International Trade Administration 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 18, 2006, Hylsa, S.A. de C.V. filed a First Request for Panel Review with the United States Section of the NAFTA Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Panel review was requested of the Notice of Final Results and Partial Rescission of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review made by the International Trade Administration, respecting Oil Country Tubular Goods from Mexico. This determination was published in the Federal Register (71 FR 54614) on September 18, 2006. The NAFTA Secretariat has assigned Case Number USA-MEX-2006-1904-06 to this request.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot- rolled carbon steel flat products from Romania. The period of review is November 1, 2004, through October 31, 2005. We preliminarily determine that sales of subject merchandise by Mittal Steel Galati, S.A. (MS Galati), have not been made below normal value. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess no antidumping duties on appropriate entries. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. Parties that submit comments are requested to submit with each argument (1) a statement of the issue(s) and (2) a brief summary of the argument(s). We will issue the final results no later than 120 days from the publication of this notice.

On July 7, 2006, the Department of Commerce (Department) published the preliminary results of its 2004-2005 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). See Polyvinyl Alcohol from the People's Republic of China; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 71 FR 38612 (July 7, 2006) (Preliminary Results). We have now completed that review. For these final results, as in the Preliminary Results, we determine that sales have not been made below normal value (NV).

The Departments of Commerce and the Interior jointly administer the Insular Possessions Watch Program. Under this program, insular possessions watch producers may receive duty-free treatment of certain watches imported into the customs territory of the United States. This action invites comments from insular watch producers and interested parties on possible options for revising the maximum total value of watch components per watch and watch movement that are eligible for duty-free entry into the United States under the insular watch program.

On September 12, 2006, U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab and Canada's Minister for International Trade, David Emerson, signed the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA 2006). On October 12, 2006, the SLA 2006 entered into effect. Pursuant to the settlement of litigation which is a precondition for the entry into force of the SLA 2006, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is revoking the countervailing duty order on certain softwood lumber products from Canada and rescinding all ongoing proceedings related to that order.

This notice addresses three methodologies of the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') in antidumping proceedings. First, the Department is revising its approach concerning the use of market economy inputs in the calculation of normal value in antidumping proceedings involving non-market economy (``NME'') countries. Specifically, the Department is revising its approach concerning cases where an NME producer sources an input from both market economy suppliers and from within the NME. Second, the Department is revising its methodology for calculating expected NME wages in antidumping proceedings involving NME countries. Third, the Department is requesting comments on its approach concerning the calculation of duty drawback adjustments to export price in antidumping proceedings when a respondent producer obtains an input both from domestic and foreign sources. On this latter issue, the Department is seeking comments on the methodology that should be used when the producer receives duty drawback on certain exports containing the input but not on other exports containing the input.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``Commission'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''), the Department hereby orders the continuation of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (``the PRC''). The Department is publishing this notice of continuation of the antidumping duty order in accordance with 19 CFR 351.218(f)(4).

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is rescinding its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Germany for the period July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is partially rescinding its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina for the period December 1, 2004, to November 30, 2005, with respect to one company, Associacion de Cooperativas Argentinas (ACA).

On July 3, 2006, in response to requests from interested parties, the Department of Commerce published a notice of initiation of administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on ball bearings (and parts thereof) from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The period of review is May 1, 2005, through April 30, 2006. The Department of Commerce is rescinding these reviews in part.

On October 6, 2006, the binational panel issued its decision in the full sunset review of the antidumping and countervailing duty determination made by the International Trade Commission, respecting Magnesium from Canada, Secretariat File No. USA-CDA-2000-1904-09. The binational panel affirmed the International Trade Commission determination with two dissenting opinions. Copies of the panel decision are available from the U.S. Section of the NAFTA Secretariat.

