[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-15178]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: June 22, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[C-428-812]

 

Notice of Court Decision: Certain Hot Rolled Lead and Bismuth 
Carbon Steel Products from Germany

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 22, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin Heim, Office of Countervailing 
Investigations, Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; 
telephone (202) 482-3798.

SUMMARY: On June 7, 1994, the United States Court of International 
Trade (``CIT'') overturned the determination by the Department of 
Commerce (``the Department'') that the benefit of Saarstahl AG's 
subsidization, by reason of forgiveness of debts, was passed through to 
Dillinger Hutte Saarstahl AG (``DHS'') after Saarstahl was privatized.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In its Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination: Certain Hot Rolled Lead and Bismuth Carbon Steel 
Products From Germany, 58 FR 6233 (January 27, 1993), the Department 
determined that subsidies previously bestowed on Saarstahl in the form 
of debt forgiveness passed through to DHS, a newly formed holding 
company of which Saarstahl became a subsidiary. The Department's 
determination was challenged. The Department subsequently requested, 
and was granted, a remand in order to reconsider its final 
determinations. On remand, the Department adopted its reasoning from 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination: Certain Steel 
Products From Germany, 58 FR 37315 (July 9, 1993), in which it 
determined that a portion of the price DHS paid for Saarstahl 
represented repayment of prior subsidies. On June 7, 1994, in Saarstahl 
AG v. United States, Slip Op. 94-92, the CIT overturned the 
Department's determination that previously bestowed subsidies continued 
to benefit a company privatized in an arm's-length transaction.
In its decision in Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 
1990), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held 
that, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1516a(e), the Department must publish a 
notice of a court decision which is not ``in harmony'' with a 
Department determination, and must suspend liquidation of entries 
pending a ``conclusive'' court decision. The CIT's decision in 
Saarstahl on June 7, 1994, constitutes a decision not in harmony with 
the Department's final affirmative determination. Publication of this 
notice fulfills the Timken requirement.
    Accordingly, the Department will continue to suspend liquidation 
pending the expiration of the period of appeal or, if appealed, upon a 
``conclusive'' court decision. Absent an appeal or, if appealed, upon a 
``conclusive'' court decision affirming the CIT's opinion, the 
countervailing duty order will be revoked effective June 17, 1994.

    Dated: June 16, 1994.
Paul L. Joffe,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 94-15178 Filed 6-21-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P