CIT Rules on Vitamin Drops, Reduced Fat Peanut Butter Spread, and NAFTA Anodes
CIT rules in favor of Customs' classification of Vitamin C drops. In Warner-Lambert Company v. U.S., the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled in favor of U.S. Customs that Halls DefenseTM Vitamin C Supplement Drops were properly classified as sugar confectionary in HTS 1704.90.35 (6.1% or 5.8%, depending on the year of entry) rather than as medicaments in HTS 3004.50.5010 (duty-free).
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According to the CIT, Warner-Lambert failed to prove that the principal use of its drops corresponds to their therapeutic or prophylactic properties against scurvy or any other disease. Therefore, the CIT concluded that the drops fall within the basket provision, HTS 1704.90.35. (Slip Op. 04-74, decided 06/21/04, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op04/Slip%20Op%2004-74.pdf)
CIT rules in favor of Customs' classification of reduced fat peanut butter spread. In Bestfoods v. U.S., the CIT ruled in favor of Customs' classification of Reduced Fat Skippy peanut butter spread as peanut butter in HTS 2008.11.0500 (1.3/kg, 1996) or in HTS 2008.11.1500 (147%, 1996) if the quantitative limits of Chapter 20, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 5 have been reached.
Bestfoods had argued that the spread is not peanut butter in the commercial sense of that term and fails to meet the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) standard of identity for peanut butter; therefore, it should be classified as a nut puree or paste under HTS 2007.99.65 or, alternately, as a condiment per HTS 2103.90.90. However, the CIT stated that although the FDA's standards are helpful in defining a product, they are not controlling in determining classification. (Slip Op. 04-82, decided 07/09/04, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op04/slipop04-82.pdf)
CIT rules against Customs' classification of magnesium anodes as non-NAFTA. In Corrpro Companies, Inc. v. U.S., the CIT ruled in favor of Corrpro that the subject magnesium anodes are classified as eligible for NAFTA treatment in HTS 8543.30.0000 (duty-free, (MX)), as the requisite shift in tariff classification had occurred in a manufacturing facility in Mexico to warrant NAFTA preferential treatment. (Customs had argued that the anodes are classified in that same subheading, but with a non-NAFTA duty rate of 2.6%, as Corrpro's evidence was insufficient to substantiate a NAFTA claim.)
(The CIT's prior decision in the this action (Slip Op. 03-59) was vacated by order in November 2003. See ITT's Online Archives or 03/29/04 news, 04032935, for BP summary of Slip Op. 03-59.) (Slip Op. 04-116, dated 09/10/04, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/slip_op04/Slip%20Op.%2004-116.pdf)