[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 231 (Friday, November 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60679-60682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30478]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-485-801]


Antifriction Bearings (Other than Tapered Roller Bearings) and 
Parts Thereof from Romania; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Notice of Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request by the petitioner, The Torrington 
Company, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on antifriction 
bearings (other than tapered roller bearings) and parts thereof (AFBs), 
from Romania. The review covers shipments of the subject merchandise to 
the United States during the period May 1, 1993, through April 30, 
1994.
    We have preliminarily determined that sales have not been made 
below the foreign market value (FMV). Interested parties are invited to 
comment on these preliminary results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 29, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Riggle or Michael Rill, Office 
of Antidumping Compliance, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
4733.

[[Page 60680]]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 15, 1989, the Department published in the Federal Register 
(54 FR 19109) the antidumping duty order on ball bearings and parts 
thereof from Romania. On June 22, 1994 (59 FR 32180), we published the 
notice of initiation of this antidumping duty administrative review. 
The Department is conducting this administrative review in accordance 
with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Act and to the 
Department's regulations are in reference to the provisions as they 
existed on December 31, 1994.

Scope of this Review

    Imports covered by this review are shipments of AFBs from Romania. 
This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule (HTS) item numbers 3926.90.45, 4016.93.00, 4016.93.10, 
4016.93.50, 6909.19.5010, 8431.20.00, 8431.39.010, 8482.10.10, 
8482.10.50, 8482.80.00, 8482.91.00, 8482.99.05, 8482.99.10, 8482.99.35, 
8482.99.6590, 8482.99.70, 8483.20.40, 8483.20.80, 8483.50.8040, 
8483.50.90, 8483.90.20, 8483.90.30, 8483.90.70, 8708.50.50, 8708.60.50, 
8708.60.80, 8708.70.6060, 8708.70.8050, 8708.93.30, 8708.93.5000, 
8708.93.6000, 8708.93.75, 8708.99.06, 8708.99.31, 8708.99.4960, 
8708.99.50, 8708.99.5800, 8708.99.8080, 8803.10.00, 8803.20.00, 
8803.30.00, 8803.90.30, 8803.90.90.
    The size or precision grade of a bearing does not influence whether 
the bearing is covered by the order. For a further discussion on the 
scope of the order being reviewed, including recent scope decisions, 
see Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and 
Parts Thereof from France, et al.; Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Reviews, and Revocation in Part of Antidumping Duty 
Orders, 60 FR 10900 (February 28, 1995). The HTS item numbers are 
provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The written description 
of the scope of this order remains dispositive.
    This review covers one company, Tehnoimportexport S.A. (TIE), and 
the period May 1, 1993, through April 30, 1994. Only TIE made shipments 
of the subject merchandise to the United States during the period of 
review. S.C. Rulmenti Grei S.A. Ploiesti (Ploiesti) and S.C. Rulmentul 
S.A. Brasov (Brasov) produced the merchandise sold by TIE to the United 
States, but stated that they did not ship AFBs directly to the United 
States.

Verification

    As provided in section 776(b) of the Act, we verified information 
provided by TIE by using standard verification procedures, including 
onsite inspection of a manufacturer's facility, the examination of 
relevant sales and financial records and selection of original 
documents containing relevant information. Our verification results are 
outlined in the public versions of the verification reports.

