delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Congress has'provided in the Tariff Act of 1930, 46 Stat. 590, as amended, that imported articles be marked to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin. 19 U. S. C. § 1304.1 Pursuant to the Act, the. Secretary of. the Treasury adopted implementing regulations. This case tests the application of these provisions to the importation of 10 violins from the Soviet Zone of Germany. Appellees were charged with removing the labels from the
Appellees, dealers in musical instruments in the United States, had purchased the violins' from importers and thereafter sold them to other dealers. Upon obtaining possession of the violins from the importers, appellees replaced labels marked “Germany/USSR Occupied,” then on each of the violins, with others inscribed “Made in Germany.” After resale of the violins,' an information was filed against appellees, charging that they removed the original labels attached to the violins with intent to conceal from the ultimate purchasers the identity of the country of origin.3 The Government’s theory was that the removal of the labels violated 19 U, S. C. § 1304 and its implementing regulations.
I.
Our first consideration is the jurisdictional issue. The Criminal Appeals Act specifies several conditions, any one of which permits a direct appeal by the Government to this Court, and makes our jurisdiction in such cases exclusive. ' In the event that-an appeal which should have been taken here is erroneously effected to a Court of Appeals, that court is directed to certify it here. Prior to 1907, the date of the original Act, the United States had no appeal whatever in criminal cases. As passed by the House, the bill gave the Government “the same right of review by writ of error-'that is given to the defendant.” However, in the Senate, the bill was amended so as to allow review
“We have a district court in one jurisdiction holding that a law is ineffective for one reason or another— it may be that it is unconstitutional, or for some other reason — and we have a district court in another jurisdiction holding the reverse; and as the cases multiply in the several sections of the country we may find one half of the courts of the country arrayed against the other half of the courts of the country upon the same identical law; one half holding that it is entirely constitutional and the other half holding that it is unconstitutional.' So, Mr. President;- that confusion, that ridiculous condition, exists and must continue to exist, because, as the law now stands, . until a case involving the question shall go to the Supreme Court and it is brought there by the dePage 436fendant, there can be no adjudication' by a court whose decision and judgment is controlling. . . . The bill is intended to cure a defect in the administration of justice 5 .
It therefore appears abundantly clear that the remedial purpose of the Act was to avert “the danger of frequent conflicts, real or apparent, in the decisions of the various district or circuit courts, and the unfortunate results thereof”; and to eliminate “the impossibility of the government’s obtaining final and uniform rulings by recourse to a higher court.” 20 Harv. L. Rev. 219. Moreover, the desirability of expedition in the determination of the validity of Acts of Congress, which is pointed to as a desideratum for direct appeal, applies equally to regulations. In practical operation, correction of a regulation by agency revision invariably awaits judicial action.
The.information charged violations of 19 U. S. C. § 1304 “and the.regulations promulgated thereunder.” This section requires imported articles kr be marked “to indicate to an ultimate purchaser . . . the country of origin,” and imposes criminal sanctions on anyone who removes such a mark with intent to conceal the information contained therein.- The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to implement it by appropriate regulations. The term “country,” as used by the Congress in requiring the markings, was defined by regulation to mean “the political
An administrative regulation, of course, is not a “statute.” While in practical effect regulations may be called “little. laws,”7 they are at most but offspring of statutes. Congress alone may pass a statute,, and the Criminal Appeals Act calls, for direct appeals if the District Court’s dismissal is based upon the invalidity or construction of a statute. See United States v. Jones, 345 U. S. 377 (1953). This, Court has always construed the Criminal Appeals Act narrowly, limiting it strictly “to the instances specified.” United States v. Borden Co., 308 U. S. 188, 192 (1939). See also United States v. Swift & Co., 318 U. S. 442 (1943). Here the statute is not complete by itself, since it merely declares the range- of its operation and leaves to its progeny the means to be utilized in the effectuation of its command. But. it is the statute which creates the offense of the willful removal of the labels of origin and provides the punishment for violations. The regulations, on the other hand, prescribe the identifying language of the label itself, and assign the resulting tags to their respective geographical areas. Once promul
II.
