## Facts

- Century Importers, Inc., a Miller Brewing Company subsidiary, imported beer from Molson Breweries under a 1993 supply agreement setting a transfer price for the beer.
- The agreement treated tariffs, taxes, and duties as costs to be invoiced separately and not included in the beer’s transfer price shown on the commercial invoice used for entry.
- After a change in the U.S. duty regime, Customs assessed a 50% ad valorem duty on beer imported from Ontario based on the declared invoice value.
- Molson privately agreed to reimburse Century/Miller for the ad valorem duties after importation; the entry invoice did not disclose this reimbursement arrangement.
- After paying duties and receiving reimbursement, Century sought a partial refund, asserting that the “price actually paid or payable” and transaction value should equal the invoice price minus the reimbursed duties.
- The Court of International Trade granted summary judgment to Century, treating the nondisclosure as a correctable mistake under 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c).
- The United States appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether transaction value under 19 U.S.C. § 1401a(b) must be reduced by a post-importation duty reimbursement from the seller when the reimbursement arrangement was not disclosed at entry.
2. Whether 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c) permits reliquidation to correct the omission of the reimbursement term from entry documentation as a “mistake of fact” or “clerical error.”

## Decision

- The Federal Circuit vacated and reversed the judgment for Century.
- Customs properly appraised the beer using the full invoice price as transaction value and did not deduct the later duty reimbursement.
- Section 1520(c) did not authorize reliquidation because the omission concerned the legal and substantive characterization of the transaction, not a clerical error or factual mistake.

## Legal Principles

- Transaction value under 19 U.S.C. § 1401a(b) is based on the consideration for the merchandise as sold for exportation, measured by the buyer’s obligation to pay the seller as reflected at entry.
- A seller’s post-importation reimbursement of duties paid by the buyer is treated as a post-entry rebate or adjustment and does not retroactively reduce the “price actually paid or payable” for customs valuation absent disclosure and incorporation into the entered transaction terms.
- 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c) provides limited post-liquidation relief for clerical errors and mistakes of fact; it cannot be used to introduce undisclosed pricing arrangements or to reframe valuation issues as correctable ministerial errors.

## Conclusion

The Federal Circuit held that Customs correctly used the gross invoice price to determine transaction value and that an undisclosed, post-importation duty reimbursement could not be used to reduce dutiable value or to obtain reliquidation under § 1520(c).


Century Importers, Inc. v. United States, 205 F.3d 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2000)