[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 2, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39358-39359]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19015]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-331-602]


Certain Fresh Cut Flowers From Ecuador; Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from the Floral Trade Council, 
petitioner in this proceeding, to conduct an administrative review, the 
Department of Commerce (the Department) has conducted an administrative 
review of the antidumping duty order on certain fresh cut flowers from 
Ecuador. The review covers twelve producers and/or exporters of this 
merchandise and the period March 1, 1993 through February 28, 1994.
    We have preliminary determined that sales have been made below the 
foreign market value (FMV). If these preliminary results are adopted in 
our final results of administrative review, we will instruct U.S. 
Customs to assess antidumping duties equal to the difference between 
the United States price (USP) and the FMV.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 2, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas E. Schauer, Joseph A. Fargo, or 
Richard Rimlinger, Office of Antidumping Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-4733/4477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 18, 1987, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') 
published in the Federal Register (52 FR 8494) the antidumping duty 
order on certain fresh cut flowers from Ecuador. On March 4, 1994, the 
Department published a notice of ``Opportunity to Request 
Administrative Review'' with respect to the period March 1, 1993 
through February 28, 1994 (59 FR 14608). The Department received a 
timely request for review from the petitioner, the Floral Trade 
Council, on March 31, 1994, in accordance with 19 CFR 353.22(a). The 
Department is now conducting this administrative review in accordance 
with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Tariff 
Act''). Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute and to 
the Department's regulations are references to the provisions as they 
existed on December 31, 1994.

Scope of the Review

    Imports covered by the review are shipments of certain fresh cut 
flowers from Ecuador (standard carnations, standard chrysanthemums, and 
pompom chrysanthemums). This merchandise is classifiable under 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule (``HTS'') items 0603.10.30.00, 
0603.10.70.10, 0603.10.70.20, and 0603.10.70.30. The HTS item numbers 
are provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The written 
description remains dispositive.
    The review covers Flores La Antonia, Flores del Quinche S.A., 
Florisol Cia Ltda., Flores de Ibarra, Flores de Puewmbo, Flores del 
Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, Guaisa S.A., Inlandes S.A., 
Mundiflor, and Velvet Flores Cia S.A., which are producers and/or 
exporters of certain fresh cut flowers from Ecuador to the United 
States and the period March 1, 1993 through February 28, 1994.

Best Information Available

    Because certain companies did not provide a response to the 
Department's request for information, in accordance with section 776(c) 
of the Tariff Act, we have preliminarily determined that the use of 
best information otherwise available (BIA) is appropriate for these 
firms. The Department's regulations provide that we may take into 
account whether a party refuses to provide information in determining 
what rate to use as BIA (19 CFR 353.37(b)). Generally, whenever a 
company refuses to cooperate with the Department or otherwise 
significantly impedes the proceeding, we use as adverse BIA the highest 
rate for any company for the same class or kind of merchandise from 
this or any other segment of the proceeding. When a company 
substantially cooperates with our requests for information, but fails 
to provide all the information requested in a timely manner or in the 
form requested, we use as cooperative BIA the higher of (1) the highest 
rate (including the ``all others'' rate) ever applicable to the firm 
for the same class or kind of merchandise from the same country from 
either the LTFV investigation or a prior administrative review; or (2) 
the highest calculated rate in this review for any firm for the same 
class or kind of merchandise from the same country. See Antifriction 
Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof From 
the Federal Republic of Germany, et al.; Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review, 57 FR 28360, 28379-80 (July 24, 1992); see 
also Allied-Signal Aerospace Co. v. United States 996 F.2d 1185 (Fed. 
Cir. 1993).
    For these preliminary results we have applied a cooperative BIA 
rate to sales made by Flores de Ibarra, Flores de Puewmbo, Flores del 
Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, and Mundiflor. These firms are 
no longer in business, and we have preliminarily determined, in 
accordance with the standards enumerated in Certain Fresh Cut Flowers 
From Colombia; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 
and Notice of Revocation of Order (in Part), 59 FR 15159 (March 31, 
1994) (``Colombian Flowers''), that they are incapable of responding to 
the Department's questionnaire. In Colombian Flowers, the Department 
treated bankrupt, or otherwise out of business, firms as cooperative 
provided that they explained their situation to the Department. In this 
case, the firms mentioned above submitted certifications that they are 
no longer in business and thus could not respond. Therefore, in 
accordance with Colombian Flowers, we preliminarily find these firms to 
be cooperative.
    In this proceeding, none of the firms named above had ever received 
a higher margin than that calculated for Flores La Antonia in the 
instant review. Therefore, we have applied the rate calculated for 
Flores La Antonia, which is 28.44 percent, to Flores de Ibarra, Flores 
de Puewmbo, Flores del Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, and 
Mundiflor.