, In 1946, the Treasury implemented the country-of-origin provisions of § 1304 by issuance of T. D. 51527, which provided that, “For the purposes of the marking provisions of the Tariff Act of 1930, . . . Germany shall bfe considered the country of origin of articles mamifac-tured ... in all parts of the German area subject to the authority of the Allied Control Commission and the United States, British, Soviet, and French zone Com
In 1951 the Congress directed the President to suspend or withdraw any reduction in the rates of custom duties or other concessions then applicable to the importation of articles manufactured in any areas dominated by the Soviet Union. 65 Stat. 73; 19 U. S. C. § 1362. In Proclamation No. 2935, 65 Stat. C25, the President suspended any reduction in rates of duty applicable to any articles manufactured in the Soviet Zone of Germany and the Soviet Sector of Berlin. Treasury Decision 52788, issued the same day, changed the rate of duty as provided in this proclamation. ' In 1953 the Secretary issued T. D. 53210, the regulation in controversy. This Treasury Decision is headed: “Tariff status, marking to indicate the name of the country of origin, and customs valuation of products of Germany, Poland, and Danzig.” The first paragraph of T. D. 53210 refers to the-presidential proclamation changing the structure of the rates of duty. The second paragraph specifies that, “For the purposes of the value provisions of section 402, Tariff Act of 1930,” Western Germany shall be treated as ono country, and “the Soviet Zone . . . shall be treated as another ‘country.’ ” The third paragraph is the one crucial to this prosecution: it provides that products of Western Germany shall be “marked to indicate Germany as the ‘country of origin,’ but products of th§ Soviet Zone . . . shall be marked to indicate Germany ('Soviet occupied) as the ‘country of origin.’ ” The District Court-concluded that T. D. 53210 was “issued primarily to establish mark; ings for purposes of the differences in the duties appl¿ cable”; thus the indication of Soviet Zone origin would not be required beyond entry into this country, the stage at which duty is payable.
In the context of criminal prosecution, we must apply the rule of strict construction when interpreting this regulation and statute. United States v. Halseth, 342 U. S. 277, 280 (1952); United States v. Wiltberger, 5 Wheat. 76, 95-96 (1820). A reading of the regulation leaves the distinct impression that it was intended to protect and expedite the collection of customs duties. Certainly its emphasis on duties and its silence on the protection of the public from deceit support the conclusion that the old provisions were to continue insofar as markings after
Accordingly, the judgment of the District Court is
Affirmed.
1.
“19 U. S. C. § 1304. Marking of imported articles and containers.
“(a) Marking of articles.
, "... [E] very article of foreign origin . . . imported into the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly,, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit in such manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in’¡the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article. The Secretary of. the Treasury may by regulations—
“(1) Determine the character of words and phrases or abbreviations thereof which shall be acceptable as indicating the country of origin . . . ;
“ (2) Require the addition of any other words or symbols which may be appropriate to prevent’ deception or mistake as to the origin of the article ....■■
“(e) Penalties.
“If any person shall, with intent to conceal the information given thereby or contained therein, deface, destroy,' remove, alter, cover, obscure, or obliterate any mark required under the provisions of this chapter, he shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”
2.
18 U. S. C. § 3731xprovides, in part:
“An appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the United States from the district courts direct to the Supreme Court of the United States in all' criminal cases in the following instances:-
“From a decision or judgment setting aside, or dismissing any indictment or information, or any count thereof, where such decision or judgment is based upon the invalidity or construction of the statute upon which the indictment or information is founded.
“From the decision or judgment sustaining a motion in bar, when the defendant has not been put in jeopardy.
“If an appeal shall be taken pursuant to this section to any court of appeals which, in the opinion of such court, should have been taken directly to the Supreme Court’ of the United States, such court shall certify the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which shall thereupon have jurisdiction to hear and determine the case to, the same extent as if an appeal had been taken directly to that Court.”
3.
In addition to the substantive charges, there was a count alleging conspiracy so to alter the labels.
4.
Senator Bacon, a member of the Judiciary Committee. 41 Cong. Rec. 2195-2196.
5.
41 Cong. Rec. 2753. See also comments of Senator Clarke, who, after discussing the matter with Senator Nelson, the manager of the bill on the floor, stated:
“[W]henever the validity of a statute has been adversely decided by a trial court . . . the Government ought to have the right to promptly submit that to the tribunal having authority, to. dispose of such questions in order that there may be a uniform enforcement of the-.law throughout the entire-limits of the United States.” 41 Cong. Rec. 2820.
6.
Several months later, T. D. 53281 was issued, providing alternative wordings for the Soviet Zone labels.
7.
Vom Baur, Federal Administrative Law, § 490, at 489.
8.
Since we hold that T. D. 53210 deals only with the collection of duties, its marking provisions supersede those of T. D.-51527'only as thé latter relate thereto.