[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 10, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52649-52651]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-25060]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-588-836]


Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 10, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Grebasch or Erik Warga, Office 
of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone: (202) 
482-3773 or (202) 482-0922, respectively.

The Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective 
date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (the Act) by the 
Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).

Preliminary Determination

    We preliminarily determine that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from Japan 
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 are shown in the 
``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.

Case History

    Since the initiation of this investigation on March 29, 1995 (60 FR 
17053, April 4, 1995), the following events have occurred:
    On April 10, 1995, one company, Denki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha 
(Denki), requested that it not be required to respond to the 
antidumping questionnaire in this investigation because it accounted 
for a small portion of total Japanese exports to the United States. The 
petitioner stated in a filing that they did not object.
    On April 24, 1995, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) 
notified the Department of Commerce (the Department) of its affirmative 
preliminary determination. 

[[Page 52650]]

    During May the Department sent antidumping questionnaires to the 
Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the following 
companies: Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Kuraray), Nippon Synthetic Chemical 
Industry Co., Ltd. (Nippon Goshei), Unitika Ltd. (Unitika), and Shin-
Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Shin-Etsu). The Department received 
notification from Nippon Goshei and Shin-Etsu that they would not be 
responding to the Department's antidumping questionnaire. Kuraray 
responded to Section A of the antidumping questionnaire and then 
notified the Department it would not be responding to the remaining 
sections of the questionnaire. Unitika did not file a questionnaire 
response.
    On July 21, 1995, the petitioner in this investigation, Air 
Products and Chemicals, Inc., requested that the Department postpone 
the preliminary determination until October 2, 1995. We granted this 
request pursuant to section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act, and postponed the 
preliminary determination until not later than October 2, 1995 (60 FR 
39931, August, 4, 1995).
    On September 19, 1995, the petitioner amended the petition to 
exclude from the scope of this investigation polyvinyl alcohols 
covalently bonded with acetoacetylate, carboxylic acid, or sulfonic 
acid uniformly present on all polymer chains in a concentration equal 
to or greater than two mole percent, or poylvinyl alcohols covalently 
bonded with silane uniformly present on all polymer chains in a 
concentration equal to or greater than one-tenth of one mole percent. 
We have revised the scope of this investigation to reflect the 
petitioner's amendment (see the ``Scope of Investigation'' section of 
this notice, below).

Scope of Investigation

    The merchandise under investigation is polyvinyl alcohol. Polyvinyl 
alcohol is a dry, white to cream-colored, water-soluble synthetic 
polymer, usually prepared by hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate. This 
product includes polyvinyl alcohols hydrolyzed in excess of 85 percent, 
whether or not mixed or diluted with defoamer or boric acid, except for 
polyvinyl alcohols covalently bonded with acetoacetylate, carboxylic 
acid, or sulfonic acid uniformly present on all polymer chains in a 
concentration equal to or greater than two mole percent, or poylvinyl 
alcohols covalently bonded with silane uniformly present on all polymer 
chains in a concentration equal to or greater than one-tenth of one 
mole percent, which are excluded.
    The merchandise under investigation is currently classifiable under 
subheading 3905.20.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
merchandise under investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 1994, through March 
31, 1995.

