customs complaining the latter’s refusal to allow the withdrawal from warehouse of certain merchandise imported from New Zealand into the port of San Francisco described as “ ‘SAVORTEX’ CALCIUM REDUCED DRIED SKIM MILK” (hereinafter CRDSM).

The refusal of customs to release the merchandise for consumption on plaintiff’s presentation of a “Warehouse Withdrawal for Consumption” form was due to plaintiff’s failure to obtain a duly authorized license from the Secretary of Agriculture. Customs took the position such a license was necessary on the basis that under the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) 1 CRDSM is classifiable as an article of milk subject to the license requirements proclaimed by the President in a proclamation pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. 2

Plaintiff filed complaint alleging that the imported CRDSM (used as an ingredient in sausage making) does not require a license from the Secretary of Agriculture because it is classifiable under TSUS not as an article of milk, but as an edible preparation, not specially provided for, dutiable under item 182.95.

*569 Defendant filed answer to the complaint. Defendant’s argument virtually concedes that the imported CRDSM is an edible preparation but defendant has denied plaintiff’s allegation that the CRDSM does not require a license and further denied plaintiff’s allegation that it is classifiable under TSUS not as an article of milk. Issue is, therefore, joined as to whether CRDSM is an article of milk.

Administrative provisions for carrying out the President’s proclamation, heretofore referred to, are incorporated in an Appendix to TSUS. Relevant to the pleadings in this case, the TSUS Appendix, part 3, provides in pertinent part as follows:

Appendix To The Tariff Schedules
* * * * * * * *
Part 3. Additional Import Restrictions Proclaimed Pursuant To Section 22 Of The Agricultural Adjustment Act, As Amended
Part S headnotes:
1. This part covers the provisions proclaimed by the President pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended (7 USC 624), imposing import fees, herein referred to as duties, and quantitative limitations on articles imported into the United States. * * *
* * * * -X- -X- -X- *
3. (a) Dairy products—
(i) Imported articles subject to the import quotas provided for in items 950.01 through 950.-11, except 950.06, may be entered only by or for the account of a person or firm to whom a license has been issued by or under the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture, and only in accordance with the terms of such license; * * *.
* * * * -x- * * *
Whenever, in any 12-month period beginning . . . January 1 in any year, the respective aggregate quantity specified below for one of the numbered classes of articles has been entered, no article in such class may be entered during the remainder of such period:
* -X- * -X- * * * *
Dried milk, dried cream, and dried whey provided for in part 4 of schedule 1:
********
950.02 Described in item 115.50
********
950.11 Malted milk, and articles of milk or cream, provided for in item 118.30, part 4D, schedule 1 ...

*570 TSUS Appendix items 950.02 and 950.11 cover dairy products classified in TSUS, schedule 1, part 4, in pertinent part as follows:

Schedule 1. — Animal and Vegetable Products
Part 4. — Dairy Products; Birds’ Eggs
X X- X X X X X- X
Subpart A.- — Milk and Cream Subpart A headnote:
1. The term “milk and cream”, as used in this subpart, includes whole milk, skimmed milk, buttermilk, and cream, except cream described in subpart B of this part.
•X- X XXX -X- X X
Dried milk and cream:
* * * . Buttermilk containing not over 6 percent of butterfat ... * * *
Other:
115.50 Containing not over 3 percent of butterfat ... • * * *
♦X- * *X* * * -X' -X- *
Subpart D. — Other Milk Products
X X X- X X- X X X-
118.30 Malted milk; and articles not specially provided for, of milk or cream ... * * *

Plaintiff’s claimed item 182.95 is in schedule 1, part 15, subpart B of TSUS which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Schedule 1. — Animal and Vegetable Products
Part 15. — Other Animal and Vegetable Products
X- X X X- X X X- X
Subpart B. — Edible Preparations Subpart B headnotes:
1. This subpart covers preparations fit for human consumption not provided for elsewhere in schedule 1. [Emphasis added.]
X X- X- X X- X XX
Edible preparations not specially provided for (including prepared meals individually packaged):
X X X Of gelatin ... * * *
X X X- X X X X X
182.95 Other ... * * *

*571 The issue in this ease, namely, whether CRDSM can be entered for consumption in the United States without a license, is determined by the classification of CRDSM under TSUS. A substantial part of the briefs on both sides is devoted to argument relating to defendant’s position that CRDSM is classifiable as the licensed product dried skim milk under item 115.50. However, the question as to the necessity of the issuance of a license in this case, requires the court to decide nothing more than whether CRDSM is an article of milk (subject to license).

Plaintiff concedes that the expression “articles of milk” is intended to classify articles wholly or in chief value of" the named material milk. 3

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Bluebook (online)
373 F. Supp. 568, 72 Cust. Ct. 75, 72 Ct. Cust. 75, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-dairy-products-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1974.