General Elec. Co. v. United States
| Decision Date | 26 August 1981 |
| Docket Number | Court No. 75-1-00274. |
| Citation | 2 CIT 84,525 F. Supp. 1244 |
| Parties | GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of International Trade |
Freeman, Meade, Wasserman & Schneider, New York City (Bernard J. Babb and Louis Schneider, New York City, at the trial; Bernard J. Babb, New York City, on the brief) for plaintiff.
Stuart E. Schiffer, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D. C., Joseph I. Liebman, Attorney in Charge, International Trade Field Office, Commercial Litigation Branch, New York City (Saul Davis, New York City, at the trial and on the brief), for defendant.
The Court is again called upon to determine the question of what constitutes a "radio receiver" for tariff classification purposes. In this action, plaintiff contests the classification of three articles invoiced as "electronic packs" EP-14, EP-20, and PK-11A, and a fourth article invoiced as an "amplifier pack" TINIB, all of which merchandise was imported from Shannon, Ireland and entered at the port of Chicago, Illinois on May 8, 1973 (Entry No. 148889). The "electronic packs" (chassis) were assessed with duty under the provision in item 685.23, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, for "Solid-state (tubeless) radio receivers" at the rate of 10.4 percentum ad valorem.1
Plaintiff claims: that the chassis are merely parts of radio receivers, and therefore are properly dutiable under item 685.25, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, as "Other" (than solid-state (tubeless) radio receivers), at the rate of 6 percentum ad valorem; alternatively, that the PK-11A is dutiable under the residual provision "Other" in item 685.50, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, at the rate of 7.5 percentum ad valorem; and further that the EP-14 and EP-20 articles should have been assessed under item 688.40, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, as "Electrical articles, and electrical parts of articles, not specially provided for," at the rate of 5 percentum ad valorem, or under item 678.50, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, as "Machines not specially provided for, and parts thereof," at the rate of 5 percentum ad valorem.
The "amplifying packs" were assessed with duty at the rate of 7.5 percentum ad valorem under the provision in item 684.70, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, for "audio-frequency electric amplifiers". Plaintiff argues that the "amplifier packs" are properly dutiable under item 685.32, TSUS, modified by T.D. 68-9, as parts of phonographs at the rate of 5.5 percentum ad valorem.
Defendant concedes that if the chassis are not unfinished radio receivers, they are parts of radio receivers and are properly classifiable under plaintiff's primary claim, viz., item 685.25, TSUS.
At the trial, two witnesses testified for plaintiff and one witness was called by defendant. Additionally, plaintiff submitted twelve exhibits and defendant introduced six exhibits.
The pertinent facts may be briefly summarized:
The chassis in their imported condition are not ready or capable of use by the ultimate consumer as radio receivers without further fabrication, and after importation they are combined with other components to produce various stereo component systems and phonographs. Thus, after importation, the EP-14 and EP-20 units are installed in FM/AM/FM multiplex systems containing a tape player and record changer; the PK-11A is incorporated into either a FM/AM/FM multiplex, phonograph combination or a multiplex unit with a record changer. After importation, the TINIB is installed in plaintiff's phonographs.2
The EP-14 and EP-20 chassis are completed by the addition of a power transformer, a "jack pack", a power cord, certain internal wiring, a cabinet (or escutcheon), knobs and a calibration scale. Also contained in the consumer product is an 8-track tape player, a record changer, and speakers.
A power transformer serves to reduce normal household current (120 volts) to current that can be utilized by the consumer product, viz., 18 volts or 6 volts. The jack pack allows the electrical connection of the 8-track tape player, record changer and speakers to the amplifier of a chassis. A power cord conducts electricity from a wall socket to the stereo system and also contains an FM antenna. Addition of the internal wiring serves to make connections from the 8-track tape player, the jack pack, the power cord, and the record player to the imported chassis. The function of the escutcheon, knobs, and calibration scale relative to radio reception allows the user to select a particular radio and radio band. The speaker provides audible tones.
