[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 121 (Friday, June 21, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31921-31922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-15805]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-427-806, A-427-807, A-427-808, A-427-809]


Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products, Certain Cold-
Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products, Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon 
Steel Flat Products, and Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from 
France; Notice of Court Decision and Continuation of Suspension of 
Liquidation

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On May 28, 1996, in Usinor Sacilor v. United States, Consol, 
Court No. 93-09-00592-AD (``Usinor Sacilor''), a lawsuit challenging 
the Department of Commerce's (the ``Department'') final determinations 
of sales at less than fair value in the captioned investigations, the 
U.S. Court of International Trade (``CIT'') affirmed the Department's 
second redeterminations on remand. As a result, the final dumping 
margins for Usinor Sacilor and for the ``All Others'' rate are as 
follows:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Percent 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.....................      25.80
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products....................      44.52
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............      29.41
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate.....................      52.76
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Consistent with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') in Timken Co.  v. United States, 893 F.2d 
237 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (``Timken''), the Department will direct the U.S. 
Customs Service to change the cash deposit rates being used in 
connection with the suspension of liquidation of the subject 
merchandise once there is a ``conclusive'' decision in Usinor Sacilor.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 7, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Edward Easton or John Brinkmann, Office of Antidumping Investigations, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1777 or (202) 482-5288, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On July 9, 1993, the Department published notice of its final 
determinations of sales at less than fair value in its investigations 
of these carbon steel products from France. Final Determinations of 
Sales at Less than Fair Value: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat 
Products, Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products, Certain 
Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products, and Certain Cut-to-
Length Carbon Steel Plate from France, 58 FR 37125. The Department 
subsequently amended these determinations and issued an antidumping 
order instructing the Customs Service to collect cash deposit, at the 
rates set forth in the amended final determinations, on entries of 
merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or 
after that publication dated, 58 FR 44169 (August 19, 1993). The 
amended final determinations set forth the following dumping margins 
for

[[Page 31922]]

respondent Usinor Sacilor and for the ``All Others'' rate:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Percent 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.....................      80.56
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products....................      78.68
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............      39.40
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate.....................      52.76
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Following publication of the Department's amended final 
determinations and antidumping order, Usinor Sacilor filed lawsuits 
with the CIT challenging the Department's final determinations. 
Thereafter, the CIT issued Slip Opinion 94-197, dated December 19, 
1994, in Usinor Sacilor, remanding the Department's amended final 
determinations on certain issues. In that opinion, the CIT found that 
the Department had improperly rejected Usinor Sacilor's revised and 
corrected product concordance and then restored the ``best information 
available'' (``BIA''). The court directed the Department to accept the 
concordance. The court also found that the Department had improperly 
used BIA to remedy Usinor Sacilor's having improperly coded a 
particular grade of hot-rolled carbon steel. The court directed the 
Department either to use the relevant sales as coded or to allow Usinor 
Sacilor to reclassify them.
    In addition, the court rejected the Department's selection of the 
highest non-aberrant margin as BIA for the downstream sales of Usinor 
Sacilor's majority-owned steel service centers. The court instructed 
the Department to use, instead, the ``weighted-average calculated 
margin.'' Finally, with regard to the downstream sales of minority-
owned steel service centers, the court instructed the Department to 
determine whether Usinor Sacilor controlled these service centers. If 
the Department were to find that Usinor Sacilor did control them, we 
were to select the highest non-aberrant margin as BIA in a manner 
consistent with the CIT's ruling in National Steel Corp. v. United 
States, Slip op. 94-194 (December 13, 1994). On the other hand, if the 
Department were to determine that Usinor Sacilor did not control the 
steel service centers in which it had minority ownership, we were to 
apply the ``weighted-average calculated margin'' as BIA.
    On remand, after finding that Usinor Sacilor lacked operational 
control over the minority-owned service centers, the Department used 
the weighted-average calculated margin as BIA for the downstream sales 
of both the majority- and minority-owned service centers. This 
weighted-average calculated margin BIA consisted of individual price-
to-price margins, price-to-constructed value margins and unchallenged 
BIA margins. The Department also accepted Usinor Sacilor's revised and 
corrected concordance and permitted the company to correct the coding 
of the miscoded grade of steel. On February 17, 1995, the Department 
filed its required remand results with the CIT.
    On November 9, 1995, the CIT issued a second remand opinion, in 
which it explained that it had intended that the Department would use a 
weighted-average calculated margin consisting only of price-to-price 
and price-to-constructed value margins, not including unchallenged 
margins based on BIA. The Department submitted the following 
recalculated weighted-average margins to the CIT on December 12, 1995:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Percent 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.....................      25.80
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products....................      44.52
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............      29.41
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate.....................      52.76
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On May 28, 1996, the CIT affirmed these recalculated margins.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In its decision in Timken, the CAFC held that the Department must 
publish notice of a decision of the CIT or the CAFC which is not ``in 
harmony'' with the Department's final determination. Publication of 
this notice fulfills this obligation. Inasmuch as entries of the 
subject merchandise already are being suspended pursuant to the 
antidumping order in effect, the Department need not order the Customs 
Service to suspend liquidation. Consistent with Timken, the Department 
will order the Customs Service to change the relevant cash deposit 
rates in the event that the CIT's ruling is not appealed or the CAFC 
issues a final decision affirming the CIT's ruling.

    Dated: June 14, 1996.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-15805 Filed 6-20-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M