[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 62 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14063-14064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-7635]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-588-836]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value; 
Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 29, 1996.

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 NW., 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).

Final Determination

    As explained in the memoranda from the Assistant Secretary for 
Import Administration dated November 22, 1995, and January 11, 1996, 
the Department of Commerce (the Department) has exercised its 
discretion to toll all deadlines for the duration of the partial 
shutdowns of the Federal Government from November 15 through November 
21, 1995, and December 16, 1995, through January 6, 1996. Thus, the 
deadline for the final determination in this investigation has been 
extended by 28 days, i.e., one day for each day (or partial day) the 
Department was closed. As such, the deadline for this final 
determination is no later than March 21, 1996.
    We determine that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from Japan is being sold 
in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in 
section 735 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 preliminary determination of sales at less than fair 
value in this investigation on October 2, 1995, (60 FR

[[Page 14064]]
52651, October 10, 1995), the following events have occurred:
    On October 17, 1995, respondent, Kuraray Co., Ltd. requested that 
the final determination be postponed until March 21, 1996. The 
Department has determined that such requests contain an implied request 
to extend the provisional measures period, during which liquidation is 
suspended, to six months (see, Extension of Provisional Measures 
memorandum dated February 7, 1996).
    On November 20, 1995, the petitioner, Air Products and Chemicals, 
Inc., clarified its position that polyvinyl alcohol fiber was not 
intended to be within the scope of this investigation.
    On February 2, 1996, respondent, Kuraray Co., expressly requested 
extension of the four month provisional measures period.
    No hearing was requested or held, and no party filed a case brief.

Scope of Investigation

    The merchandise under investigation is polyvinyl alcohol. Polyvinyl 
alcohol is a dry, white to cream-colored, water-soluble synthetic 
polymer. This product consists of polyvinyl alcohols hydrolyzed in 
excess of 85 percent, whether or not mixed or diluted with defoamer or 
boric acid. Excluded from this investigation are 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 polyvinyl 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. 
Polyvinyl alcohol in fiber form is not included in the scope of this 
investigation.
    The merchandise under investigation is currently classifiable under 
subheading 3905.30.00 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

    For reasons discussed in the preliminary determination, the 
Department has, pursuant to section 776 of the Act, used the facts 
available. As discussed in the preliminary determination, the 
Department used as the facts available the margin in the petition. For 
a discussion of the reasons for application of the facts available, and 
the selection of the petition margin as the facts available, see Notice 
of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Polyvinyl Alcohol from Japan, 60 FR 52649, 52650 (October 10, 1995). 
The Department has not received any comments since the preliminary 
determination on its application of facts available.

Fair Value Comparisons

    As noted above, as in our preliminary determination, this final 
determination has been made using the margin in the petition as the 
facts available.

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

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d) of the Act, we are directing the 
Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all entries of 
polyvinyl alcohol from Japan, that are entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption, on or after October 10, 1995, the date of 
publication of our preliminary determination 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 April 7, 1996, in accordance 
with section 733(d) of the Act.
    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 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our determination. As our final determination is affirmative, 
the ITC will within 45 days determine whether these imports are 
materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry. 
If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat of material 
injury does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and all 
securities posted will be refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines 
that such injury does exist, the Department will issue an antidumping 
duty order directing Customs officials to assess antidumping duties on 
all imports of the subject merchandise entered, for consumption on or 
after the effective date of the suspension of liquidation.
    This determination is published pursuant to section 735(d) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 353.20(a)(4).

    Dated: March 21, 1996.
Susan G. Esserman,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-7635 Filed 3-28-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P