To the PK-11A is assembled a power transformer, a power cord, the escutcheon, knobs and a cabinet. A record changer and cartridge are also combined with these articles to arrive at the completed consumer product, to which speakers are then added.
The only additions to the TINIB are a transformer (which is, in essence, an extra winding of the wire of the motor of the record player in which the TINIB is placed), the power cord (which is the plug of the record player), knobs and a speaker (which are essentially the knobs and speaker for the record player).
At the outset, we consider the correctness of the Government's classification of the chassis as unfinished radio receivers under item 685.23, TSUS, and General Interpretative Rule 10(h).
Plaintiff maintains that the chassis are not unfinished radio receivers because they are incorporated into stereo systems comprising a combination of a radio, phonograph and tape player, or a combination of a radio and phonograph, and because the chassis were missing significant and substantial parts when imported without which the imports were inoperable as radio receivers: a power transformer, a power cord and loudspeakers. Defendant, however, insists that the missing components do not preclude classification of the chassis as unfinished radio receivers since in their imported condition the chassis were capable of performing the basic functions of a "radio receiver" within the common meaning of that term. Thus, central to the dispute between the parties is a determination of the common meaning of the term "radio receiver".
The lexicographic and technical authorities cited by defendant disclose the following pertinent definitions:
1. Cooke & Markus, Electronics & Nucleonics Dictionary
(McGraw-Hill, 1960), at 380, 387
Radio Receiver: A receiver that converts radio
waves into intelligible sounds
or other perceptible signals
Receiver: The complete equipment required
for receiving modulated
radio waves and converting
them into original intelligence
such as into sounds or pictures
or converting to desired useful
information as in a radar receiver.3
2. McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
(Rev. 1966 ed), at p. 256:
Radio Receiver: The part of a radio communication
system which abstracts the
desired information from the
radio frequency (rf) energy
collected by the antenna. All
radio receivers must perform
three basic functions: selectivity,
amplification, and detection.
Moreover, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1970 ed.), Vol. 11, pp. 485-486, Collier's Encyclopedia (1978), Vol. 19, at pp. 610-611, and Encyclopedia Americana (1973), Vol. 23, at pp. 121gg-121hh, describe the basic components and functions of radio receivers in detail, but do not mention transformers, power cords, speakers, and cabinets, as among the basic components of radio receivers.
It bears early emphasis that the imported chassis can perform the basic functions of a radio receiver, to-wit, selection, amplification and detection of radio frequency if they are supplied with electric current by the power transformer and the power cord; and there is no dispute that the chassis are dedicated for use as the radio receiver portion of the specified combination stereo systems. The power transformer and power cord, which were not included in the imported chassis and were added to the chassis after importation, relate merely to the electrical power required to operate the chassis (also the entire stereo system whose phonograph and tape player components were assembled in the United States to the radio), and do not relate to radio reception per se. Hence, while the power transformers and power cords were added to the chassis after importation, they are not basic components of the radio receiver portion of the final consumer products.
Although this Court has determined that AM/FM tuners imported with power transformers were properly classified as unfinished radio receivers under item 685.23, TSUS (Symphonic Electronics Corp. v. United States, 72 Cust.Ct. 211, C.D. 4543 (1974)) (Symphonic I), clearly it cannot be inferred from such determination that the lack of a power transformer would preclude classification of the tuners alone as radio receivers. On the contrary, citing the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1970 ed., Vol. 11, pp. 485-86, this Court held in Symphonic I that tuner-amplifiers fall within the common meaning of the term "radio receiver".4 Consequently, in Symphonic I this Court made no determination that a power transformer is a basic component of a "radio receiver" within the common meaning of that term.
In Symphonic Electronics Corp. v. United States, 77 Cust.Ct. 147, C.R.D. 76-5 (1976) (Symphonic II), the issue was whether a certain AM/FM/MPX stereo chassis was properly dutiable under item 685.23, TSUS. The imports in Symphonic II were the same in all material respects as the tuner-amplifiers that were before the Court in Symphonic I, wherein this Court sustained the Government's classification under item 685.23,...
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