[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 53 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13391-13393]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7170]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-588-054, A-588-604]


Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and 
Unfinished, From Japan, and Tapered Roller Bearings, Four Inches or 
Less in Outside Diameter, and Components Thereof, From Japan; Amended 
Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews

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

ACTION: Notice of amended final results of administrative reviews.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is amending its 
final results of the administrative reviews, published on January 15, 
1998, of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings (TRBs) 
and parts thereof, finished and unfinished, from Japan (A-588-604), and 
the antidumping finding on TRBs, four inches or less in outside 
diameter, and components thereof, from Japan (A-588-054), to reflect 
the correction of ministerial errors in those final results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 19, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Ranado, Stephanie Arthur, or 
John Kugelman, Office of AD/CVD Enforcement III, Office 8, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20230, telephone: (202) 482-3518, 6312, and 0649, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are in 
reference 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). In addition, unless otherwise 
indicated, all citations are to the Department's regulations, 19 CFR 
part 353 (1997).

Background

    On January 15, 1998, the Department published its final results of 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order (A-588-604) on TRBs 
and parts thereof, finished and unfinished, from Japan, and the 
antidumping finding (A-588-054) on TRBs, four inches or less in outside 
diameter, and components thereof, from Japan (63 FR 2558). The 
Department has now amended the final results of these reviews in 
accordance with section 751 of the Act.
    On January 15, 1998, the petitioner filed clerical error 
allegations with respect to two of the respondents, NSK and NTN. On 
January 21, 1998, we received clerical error allegations from NSK, and 
on January 26, 1998, we received clerical error comments from NTN. None 
of the parties submitted rebuttal comments. The Department agreed that 
certain of the allegations constituted ministerial errors.

Scope of the Review

    Imports covered by the A-588-054 finding are sales or entries of 
TRBs, four inches or less in outside diameter when assembled, including 
inner race or cone assemblies and outer races or cups, sold either as a 
unit or separately. This merchandise is classified under the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule (HTS) item numbers 8482.20.00 and 8482.99.30. Imports 
covered by the A-588-604 order include TRBs and parts thereof, finished 
and unfinished, which are flange, take-up cartridge, and hanger units 
incorporating TRBs, and tapered roller housings (except pillow blocks) 
incorporating tapered rollers, with or without spindles, whether or not 
for automotive use. Products subject to the A-588-054 finding are not 
included within the scope of the A-588-604 order, except for those 
manufactured by NTN Corporation (NTN). This merchandise is currently 
classifiable under HTS item numbers 8482.99.30, 8483.20.40, 8482.20.20, 
8483.20.80, 8482.91.00, 8484.30.80, 8483.90.20, 8483.90.30, and 
8483.90.60. These HTS item numbers and those for the A-588-054 finding 
are provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The written 
description remains dispositive.
    The A-588-054 review covers TRB sales by two TRB manufacturers/
exporters (Koyo Seiko Ltd. (Koyo) and NSK Ltd. (NSK)), and two 
resellers/exporters (Fuji Heavy Industries (Fuji) and MC International 
(MC)). The review of the A-588-604 case covers TRB sales by three 
manufacturers/exporters (Koyo, NSK and NTN Corporation (NTN)), and two 
resellers/exporters (Fuji and MC). Because Fuji and MC had no shipments 
in the A-588-604 review, and for the reasons explained in our notice of 
preliminary results, we have not assigned a rate to these firms for 
these amended final results. The period of review (POR) for both cases 
is October 1, 1995, through September 30, 1996.

Clerical Error Allegations

    Comment 1: NTN asserts that the Department erroneously attempted to 
correct the currency conversion error related to the calculation of CEP 
profit which is mentioned in the final results memorandum. The 
respondent claims that as the program is currently written, EP sales 
are divided by the exchange rate, which is incorrect since EP sales are 
already reported correctly. The respondent maintains that this error 
has distortive effects on the calculation of the total cost of goods 
sold and total revenue.

[[Page 13392]]