On September 5, 2006, the U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published a notice of initiation of antidumping duty changed circumstances review on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Germany, as described below. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews: Certain Corrosion- Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Germany, 71 FR 53653, (September 5, 2006) (``Initiation Notice''). In our Initiation Notice, the Department invited interested parties to comment on the request to exclude certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Germany (``product in question'') as described below from the scope of this order. The Department received no comments. Absent any comments, the Department preliminarily concludes that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to which this order pertains lack interest in the relief provided by this order with respect to the product in question. Therefore, the Department preliminarily concludes that it is appropriate to revoke this order, in part, with respect to unliquidated entries of the product in question not covered by the final results of an administrative review, based on the fact that domestic parties have made an affirmative statement of no interest in the continuation of the order with respect to that product. This revocation would not apply to unliquidated entries that are covered by the final results of an administrative review, even if those entries are subject to litigation.

The European Union has developed legislation that could mandate that U.S. businesses only use metrics when manufacturing for sale in the EU. This forum will provide U.S. industries an opportunity to express their concerns and ask relevant questions about the legislation.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') is conducting new shipper antidumping duty reviews of freshwater crawfish tail meat from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') in response to requests by Nanjing Merry Trading Co., Ltd. (``Nanjing Merry''), Leping Lotai Foods Co., Ltd. (``Leping Lotai''), Weishan Hongrun Aquatic Co., Ltd. (``Weishan Hongrun''), and Shanghai Strong International Trading Co., Ltd. (``Shanghai Strong''). These reviews cover shipments to the United States for the period September 1, 2005, to February 28, 2006, by these four respondents. For the reasons discussed below, we are extending the preliminary results of the new shipper reviews of Nanjing Merry, Leping Lotai, and Weishan Hongrun by an additional 90 days, and the new shipper review of Shanghai Strong by an additional 65 days, to no later than January 23, 2007.

We preliminarily determine that certain activated carbon from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice.

In response to requests by Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. Ltd. (DSM), a producer/exporter of the subject merchandise, and petitioners,\1\ the Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from the Republic of Korea (Korea). This review covers seven producers/exporters of the subject merchandise. The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2004, through August 31, 2005.

On June 1, 2006, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') initiated the second sunset reviews of the antidumping duty (``AD'') orders on oil country tubular goods (``OCTG'') from Argentina, Italy, Japan, and Korea pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). On the basis of notices of intent to participate, and adequate substantive responses filed on behalf of the domestic interested parties, and inadequate responses received from respondent interested parties, the Department has conducted expedited sunset reviews, pursuant to section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(e)(1)(ii)(C)(2). As a result of these sunset reviews, the Department finds that revocation of the AD orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping at the margins indicated in the ``Final Results of Review'' section of this notice.

On June 1, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated sunset reviews of the antidumping duty orders on certain small diameter carbon and alloy seamless standard, line, and pressure pipe (seamless line pipe) from Argentina, Brazil, and Germany pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). See Initiation of Five-year (``Sunset'') Reviews, 71 FR 31153 (June 1, 2006) (Sunset Initiation). On the basis of a notice of intent to participate and adequate substantive responses filed on behalf of domestic interested parties, and only one notice of intent to participate filed on behalf of a German respondent interested party, Benteler Stahl/Rohr GmbH (Benteler Stahl), the response for which was determined by the Department to be inadequate, the Department conducted expedited (120-day) sunset reviews. As a result of these sunset reviews, the Department finds that revocation of the antidumping duty orders would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping. The dumping margins are identified in the Final Results of Review section of this notice.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) has received requests for new shipper reviews of the antidumping duty order on certain forged stainless steel flanges (flanges) from India issued on February 9, 1994. See Amended Final Determination and Antidumping Duty Order; Certain Forged Stainless Steel Flanges from India, 59 FR 5994 (February 9, 1994). In accordance with section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.214(d) (2005), we are initiating antidumping new shipper reviews of Micro Forge (India), Ltd. (Micro) and Pradeep Metals Limited (Pradeep), exporters and producers that requested new shipper reviews.

On September 28, 2006, The U.S. Department of Commerce issued an amended Export Trade Certificate of Review to Northwest Fruit Exporters (``NFE'').