Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. v. United States

884 F.2d 1375 (1989)

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Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. v. United States

United States District Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
884 F.2d 1375 (1989)

Facts

Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation (Nissan) (plaintiff) sought to import machinery for its automobile-assembly plant, located inside a foreign-trade zone. Nissan sought a determination from the United States Customs Service (customs) (defendant) that the machinery could be imported duty-free under the Foreign Trade Zones Act. In its petition, Nissan indicated that it did not know whether the proposed machinery configuration would work and that it needed to assemble, install, and test the machinery before knowing what machinery would be kept. Whatever machinery would not be kept at the facility would be resold or scrapped. Based on this information, customs determined that the machinery Nissan sought to import was not “merchandise” for purposes of the Foreign Trade Zones Act and was thus subject to import duties. However, customs deferred assessment of duties until Nissan determined which machinery it would keep at the assembly plant. Nissan challenged customs’ determination before the United States Court of International Trade, arguing that the machinery was not dutiable because it was brought into a foreign-trade zone outside of the customs territory of the United States. The court agreed with customs that the machinery was dutiable. Nissan appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Archer, J.)

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