International Trade Administration February 14, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is modifying its methodology regarding the calculation of the weighted-average dumping margins and antidumping duty assessment rate in certain segments of antidumping duty proceedings (hereinafter, ``Final Modification for Reviews''). Currently, in a review of an antidumping duty order conducted under 19 CFR 351.213 (administrative review), 351.214 (new shipper review), and 351.215 (expedited antidumping review) (collectively ``reviews''), the Department usually makes comparisons between transaction-specific export prices and average normal values and does not offset the amount of dumping that is found with the results of comparisons for which the transaction-specific export price, or constructed export price, exceeds normal value. Several World Trade Organization (``WTO'') dispute settlement reports have found that the United States' application of these methodologies was inconsistent with its WTO obligations. Under this Final Modification for Reviews, the Department will calculate weighted- average margins of dumping and antidumping duty assessment rates in a manner which provides offsets for non-dumped comparisons while using monthly average-to-average (``A-A'') comparisons in reviews, paralleling the WTO-consistent methodology that the Department applies in original investigations. The Department is also modifying its practice in five-year (``sunset'') reviews, such that it will not rely on weighted-average dumping margins that were calculated using the methodology found to be WTO-inconsistent. The schedule for implementing these changes is set forth in the ``Timetable'' section in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.