Department of Commerce May 31, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) requests public comment on a proposed rule to establish a Mexican Cement Import Licensing System in accordance with the Agreement Between the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce of the United States of America and the Ministry of Economy of the United Mexican States (Secretaria de Economia) on Trade in Cement (Agreement), dated March 6, 2006. This cement licensing system is intended to enable Commerce to monitor the sub-regional export limits established by the Agreement for the three year duration of the Agreement.

The Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain polyester staple fiber from the Republic of Korea. The period of review is May 1, 2004, through April 30, 2005. This review covers imports of certain polyester staple fiber from one producer/exporter. We have preliminarily found that sales of the subject merchandise have been made below normal value. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess antidumping duties. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. We will issue the final results not later than 120 days from the date of publication of this notice.

On January 23, 2006, the Department of Commerce published the preliminary results of the 2004 - 2005 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from France. The review covers one manufacturer/exporter, Ugitech S.A. (Ugitech). The period of review is March 1, 2004, through February 28, 2005. Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have made changes in the margin calculations. Therefore, the final results differ from the preliminary results. The final weighted-average dumping margin for the reviewed firm is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

On March 13, 2006, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) sustained the final remand redetermination made by the Department of Commerce (the Department) pursuant to the CIT's remand of the final results of the 2002-2003 administrative review of certain steel concrete reinforcing bars (rebar) from Turkey. See Colakoglu Metalurji A.S. v. United States, 2006 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 36; Slip Op. 2006-36 (Mar. 13, 2006) (Colakoglu Remand). In this remand, the Department recalculated the margin for Colakoglu Metalurji A.S. and Colakoglu Dis Ticaret (collectively ``Colakoglu''), a Turkish exporter/ producer of subject merchandise, to use Colakolgu's reported ``order'' date as the U.S. date of sale. Because all litigation in this matter has now concluded, the Department is issuing its amended final results in accordance with the CIT's decision.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has reviewed the public comments received in response to the ``Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Revision and Clarification of Deemed Export Related Regulatory Requirements'' (ANPR) published in the Federal Register on March 28, 2005. The ANPR identified recommendations contained in the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report entitled ``Deemed Export Controls May Not Stop the Transfer of Sensitive Technology to Foreign Nationals in the U.S.'' (Final Inspection Report No. IPE-16176March 2004). This action discusses concerns raised by the OIG and summarizes public comments received in response to the ANPR. This document also states that the current BIS licensing policy related to deemed exports is appropriate and confirms that the existing definition of ``use'' adequately reflects the underlying export controls policy rationale in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, BIS is withdrawing the ANPR. In addition, this action addresses comments on the scope of the fundamental research provisions in the EAR.