Separate Rates

    It is the Department's standard policy to assign all exporters of 
merchandise subject to review in non-market-economy (NME) countries a 
single rate, unless an exporter can demonstrate an absence of 
government control, both in law and in fact, with respect to exports. 
To establish whether a company is sufficiently independent to be 
entitled to a separate rate, the Department analyzes each exporting 
entity under the test established in the Final Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value: Sparklers from the People's Republic of China 
(56 FR 20588, May 6, 1991) (Sparklers), as amplified by the Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Silicon Carbide from 
the People's Republic of China (59 FR 22585, May 2, 1994) (Silicon 
Carbide). Evidence supporting, though not requiring, a finding of de 
jure absence of government control includes: (1) an absence of 
restrictive stipulations associated with an individual exporter's 
business and export licenses; (2) any legislative enactments 
decentralizing control of companies; and (3) any other formal measures 
by the government decentralizing control of companies. De facto absence 
of government control with respect to exports is based on four 
criteria: (1) whether the export prices are set by or subject to the 
approval of a government authority; (2) whether each exporter retains 
the proceeds from its sales and makes independent decisions regarding 
the disposition of profits or financing of losses; (3) whether each 
exporter has autonomy in making decisions regarding the selection of 
management; and (4) whether each exporter has the authority to 
negotiate and sign contracts.
    TIE is the only company covered by this review with shipments of 
the subject merchandise to the United States during the period of 
review. Therefore, TIE is the only firm for which we made a 
determination as to its entitlement to a separate rate. Although some 
evidence on the record may support a finding of de jure absence of 
government control, other evidence demonstrates that TIE does not have 
autonomy from the government in making decisions regarding the 
selection of its management. This fact suggests that export prices are 
subject to the approval of a government authority, and that TIE is not 
free from government control when it negotiates and signs contracts. 
Accordingly, we determined that there is de facto government control 
with respect to TIE's exports according to the criteria identified in 
Sparklers and Silicon Carbide. For further discussion of the 
Department's preliminary determination that TIE is not entitled to a 
separate rate, see Decision Memorandum to the Director, Office of 
Antidumping Compliance: Assignment of a separate rate for 
Tehnoimportexport, S.A., in the 1993-94 administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on Antifriction Bearings (Other than Tapered 
Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof from Romania (January 31, 1996).

United States Price

    Record evidence indicates that TIE was the only Romanian exporter 
of the subject merchandise to the United States during the period of 
review. For sales made by TIE, the Department used purchase price, in 
accordance with section 772(b) of the Act, in calculating U.S. price. 
We calculated purchase price based on the packed F.O.B. price to 
unrelated purchasers in the United States. We made deductions, where 
appropriate, for foreign inland freight, brokerage and handling, air 
freight and bank charges. To value foreign inland freight and brokerage 
and handling, we used surrogate information from Turkey for reasons 
explained in the ``Foreign Market Value'' section of this notice. We 
deducted the actual expenses for air freight and bank charges because 
these expenses were incurred in U.S. dollars.

Foreign Market Value

    For merchandise exported from an NME country, section 773(c)(1) of 
the Act provides that the Department shall determine FMV using a 
factors of production methodology if available information does not 
permit the calculation of FMV using home market prices, third country 
prices, or constructed value (CV) under section 773(a) of the Act.
    In every case conducted by the Department involving Romania, 
Romania has been treated as an NME country. None of the parties to this 
proceeding has contested such treatment in this review, and thus, in 
accordance with section 771(18)(C) of

[[Page 60681]]

