Marcel Watch Co. v. US, Court No. 83-11-01578.

• Citation: 16 CIT 474,795 F. Supp. 1199
• Decision Date: 19 June 1992
• Docket Number: Court No. 83-11-01578.
• Parties: MARCEL WATCH CO., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of International Trade

795 F. Supp. 1199

16 CIT 474

MARCEL WATCH CO., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant.

Court No. 83-11-01578.

United States Court of International Trade.

June 19, 1992.

Freeman, Wasserman & Schneider, Patrick C. Reed, New York City, for plaintiff.

Stuart M. Gerson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Joseph I. Liebman, Attorney in Charge, James A. Curley, Atty., Intern. Trade Field Office, Commercial Litigation Branch, U.S. Dept. of Justice, New York City, Edward N. Maurer, Office of Asst. Chief Counsel, U.S. Customs Service, New York City, of counsel, for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

AQUILINO, Judge:

This action had been suspended under Belfont Sales Corp. v. United States, 11 CIT 541, 666 F.Supp. 1568 (1987), reh'g denied, 12 CIT 916, 698 F.Supp. 916 (1988), aff'd, 878 F.2d 1413 (Fed.Cir.1989), a test case which is now final. In that case, this court had found, among other things, that a quartz analogue watch or "QAW" does contain a watch movement when viewed in the light of Texas Instruments Inc. v. United States, 82 Cust.Ct. 272, C.D. 4810, 475 F.Supp. 1183 (1979), aff'd, 620 F.2d 269 (CCPA 1980), Texas Instruments Inc. v. United States, 82 Cust.Ct. 287, C.D. 4811, 475 F.Supp. 1193 (1979), aff'd, 620 F.2d 272 (CCPA 1980), and Texas Instruments Incorporated v. United States, 1 CIT 236, 518 F.Supp. 1341 (1981), aff'd, 673 F.2d 1375 (CCPA 1982), but had concluded that such a timepiece was properly classifiable under Schedule 6 to the Tariff Schedules of the United States, specifically item 688.45, as opposed to TSUS item 715.05, upon which the defendant had relied in imposing duties. The courts in the last of those Texas Instruments cases had reached the same conclusion with regard to quartz digital watches.

The action at bar covers entries of wall clocks and alarm clocks, the electronic components of which are claimed in the complaint to be similar in all material respects to those of the QAWs which were the subject of Belfont, supra. After joinder of issue, this action was itself designated a test case within the meaning of CIT Rule 84(b) and removed along with eight other actions from the Belfont suspension disposition calendar.

I

The plaintiff has now interposed a motion for summary judgment¹ on its first pleaded cause of action, including a statement pursuant to CIT Rule 56(i), which alleges, among other points:

5. The imported articles in issue in the first claim for relief are analog quartz clocks and are described on the commercial invoice as "quartz wall clocks."

6. They ... consist of a case and a quartz analog element that measures more than 0.5 inches in thickness and less than 1.77 inches in width.

7. On liquidation, they ... were classified under the provision for "Clocks: ... with clock movements measuring less than 1.77 inches in width," in item 715.15, ... TSUS ..., dutiable at the column 1 rate applicable to the cases, plus the column 1 rates applicable to the movements, if such cases and movements had been imported separately.

* * * * * *

9. The quartz analog elements ... were deemed to be "clock movements measuring less than 1.77 inches in width," and the rate of duty assessed on them ... was derived from item 720.02, TSUS ... and was 34 cents each.

10. ... The quartz analog elements ... of the ... wall clocks are more than 0.5 inches in thickness, whereas the quartz analog elements ... in the Belfont case were less than 0.5 inches in thickness.

11. The quartz analog elements of the ... wall clocks do not incorporate a balance wheel and hair spring.

12. The quartz analog elements of the ... wall clocks are not constructed or designed to be wound and are not capable of winding or of being wound.

13. The quartz analog elements of the ... wall clocks are not constructed or designed to be rewound, either before or after 47 hours of operation, and are not capable of rewinding or of being rewound.

14. The quartz wall clocks in issue are electrical articles.

Whereupon the plaintiff prays that its merchandise be held properly classifiable under TSUS item 688.43 (1982) ("Electrical articles and electrical parts of articles, not specially provided for: ... Other") or, in the alternative, item 678.50 ("Machines not specially provided for, and parts thereof").

