United States v. Greek Orthodox Church of Evangelismos

This appeal by the United States is from the judgment of the Customs Court, First Division, C.D. 2241, sustaining a protest filed by the appellee against the collector’s assessment of duty at 16% % ad valorem upon an imported iconostasis (also referred to in the testimony as an iconastas). The import is a screen or partition which is erected in the sanctuary of a Greek Orthodox Church upon the same platform upon which the altar table stands.

The collector’s assessment was made under paragraph 412 of the Tariff Act of 1930 which covers manufactures “wholly or in chief *37value of wood, not…