the Act, we continue to treat Romania as an NME country.
    Accordingly, in accordance with section 773(c) of the Act and 
section 353.52 of the Department's regulations, we calculated FMV on 
the basis of the value of TIE's factors of production and other 
required expenses, which included hours of labor required, quantities 
of raw materials employed, selling, general and administrative 
expenses, overhead, profit and packing, as reported by TIE and verified 
by the Department. We valued the factors of production using prices or 
costs in one or more surrogate market economy countries. Specifically, 
we first determined that Morocco, Ecuador, Colombia, Algeria, Poland 
and Turkey are each at a level of economic development comparable to 
Romania in terms of per capita gross national product (GNP), the growth 
rate in per capita GNP, and the national distribution of labor. Of 
these potential surrogate countries, we found that both Poland and 
Turkey are significant producers of bearings, but that Poland has a 
larger bearings industry than Turkey. Therefore, we selected Poland as 
the primary surrogate country for these preliminary results. Where we 
were unable to locate publicly available published information to 
establish surrogate values from Poland, we used Turkey as a secondary 
surrogate country. For further discussion of our selection of these 
surrogate countries, see Memorandum to the File: Selection of Surrogate 
Country in the 1993-94 Administrative Review of the Antidumping Duty 
Order on Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and 
Parts Thereof from Romania (December 5, 1995).
    For purposes of calculating FMV, we valued the Romanian factors of 
production as follows, in accordance with section 773(c)(1) of the Act:
     To value domestically-sourced direct materials used in the 
production of AFBs, we used the European currency unit (ECU) per metric 
ton value of imports into Poland from the countries of the European 
Community for the period May 1993 through April 1994, obtained from the 
EUROSTAT, Monthly EC External Trade (EUROSTAT). We made adjustments to 
include freight costs incurred between the domestic raw materials 
suppliers and the AFB factories. Some materials used to produce AFBs 
were imported into Romania from market-economy countries, and, to value 
those materials, we used the actual import price. We also made an 
adjustment for steel scrap which was sold. Scrap was valued using 
information obtained from EUROSTAT for Poland.
     For direct labor, we used the average monthly wages for 
the metal products manufacturing industry reported in the September 
1994 issue of the Statistical Bulletin, published by the Central 
Statistical Office in Warsaw. To determine the number of hours worked 
each month, we used information published by the International Labour 
Office in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1994.
     For factory overhead, we used information from a publicly 
available summarized version for factory overhead reported for the 
1993-94 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on welded 
carbon steel pipe and tube from Turkey (pipe and tube from Turkey), 
because we had no publicly available published information from Poland 
for this expense. Factory overhead was reported as a percentage of 
total cost of manufacture.
     For selling, general, and administrative expenses, we used 
the statutory minimum of 10 percent found in section 773(e)(1)(B) 
pursuant to our authority in section 773(e)(1), because we had no 
publicly available published surrogate country information for these 
expenses.
     For profit, we used information from a publicly available 
summarized version for profit reported for pipe and tube from Turkey, 
because we had no publicly available published information from Poland 
for this expense.
     To value domestically-sourced packing materials, we used 
the ECU per metric ton value of imports into Poland from the countries 
of the European Community as published in the EUROSTAT. We adjusted 
these values to include freight costs incurred between the domestic 
packing materials suppliers and the AFB factories. Some materials used 
to pack AFBs were imported into Romania from market-economy countries, 
and, to value those materials, we used the actual import price.
     To value foreign inland freight, we used information from 
a publicly available summarized version for foreign inland freight 
reported for pipe and tube from Turkey, because we had no publicly 
available published information from Poland for this expense.

Currency Conversion

    We made currency conversions in accordance with 19 CFR 353.60(a). 
Currency conversions were made at the rates certified by the Federal 
Reserve Bank for the surrogate countries, or, where certified Federal 
Reserve Bank rates were not available, average monthly exchange rates 
published by the International Monetary Fund in International Financial 
Statistics.

Preliminary Results of the Review

    As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine that the 
following margin exists:

Manufacturer/Exporter...........................Tehnoimportexport, S.A.
Time Period..............................................5/1/93-4/30/94
Margin (percent)...................................................0.00

    Parties to this proceeding may request disclosure within 5 days of 
the date of publication of this notice. Any interested party may 
request a hearing within 10 days of publication. Any hearing, if 
requested, will be held 44 days after the publication of this notice, 
or the first workday thereafter. Interested parties may submit case 
briefs within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice. 
Rebuttal briefs, which must be limited to issues raised in the case 
briefs, may be filed not later than 37 days after the date of 
publication. See section 353.38 of the Department's regulations. The 
Department will publish a notice of final results of this 
administrative review, which will include the results of its analysis 
of issues raised in any such comments.
    The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall 
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department 
will issue appraisement instructions directly to the Customs Service.
    Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective 
upon publication of the final results of this administrative review for 
all shipments of AFBs from Romania entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as 
provided for by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate 
for TIE, and for all other Romanian exporters, will be the rate 
established in the final results of this review; and (2) for non-
Romanian exporters of subject merchandise from Romania, the cash 
deposit rate will be the rate applicable to the Romanian supplier of 
that exporter. These deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain 
in effect until publication of the final results of the next 
administrative review.

Notification of Interested Parties

    This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under section 353.26 of the Department's regulations to 
file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties 
prior to

[[Page 60682]]

liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure 
to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary'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 Act and section 353.22 of the Department's 
regulations.

    Dated: November 20, 1996.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-30478 Filed 11-27-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P