[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 214 (Monday, November 4, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56665-56667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28246]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-821-802]
Amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping
Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of amendments to the agreement suspending the
antidumping investigation on uranium from the Russian Federation.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) and the Ministry
of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MINATOM) have signed two
amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on
Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended (the Suspension
Agreement). One amendment provides for the sale in the United States of
feed associated with imports of low-enriched uranium (LEU) derived from
high-enriched uranium (HEU) which makes the Suspension Agreement
consistent with the USEC Privatization Act. The second amendment
restores previously unused quota for separative work units, and covers
Russian uranium which has been enriched in a third country within the
terms of the Suspension Agreement, for a period of two years from the
effective date of the amendments.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James Doyle, Sally C. Gannon, or Karla Whalen, Office of Antidumping
Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group 3, Office 7, Import
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20230; telephone: (202) 482-0172, (202) 482-1391, or (202) 482-0408,
respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On October 16, 1992, the Department and the GRF signed the
Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on October 30, 1992, the Agreement
was published in the Federal Register (57 FR 49220, 49235). On March
11, 1994, the Department and the GRF signed an amendment to the
Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on April 1, 1994, this amendment
was published in the Federal Register (59 FR 15373). This amendment
provided for entry of Russian uranium into the United States based on a
concept of matched sales between the United States and Russian
producers. Although this amendment has operated to the benefit of all
parties concerned, substantial qualities of uranium products not
subject to the Suspension Agreement which were produced from Russian
ore began to undermine the Suspension Agreement. Thus, pursuant to
Section X.B. of the Suspension Agreement, the Department and the GRF
entered into consultations. A proposed amendment providing for coverage
of Russian ore which has been enriched in a third country was
initialled on August 16, 1996. In addition, on August 16, 1996, the
Department and the GRF initialled an amendment in order to allow HEU
feed \1\ to be used in matched sales.\2\ The Department subsequently
released the proposed amendments to interested parties for comment.
After careful consideration by the Department of the comments submitted
and further consultations between the two parties, the Department and
the GRF signed the final amendments on October 3, 1996.
[[Page 56666]]
The text of these amendments follow in the Annex to this notice.
\1\ HEU feed refers to the natural uranium feed associated with
the LEU (derived from HEU), which is imported pursuant to the
Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition
of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons (The HEU
Agreement), signed February 18, 1993.
\2\ A third amendment dealing with the re-export provision was
initialled on August 16, 1996 as well, but this amendment has not
yet been finalized.
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Dated: October 24, 1996.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
Annex
(Amendment Regarding HEU Feed)
Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on
Uranium From the Russian Federation
Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(l) of the U.S.
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, to prevent the suppression or
undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States,
Section IV of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on
Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended on March 11, 1994, (the
Agreement) is amended as set forth below. All other provisions of the
Agreement, particularly Section VII, remain in force and apply to this
Amendment.
1. Section IV.M.2 is replaced with:
2. Exports pursuant to such sales will not be counted against the
export limits established in accordance with this Section IV.
Permitting importation and disposition of the HEU, or LEU derived from
the HEU, is consistent with the purposes of this Agreement, subject to
the following requirements: (1) The HEU or LEU must be disposed of by
DOE or the United States Executive Agent(s) consistent with the
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition of
Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons; (2) Uranium
products deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of
P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act, must be sold only in
accordance with section 3112(b) and the relevant provisions of this
Agreement, as amended; (3) Contracts for the purchase of the HEU or LEU
must be provided to the Department; and (4) Annual summaries of
disposition of the HEU and LEU, and uranium products deemed to be of
Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC
Privatization Act, must be provided to the Department.
2. Paragraph two of Section IV of the Agreement is amended as
follows:
Sentence two, beginning ``For purposes of this Section, Russian-
origin means,'' is replaced by:
For purposes of this Section, Russian-origin means natural uranium
(i.e. U3O8 or UF6) or SWU which is produced in Russia
and exported from Russia for the first time after March 11, 1994, or
uranium hexafluoride (and U3O8 derived therefrom) deemed to
be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the
USEC Privatization Act.
The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part
of the Agreement.
The English language version of this Amendment shall be
controlling.
Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.
For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:
N. N. Yegorov,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.
Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.
For the United States Department of Commerce:
(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
(Amendment Regarding Russian Uranium Enriched in a Third Country Prior
to Entry Into the United States and the Separative Work Unit Quota)
Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on
Uranium From the Russian Federation
Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(1) of the U.S.
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) to prevent the suppression or
undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States,
Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 of the Agreement Suspending
the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation,
as amended on March 11, 1994 (the Agreement), are amended as set forth
below. All other provisions of the Agreement, particularly Section VII,
remain in force and apply to this Amendment.
1. Section III, ``Product Coverage,'' is amended as follows:
The second paragraph of Section III, beginning ``Uranium ore * *
*,'' is replaced by:
Further, uranium ore from Russia that is milled into U3O8
and/or converted into UF6 and/or enriched in U 235 in another
country prior to direct and/or indirect importation into the United
States is considered uranium from Russia and is subject to the terms of
this Agreement. When imported as enriched uranium (excluding highly
enriched uranium (HEU) and LEU derived from HEU, imported pursuant to
Section IV.M of this Agreement and subject to the provisions of the
USEC Privatization Act, P.L. 104-134), the full amount of the natural
uranium equivalent required to produce the enriched product will be
counted against the existing quota under this Agreement. For the
purposes of calculating this amount of natural uranium, the terms of
the last bullet of definition II (a) shall apply unless otherwise
reported.
The second sentence in the third paragraph of Section III,
beginning ``Uranium enriched in U 235 in another country * * *,''
is deleted.
2. Paragraph D of Section VII, ``Anticircumvention,'' is amended as
follows:
D. In addition to the above requirements, the Department shall
direct the U.S. Customs Service to require all importers of uranium
into the United States, regardless of stated country of origin, to
submit at the time of entry written statements certifying the
following:
(A) The country(ies) in which the ore was mined and, if applicable,
converted, enriched, and/or fabricated (unless for use as a fuel
assembly in the United States as fabricated), for all imports; and
(B) That the uranium being imported was not obtained under any
arrangement, swap, or other exchange designed to circumvent the export
limits for uranium of Russian origin established by this agreement.
Where there is reason to believe that such a certification has been
made falsely, the Department will refer the matter to Customs or the
Department of Justice for further action.
The Department and MINATOM reaffirm that an export certificate
endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) is
required as a condition of entry into the United States. Under no
circumstances will uranium from the Russian Federation be allowed entry
into the United States without an authorized export certificate
allowing importation into the United States.
3. Paragraph one of Section IV.A of the Agreement, as amended on
March 11, 1994, is amended as follows:
Sentence five, beginning ``Because the annual matching SWU
quota expires,'' is deleted, and replaced with ``The SWU available for
matching under this section which was not matched by March 31, 1996,
1,608,840 SWU, may be sold through matched sales at any time on or
before [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment].
After that date, no further matched SWU sales will be allowed.''
Sentence six, beginning ``However,'' is deleted, and
replaced with the following: ``However, the matching
[[Page 56667]]
SWU sold during 1994 and 1995, as well as on or before [the date two
years after the effective date of this Amendment], may be delivered at
any time during the life of the relevant matched sales contract.''
5. Attachment 1 is amended as follows:
Add footnote 2 to the ``2,000,000'' volumes in the ``SWU'' column
for the years 1994 and 1995. Footnote 2 shall read:
Beginning on the effective date of this Amendment, the remaining
SWU quota from 1994 and 1995, 1,608,840 SWU, may be used for matched
sales consistent with Section IV.A of this Agreement.
6. Section X., Consultations, is amended by adding the following:
C. No later than [the date one year after the effective date of
this Amendment], the Department and MINATOM shall enter into
consultations toward the consideration of a possible successor plan for
containing their cooperative efforts on the issues addressed by this
amendment.
These modifications to Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1
will remain in effect until [the date two years after the effective
date of this Amendment].
The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part
of the Agreement.
The English language version of this Amendment shall be
controlling.
Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.
For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:
N.N. Yegorov,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.
Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.
For the United States Department of Commerce:
(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-28246 Filed 11-1-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M