Facts Available

    Pursuant to section 776 of the Act, the Department will use the 
facts otherwise available if necessary information is not available on 
the record, or if an interested party or any other person withholds 
requested information, fails to provide such information by the 
deadlines for submission of the information or in the form and manner 
requested, significantly impedes a proceeding, or provides such 
information but the information cannot be verified.
    In addition, section 776(b) of the Act provides that, if the 
Department finds that an interested party ``has failed to cooperate by 
not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for 
information,'' the Department may use information that is adverse to 
the interests of that party as the facts otherwise available. The 
statute also provides that such an adverse inference may be based on 
secondary information, including information drawn from the petition.
    Section 776(c) explains that where the Department relies on 
``secondary information,'' the Department will, to the extent 
practicable, corroborate that information from independent sources 
reasonably at the Department's disposal. The Statement of 
Administrative Action (SAA), accompanying the URAA, clarifies that the 
petition is ``secondary information.'' See SAA, published in H. Doc. 
103-316, 103d Cong., 2d Sess. at 807, 870. The SAA also clarifies that 
``corroborate'' means to determine that the information used has 
probative value. However, where corroboration is not practicable, the 
Department may use the uncorroborated information.
    In the present case, all respondents failed to respond to the 
Department's antidumping questionnaire. Therefore, the Department 
determines that necessary information is not on the record, and that no 
party has acted to the best of its ability and thus, that application 
of section 776(b) is warranted.
    In the present case, the petition is the only information on the 
record which could form the basis for a dumping calculation. Therefore, 
the Department has based the margins for all parties on information in 
the petition.
    In accordance with section 776(c) of the Act, the Department 
attempted to corroborate the petition information by comparing the 
petition information on export price against U.S. Customs data and 
Japanese export statistics. However, both of these sources record 
prices based on the HTSUS subheading 3905.20.00, which includes both 
subject and non-subject merchandise. We were therefore unable to use 
either source of information to corroborate the prices contained in the 
petition. However, on the record of this investigation is a price quote 
from an independent source which does tend to corroborate the export 
price used in the petition (see Memorandum from Lou Apple to the file 
dated August 1, 1995).
    As to normal value starting price, or any other foreign costs, we 
are not aware of any practicable means of corroborating such 
information.
    Finally, we examined the ocean freight charge in the petition as it 
is a significant adjustment element which is not foreign based. Based 
on our examination of the supporting documentation contained in the 
petition, we find that the ocean freight charge has probative value.
    We note that one respondent submitted a section A response which 
contained some pricing information. However, because of the danger of 
self-serving statements by respondents who do not cooperate, such 
information cannot be used to adjust the margin alleged in the 
petition.
    Accordingly, we have preliminarily relied upon the information 
contained in the petition. We have assigned to all exporters a margin 
of 77.49 percent, the margin calculated in the petition on merchandise 
which is within the scope of this investigation.

All-Others Rate

    Under section 735(c)(5) of the Act, the ``all-others rate'' will 
normally be a weighted average of the weighted-average dumping margins 
established for all exporters and producers, but excluding any zero or 
de minimis margins, or any margins based entirely on the facts 
available. However, this provision also states that if all weighted-
average margins are zero, de minimis, or based on the facts available, 
the Department may use other reasonable methods to calculate the all-
others rate, including a weighted-average of such margins. In this 
case, as discussed above, the margin assigned to all companies is 77.49 
percent, based on 

[[Page 52651]]
the facts available. Therefore, also based on the facts available, the 
Department determines the all-others rate to be 77.49 percent.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d) of the Act, we are directing the 
Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of PVA from 
Japan, that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, 
on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. The Customs Service shall require a cash deposit or posting 
of a bond equal to the estimated amount by which the normal value 
exceeds the export price as shown below. These suspension of 
liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
    The dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin  
                    Exporter/manufacturer                     percentage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kuraray.....................................................       77.49
Nippon Goshei...............................................       77.49
Unitika.....................................................       77.49
Shin-Etsu...................................................       77.49
All Others..................................................       77.49
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The all others rate applies to all entries of subject merchandise 
except for entries from exporters that are identified above.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our determination. If our final determination is affirmative, 
the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of 
this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination 
whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material 
injury to, the U.S. industry.

Public Comment

    In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38, case briefs or other written 
comments in at least ten copies must be submitted to the Assistant 
Secretary for Import Administration no later than November 9, 1995, and 
rebuttal briefs, no later than November 16, 1995. A list of authorities 
used and a summary of arguments made in the briefs should accompany 
these briefs. Such summary must be limited to five pages total, 
including footnotes. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38, we will hold a 
public hearing, if requested, to afford interested parties an 
opportunity to comment on arguments raised in case or rebuttal briefs. 
Tentatively, the hearing will be held at 1:30 p.m. on November 20, 
1995, at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 3606, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230. Parties should 
confirm by telephone the time, date, and place of the hearing 48 hours 
before the scheduled time.
    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate 
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 
B-099, within ten days of the publication of this notice. Requests 
should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; 
(2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of the issues to be 
discussed. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38(b), oral presentations will 
be limited to issues raised in the briefs. If this investigation 
proceeds normally, we will make our final determination by December 18, 
1995.
    This determination is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the 
Act.

    Dated: October 2, 1995.
Susan G. Esserman,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 95-25060 Filed 10-6-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P