United States Price

    Pursuant to section 777A of the Tariff Act, we preliminarily 
determined that it was appropriate to average U.S. prices on a monthly 
basis in order (1) to use actual price information that is often 
available only on a monthly basis; (2) to account for large sales 
volumes; and (3) to account for perishable product pricing practices. 
See Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; Certain 
Fresh Cut Flowers from 

[[Page 39359]]
Colombia, 56 FR 50554 (October 7, 1991).
    In calculating United States price (USP), we used purchase price 
(PP) when sales were made to unrelated purchasers in the United States 
prior to the date of importation, or exporter's sales price (ESP) when 
sales were made to unrelated purchasers in the United States after the 
date of importation, both pursuant to section 772 of the Tariff Act.
    We calculated purchase price to the first unrelated purchaser in 
the United States. The terms of PP sales were either f.o.b. Quito or 
c.i.f. Miami. We made deductions, where appropriate, for foreign inland 
freight, air freight, brokerage and handling, U.S. Customs duties, and 
return credits.
    ESP, for sales made on consignment or through a related affiliate, 
was calculated based on the packed price to the first unrelated 
customer in the United States. We made adjustments, where appropriate, 
for foreign inland freight, brokerage and handling, air freight, box 
charges, credit expenses, returned merchandise credits, royalties, U.S. 
Customs duties, and either commissions paid to unrelated U.S. 
consignees or indirect selling expenses of related consignees.

Foreign Market Value

    In calculating foreign market value, the Department used home 
market prices since there were sufficient sales of such or similar 
merchandise in the home market. See section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff 
Act.
    Home market prices were based on the packed, ex-factory or 
delivered prices to unrelated purchasers in the home market pursuant to 
section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff Act. Where applicable, we made 
adjustments for post-sale movement expenses and differences in packing 
in accordance with section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff Act. We also made 
adjustments for differences in circumstances of sale in accordance with 
19 CFR 353.56, as follows. For comparisons to PP sales, we deducted 
home market direct selling expenses and added U.S. direct selling 
expenses. For comparisons to ESP sales, we deducted home market direct 
selling expenses. We also made adjustments, where applicable, for home 
market indirect selling expenses to offset U.S. commissions in PP and 
ESP calculations and to offset U.S. indirect selling expenses deducted 
in ESP calculations, but not exceeding the amount of the indirect U.S. 
expenses in accordance with 19 CFR 353.56(b).

Preliminary Results of the Review

    As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine that the 
following margins exist for the period March 1, 1993 through February 
28, 1994:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin  
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flores la Antonia..........................................        28.44
Flores del Quinche S.A.....................................         1.25
Florisol Cia Ltda..........................................         0.06
Flores de Ibarra...........................................        28.44
Flores de Puewmbo..........................................        28.44
Flores del Ecuador.........................................        28.44
Flores Pichincha...........................................        28.44
Florestrade................................................        28.44
Guaisa S.A.................................................        (\1\)
Inlandes S.A...............................................        (\1\)
Mundiflor..................................................        28.44
Velvet Flores Cia S.A......................................       (\1\) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ No shipments during the period of review; since there was no prior  
  review of this company, the ``all other'' rate from the less-than-fair-
  value (LTFV) investigation is applicable.                             

    Interested parties may request disclosure within 5 days of the date 
of publication of this notice and may request a hearing within 10 days 
of publication. Any hearing, if requested, will be held 44 days after 
the date of publication or the first workday thereafter. Case briefs 
and/or written comments from interested parties may be submitted not 
later than 30 days after the date of publication. Rebuttal briefs and 
rebuttals to written comments, limited to issues in those comments, may 
be filed not later than 37 days after the date of publication. The 
Department will publish the final results of the administrative review 
including the results of its analysis of any such comments or hearing.
    Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective 
for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
final results of this administrative review, as provided for by section 
751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act: (1) the cash deposit rates for the 
reviewed companies will be those rates established in the final results 
of this review; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies 
not listed above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the 
company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the 
exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the 
original LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit 
rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the 
manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) for all other producers and/or 
exporters of this merchandise, the cash deposit rate shall be 5.89 
percent, the ``all others'' rate from the LTFV investigation. These 
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until 
publication of the final results of the next administrative review.
    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 to file a certificate 
regarding reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of 
the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with 
this requirement could result in the Department's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.
    This administrative review and notice are in accordance with 
section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and section 
353.22 of the Department's regulations (19 CFR 353.22(c)(5)).

    Date: July 26, 1995.
Susan Esserman,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 95-19015 Filed 8-1-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P