Woolart Mills, Inc. v. United States

63 Cust. Ct. 507, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3717
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1969
DocketC.D. 3943
StatusPublished

This text of 63 Cust. Ct. 507 (Woolart Mills, 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
Woolart Mills, Inc. v. United States, 63 Cust. Ct. 507, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3717 (cusc 1969).

Opinion

'Wilson, Judge:

These three protests were consolidated for trial. The entries, which were made at the port of New York, N.Y., were received in evidence without being marked.

The merchandise is invoiced as either short silk noils, type 15; or silk noils, short noils; or short silk noils, respectively, in protest 59/20658, entry No. 832940; protest 60/7884, entry No. 378475; protest 60/9822, entry No. 358958. Entries were made respectively on 11/30/56; 6/25/56; 4/5/57.

The collector of customs assessed duty at the rate of 17% per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1201, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Protocol of Terms of Accession by Japan to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 90 Treas. Dec. 234, T.D. 53865, supplemented by Presidential proclamation, 90 Treas. Dec. 280, T.D. 53877, which provides as follows:

“Silk partially manufactured, including total or partial degumming other than in the reeling process, from raw silk, waste silk, or cocoons,
[509]*509and silk noils exceeding 2 inches in length;
all the foregoing if not twisted or spun-17%% ad val.”

Plaintiff contends the imported merchandise has not been manufactured, and consists of silk noils under 2 inches in length, which is an unavoidable waste product, and therefore entitled to free entry as silk waste under paragraph 1762 of the above modified tariff act, which provides as follows:

“Silk cocoons and silk waste_ Free”

The record in the case of Woolart Mills, Inc. v. United States, 58 Cust. Ct. 450, C.D. 3018, 269 F. Supp. 381 (1967), was incorporated herein. That case also involved silk noils under the same assessment and claim as here involved. The court there held that the merchandise in question was silk noils under 2 inches in length, hence entitled to free entry as silk waste under paragraph 1762, supra, and entered judgment accordingly.

The evidence in this case consists of the testimony of Frederick H. Kloeckener, president of the plaintiff, who also testified in the incorporated case. He has had 40 to 50 years experience as a silk importer. Plaintiff offered a sample which was received as illustrative exhibit 1, and exhibit 2 which was also exhibit 2 in the incorporated case.

Mr. Kloeckener testified in the instant case that his duties include supervision, management and financial control of the plaintiff and that he either personally makes purchases or supervises the purchases of the silk noils bought by plaintiff.

He testified that the noils in entry 332940 (protest 59/20658) were purchased by him during a visit to Milano, Italy between October 2, 1956 and the beginning of November 1956 from Commercio Tessuti Lana e Seta; that illustrative exhibit 1 is a short silk noil waste containing a certain amount of tussah silk waste; that said exhibit 1 is a sample of the merchandise which he purchased.

He further testified that merchandise like exhibit 1 is created by combing and carding longer fibers out of waste material which is used to spin into yarn; that the waste from said combing and carding operations falls to the floor, is collected, and results in very short waste as it is too hard to spin or use; it is dusted to remove floor dust and other things that are mixed into it and is then baled; that at the time he had use for such waste, because he bleached it after importation and rolled it into little nubs and mixed it into the spinning of synthetic yams.

The witness stated that the sample of material contained in exhibit 1 is so similar to exhibit 2 (taken from the incorporated case) “that it definitely can be substituted * * * for each other.”

[510]*510With, reference to the merchandise in entry 378475 (protest 60/7884), Mr. Kloeckener testified that Mr. Goldblatt of Alpha Trading Corporation, the agent for Ferino Cordni of Brescia, Italy, the supplier, showed Mm samples at the importer’s New York offices; that he is familiar with the imported merchandise which he purchased; that he is the same Frederick Kloeckener who testified in the incorporated case; that he knows what silk wastes look like as he purchased and handled them all his life; that the merchandise in exhibit 2 in the incorporated case is very similar to the merchandise he purchased in 1956; that it is a collection of very short silk fibers in both cases and

“* * * They are shorter than one-half inch in length. The fibers are not separated, but they are rolled into balls and bunches, which indicates that there they have been swept off the floor, put through a reducing machine.”

He also testified that they are short silk fibers, bunched, free of dust, and that the color is the same, meaning natural color; that they are not dyed or bleached; that when the merchandise in entry 378475 arrived in the United States, it was compared with the sample he had received and it compared “Perfectly”; that exhibit 2 is definitely representative of the merchandise in said entry; that the manufacturer in the incorporated case and in entry 378475 is Ferino Cordui and that he visited their plant in Brescia, Italy where he saw merchandise like exhibit 2 repeatedly created in their factory.

With reference to the merchandise in entry 358958 (protest 60/ 9822), Kloeckener testified it was purchased by him personally and that he is thoroughly familiar with it; that the supplier is “Kaimondo Buratti, Spa — it means Limited, Spa”; that he was in Milano, Italy when he purchased it in October 1956 and it was shipped in March 1957 at his request; that at the time of purchase he not only received a sample but also examined it at his hotel when he bought it; that when the shipment was received, it was compared with the sample he had brought from Italy; that it consists of short noils slightly better in quality than the silk noil wastes, referring to exhibit 1, and to exhibit 2 in this and the incorporated case; that he went to Buratti’s factory three times in 1956 and visited it again two weeks prior to testifying; that he saw such merchandise created in the factory; that waste from the silk reeling operation gets to the factory where it is put into a very hot boiling solution to get the gum off; that it is then cleaned and rinsed; that the long fibers hang together and are exhausted through very strong machines with teeth so that the threads are torn into pieces; that this produces a certain amount of waste as the shorter fibers do not go along; that anything under one inch is very difficult to use for spinning of yarn; that the long fibers are taken out [511]*511of tbe assembly and the short fibers were exhausted out of the machines as waste as exhaust noils which are collected from the floor with all kinds of sweepings, and dusted. The merchandise in the entry under consideration is the short silk noils exhausted from combs.

He further stated that the sill?: noils are definitely under 2 inches in length; that those over 2 inches are retained by the machine in combing and are used to make nice yarn; that those under 2 inches after leaving the carding machine are baled and sent to him; that they are bleached here to get them as white as possible and they are then rim through a machine to make the balls tighter; that 20 percent is then mixed with a bind of synthetics which results in little white bumps on them. He testified (B..34):

“By Mr. Kamnitz: Q.

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Related

Frank P. Dow Co. v. United States
56 Cust. Ct. 1 (U.S. Customs Court, 1965)
Woolart Mills, Inc. v. United States
58 Cust. Ct. 450 (U.S. Customs Court, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
63 Cust. Ct. 507, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3717, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woolart-mills-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1969.