    Department's Position: We disagree with NTN. The final results 
computer program for NTN properly converts all of NTN's sales while 
calculating CEP profit. NTN's allegations regarding the calculation of 
the total costs of goods sold and total revenue is discussed in Comment 
2.
    Comment 2: NTN maintains that the Department made a clerical error 
in its calculation of revenue for EP and CEP sales. The respondent 
claims that the final program calculates an EP and CEP revenue amount 
for all transactions, and that these two amounts are then added 
together to yield a total revenue amount.
    Department's Position: We agree with NTN. Our final program for NTN 
incorrectly calculates both an EP revenue (EPREV) and a CEP revenue 
(CEPREV) amount for each U.S. sale. Therefore, for this amended final, 
we have changed our programming language such that each transaction is 
assigned only one revenue variable (CEPREV or EPREV), as appropriate. 
Because transaction-specific revenue amounts affect the calculation of 
total cost of goods sold and total revenue, the correction of this 
error addresses NTN's concerns from comment 1. This change ensures that 
the total cost of goods sold and total revenue calculations are 
correct.
    Comment 3: Timken claims that in the final results computer program 
for NTN, the Department made a clerical error while attempting to 
adjust NTN's normal value (NV) billing adjustments. Timken maintains 
that the language added to the computer program for the final results 
failed to adjust NTN's billing adjustments as intended by the 
Department.
    Department's Position: We agree with the petitioner that the 
programming language added to correct NTN's home market billing 
adjustments was not executing correctly and have revised our margin 
program accordingly.
    Comment 4: Timken alleges that the Department made a ministerial 
error while attempting to correct the calculation of NSK's home market 
revenue (i.e., by deducting home market post-sale price adjustments). 
The computer output log, Timken claims, indicates that there were 
missing values generated as a result of missing values in the variable 
fields used to adjust home market prices when calculating revenue. 
Timken suggests that the Department failed to identify these missing 
variables earlier in the program.
    Department's Position: We agree with Timken that the missing values 
generated while calculating home market revenue resulted from our 
failure to identify the post-sale price adjustment variables earlier in 
the computer program. We have revised our final margin program as 
described in our Amended Final Results Analysis Memorandum.
    Comment 5: NSK asserts that language in the Department's computer 
program which attempts to match negative quantity sales to the original 
sales for which the adjustment was made operates incorrectly.
    Department's Position: We agree with NSK and have made the 
appropriate changes to our final results program. For further 
information, refer to the Department's Amended Final Results Memorandum 
for NSK.
    Comment 6: NSK maintains that the Department calculated direct and 
indirect constructed value (CV) selling expense ratios based on imputed 
expenses (credit and inventory carrying costs (ICC)), multiplied these 
ratios by COP/CV to derive a direct and indirect selling expense 
amount, then added these amounts to other cost data to derive total CV. 
NSK asserts, however, that because total CV already includes imputed 
interest expenses, the Department double counted imputed expenses.
    Department's Position: We agree with NSK that imputed expenses were 
double counted in the CV calculation. We have modified our program to 
calculate separate CV expense ratios for imputed credit and ICCs, 
deduct the credit expense from CV, and add ICCs to the home market 
indirect selling expenses used for the CEP offset (which effectively 
increases the CEP offset deduction by the ICC expense amount). In 
addition, because our CV calculation language for Koyo and NTN is 
identical to NSK's, we have likewise modified the margin programs for 
these firms.
    Comment 7: NSK asserts that while the Department correctly added 
home market billing adjustments to calculate net home market price, it 
erroneously subtracted billing adjustments from gross unit price when 
calculating home market revenue.
    Department's Position: We agree with NSK and have modified our 
program accordingly such that home market billing adjustments are 
properly added to, rather than deducted from, gross unit price when 
calculating home market revenue.

Amended Final Results of Review

    Based on our review of the comments presented above, for these 
amended final results we have made changes in our final margin 
calculation programs. We determine that the following percentage 
weighted-average margins exist for the period October 1, 1995 through 
September 30, 1996:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin  
               Manufacturer/exporter/reseller                 (percent) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the A-588-054 Case:                                                 
  Koyo Seiko...............................................         9.58
  Fuji.....................................................          .34
  NSK......................................................         1.64
  MC International.........................................         1.92
For the A-588-604 Case:                                                 
  Fuji.....................................................          \1\
  MC International.........................................          \2\
  Koyo Seiko...............................................        28.65
  NTN......................................................        21.41
  NSK......................................................       10.17 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ No shipments or sales subject to this review. These firms have no   
  rate from any prior segment of this proceeding.                       

    The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall 
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. We will 
calculate importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rates for the 
merchandise based on the ratio of the total amount of antidumping 
duties calculated for the examined sales made during the POR to the 
total customs value of the sales used to calculate those duties. This 
rate will be assessed uniformly on all entries that a particular 
importer made during the POR. (This is equivalent to dividing the total 
amount of antidumping duties, which are calculated by taking the 
difference between NV and U.S. price, by the total U.S. price of the 
sales compared and adjusting the result by the average difference 
between U.S. price and customs value for all merchandise examined 
during the POR.) While the Department is aware that the entered value 
of sales during the POR is not necessarily equal to the entered value 
of entries during the POR, use of entered value of sales as a basis of 
the assessment rate permits the Department to collect a reasonable 
approximation of antidumping duties which would have been determined if 
the Department had reviewed those sales of merchandise during the POR. 
The Department will issue appropriate appraisement instructions 
directly to the Customs Service.
    Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective 
after the publication date of these amended final results for all 
shipments of TRBs from Japan entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the publication date of these amended final 
results of these administrative reviews, as provided by section 
751(a)(1) of the Act:
    (1) The cash deposit rates for the reviewed companies will be those 
rates established in the amended final results of these reviews;

[[Page 13393]]

    (2) For previously reviewed or investigated companies not listed 
above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific 
rate published for the most recent period;
    (3) If the exporter is not a firm covered in these reviews, a prior 
review, or the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigations, but the 
manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate established for 
the most recent period for the manufacturer of the merchandise; and
    (4) If neither the exporter nor the manufacturer is a firm covered 
in these or any previous reviews conducted by the Department, the cash 
deposit rate for the A-588-054 case will be 18.07 percent, and 36.52 
percent for the A-588-604 case (see Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Reviews; Tapered Roller Bearings, Finished and 
Unfinished, and Parts Thereof, from Japan and Tapered Roller Bearings, 
Four Inches or less in Outside Diameter, and Components Thereof, From 
Japan, 58 FR 51061 (September 30, 1993)).
    The cash deposit rate has been determined on the basis of the 
selling price to the first unaffiliated U.S. customer. For appraisement 
purposes, where information is available, the Department will use the 
entered value of the merchandise to determine the assessment rate.
    This notice serves as a final reminder to importers of their 
responsibility to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of 
antidumping duties prior to 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. These administrative reviews and this notice are in accordance 
with section 751(a)(1) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and 19 CFR 
353.22.
    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 353.34(d) or conversion 
to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply 
with the regulations and terms of an APO is a violation which is 
subject to sanction.
    These administrative reviews and this notice are in accordance with 
section 751(a)(1) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1) and 19 CFR 353.22.

    Dated: March 10, 1998.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 98-7170 Filed 3-18-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P