In response, the defendant admits outright or in substance the foregoing averments numbered 5, 6 and 11. It denies in whole or in part the remaining, quoted Rule 56(i) representations and also cross-moves for summary judgment, setting forth its own statement of alleged material facts not in dispute, to wit:

16. The imported quartz wall clocks contain clock movements that have no jewels.

17. The clock movements are assembled, and are equipped with dials and hands. The movements are not equipped with a main spring, and operate without winding or rewinding.

18. The clock movements are similar in all material respects to the watch movements that were the subject of Belfont Sales Corp. v. United States. ... However, the clock movements are more than 0.5 inches in thickness....²

19. The clock movement is valued over $2.25 but not over $5.00.

20. The imported clocks are electro-mechanical articles.

Careful review and consideration of the cross-motions, after years of exposure to contentious, even extraordinary, litigation concerning the QAWs³, lead this court to conclude that the controlling issues raised herein are of law and not of fact and that summary judgment is thus appropriate for disposition of the first cause of action in this test case. Cf. CIT Rule 56(d) and Texas Apparel Co. v. United States, 12 CIT 1002, 698 F.Supp. 932 (1988), aff'd, 883 F.2d 66 (Fed.Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1024, 110 S.Ct. 728, 107 L.Ed.2d 747 (1990), and cases cited therein.

II

Cases of classification always resort, first and foremost, to the governing statutes. Subpart E of Part 2 of Schedule 7 to the TSUS covered "Watches, Clocks, and Timing Apparatus". Headnote 2(c) defined clock movement as "any movement or mechanism, other than `watch movements' as defined in headnote 2(b), ... intended or suitable for measuring time".⁴ As indicated, the merchandise at issue herein was classified by Customs under item 715.15 ("Clocks: With watch movements; or with clock movements measuring less than 1.77 inches in width"). That item provided for duties equal to the "column 1 rates applicable to the cases, plus the column 1 rates applicable to the movements", the latter of which the Service derived from item 720.02, TSUS, to wit:

Clock movements, assembled, without dials or hands, or with dials or hands whether or not assembled thereon:

Measuring less than 1.77 inches in width:

Not constructed or designed to operate for over 47 hours without rewinding:

Having no jewels or only 1 jewel .......... 34¢ each.

Another statute, the Customs Courts Act of 1980, provides that such a decision of the Service is "presumed to be correct" and the "burden of proving otherwise shall rest upon the party challenging such decision." 28 U.S.C. § 2639(a)(1).

In attempting to meet its burden, the plaintiff, understandably, considers Belfont controlling. Indeed, even with amendment of its initial response to plaintiff's statement of facts, the defendant agrees that quartz analogue clock movements are similar in construction "except as to size" and operate on the same principles as QAW movements. On the other hand, the quoted reservation is significant, for the statute specifically differentiates clock movements from watch movement on the basis of size. And it has been held in a classification action such as this that

the primary guide to the disposition ... is not judicial precedent, but rather, the tariff schedules themselves. The words of the tariff schedules, like the words of any statute "must be construed in context and the statutes must be harmonized, both internally and with each other, to the extent possible." ... It is "fundamental that a section of a statute should not be read in isolation from the context of the whole Act, and in fulfilling its responsibility in interpreting legislation, the court must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but should look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy."

Algoma Tube Corp. v. United States, 9 CIT 418, 422, 1985 WL 25774 (1985) (citations omitted). In other words, however precise the statutory provisions (or nature of the goods), interpretation thereof still depends on context. Clocks and watches have the same function of measuring and "telling" time, but in the tariff schedules Congress chose to differentiate between them, as entireties and also between their movements.⁵ When it did so for purposes of classification of the merchandise herein, winding (and rewinding) had been associated with watches since the 16th century, when the coiled steel spring as a motor for timepieces was invented, thereby leading to sizing small enough for a human wrist or apparel pocket. Cf. 14 McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology 440 (4th ed. 1977); 1 E.H. Knight, American Mechanical Dictionary 569 (1882). However, winding and rewinding have not necessarily been integral to clocks, which date almost to the moment of recorded history itself, from the clepsydra of Plato in 372 B.C. to the pendulum of 1000 A.D. to Big Ben's installment in the tower at Westminster in 1859.

When duties were imposed on the QAWs under items 716.27 and 716.29 (1980), it thus was to have been expected that the TSUS contemplated "not constructed or designed to operate for a period in excess of 47 hours without rewinding". The statute did not contemplate tiny batteries' oscillating quartz in ultrathin watchcases for acceptable periods, which fact was critical in Belfont⁶, but the same cannot be said of the quartz analogue clocks in this action. On its face, the TSUS purview of clocks was broader than that of watches. One need look no further than to the horological fact that clocks run by electricity are almost as old as that...