[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 15, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18364-18366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-9869]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-475-818]


Anti-circumvention Inquiry of the Antidumping Duty Order on 
Certain Pasta From Italy: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of 
Circumvention of the Antidumping Duty Order

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

ACTION: Notice of Affirmative Preliminary Determination of 
Circumvention of Antidumping Duty Order.

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SUMMARY: On October 23, 1997, the Department of Commerce received an 
allegation of circumvention of the antidumping duty order on certain 
pasta from Italy. Pursuant to that allegation, the Department of 
Commerce initiated an anti-circumvention inquiry on December 8, 1997.
    We preliminarily determine that certain pasta produced in Italy by 
Barilla S.r.L. (Barilla) and exported to the United States in packages 
of greater than five pounds, which subsequently are repackaged in the 
United States into packages of five pounds or less, constitute 
circumvention of the antidumping duty order on certain pasta from 
Italy, within the meaning of section 781(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended, and 19 CFR 351.225(g). Interested parties are invited to 
comment on this preliminary determination.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 15, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Easton or John Brinkmann, 
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:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    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. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, 
all citations to the regulations of the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) are to the regulations as codified at 19 CFR part 351, 62 
FR 27295 (May 19, 1997).

[[Page 18365]]

Background

    Since the initiation of this anti-circumvention inquiry on December 
8, 1997 (see Initiation of Anti-Circumvention Inquiry on Antidumping 
Duty Order on Certain Pasta from Italy, 62 FR 65673 (December 15, 1997) 
(Notice of Initiation), the following events have occurred:
    On January 2, 1998, the Department issued a questionnaire to 
Barilla. On the day that Barilla's response was due (February 9, 1998), 
Barilla informed the Department that it would not respond to our 
questionnaire.
    On January 16, 1998, Barilla proposed a certification scheme which 
it states would enable the Department to exclude bulk pasta that is not 
to be repackaged after importation, e.g., bulk pasta shipped directly 
to institutional or food service users. Specifically, each of Barilla's 
independent distributors would certify that it would (1) resell all 
pasta purchased from Barilla in the packaging in which the pasta was 
delivered to it, and (2) would not repack any pasta in packages greater 
than five pounds (hereafter referred to as bulk pasta) into packages of 
five pounds or less. At the Department's request, the U.S. Customs 
Service (Customs) transmitted to the Department its initial comments on 
Barilla's proposed certification program on February 23, 1998 (see 
Memorandum to the File dated March 31, 1998).
    On February 13, 1998, the petitioners filed a response to Barilla's 
January 16 and February 9 letters. The petitioners argued that, given 
Barilla's failure to respond to the Department's questionnaire, the 
Department should immediately issue an affirmative circumvention ruling 
and suspend liquidation on entries of bulk pasta by Barilla. The 
petitioners also stated that they did not oppose Barilla's proposed 
certification scheme, but have urged the Department to adopt any such 
certification scheme for all importers of bulk pasta. Barilla submitted 
rebuttal comments on February 20, 1998.

Scope of Antidumping Duty Order

    The merchandise currently subject to the antidumping order is 
certain non-egg dry pasta in packages of five pounds (2.27 kilograms) 
or less, whether or not enriched or fortified or containing milk or 
other optional ingredients such as chopped vegetables, vegetable 
purees, milk, gluten, diastases, vitamins, coloring and flavorings, and 
up to two percent egg white. The pasta covered by this scope is 
typically sold in the retail market, in fiberboard or cardboard cartons 
or polyethylene or polypropylene bags, of varying dimensions.
    Excluded from the scope of the order are refrigerated, frozen, or 
canned pastas, as well as all forms of egg pasta, with the exception of 
non-egg dry pasta containing up to two percent egg white. Also excluded 
are imports of organic pasta from Italy that are accompanied by the 
appropriate certificate issued by the Instituto Mediterraneo Di 
Certificazione (IMC), by Bioagricoop Scrl, or by QC&I International 
Services. Furthermore, multicolored pasta imported in kitchen display 
bottles of decorative glass, which are sealed with cork or paraffin and 
bound with raffia, is excluded from the scope of this order.
    The merchandise under order is currently classifiable under item 
1902.19.20 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 
order is dispositive.

Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiry

    The product subject to this anti-circumvention inquiry is certain 
pasta produced in Italy by Barilla and exported to the United States in 
packages of greater than five pounds (2.27 kilograms) that meets all 
the requirements for the merchandise subject to the antidumping duty 
order, with the exception of packaging size, and which is repackaged 
into packages of five pounds (2.27 kilograms) or less after entry into 
the United States.

Nature of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiry

    Section 781(a)(1) of the Act provides that the Department, after 
taking into account any advice provided by the United States 
International Trade Commission (ITC) under section 781(e) of the Act, 
may include the imported merchandise under review within the scope of 
an order if the following criteria have been met: (A) The merchandise 
sold in the United States is of the same class or kind as any other 
merchandise that is the subject to the antidumping duty order; (B) such 
merchandise sold in the United States is completed or assembled in the 
United States from parts or components produced in the foreign country 
with respect to which such order applies; (C) the process of assembly 
or completion in the United States is minor or insignificant; and (D) 
the value of the parts or components produced in the foreign country to 
which the antidumping duty order applies is a significant portion of 
the total value of the merchandise sold in the United States.
    Section 781(a)(3) of the Act further provides that, in determining 
whether to include parts or components in the order, the Department 
shall consider: (1) The pattern of trade, including sourcing patterns; 
(2) whether the manufacturer or exporter of the parts or components is 
affiliated with the person who assembles or completes the merchandise 
sold in the United States; and (3) whether imports into the United 
States of the parts or components produced in such foreign country have 
increased after the initiation of the investigation which resulted in 
the issuance of such order or finding.
    The Department's questionnaire, transmitted to Barilla on January 
2, 1998, was designed to elicit information for purposes of conducting 
both qualitative and quantitative analyses in accordance with the 
criteria enumerated at section 781(a) of the Act. This approach is 
consistent with our analysis in previous anti-circumvention inquiries. 
See, e.g., Certain Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the 
People's Republic of China; Affirmative Final Determination of 
Circumvention of Antidumping Duty Order, 59 FR 15155 (March 31, 1994). 
For the Department to ascertain the value of the completed merchandise 
sold in the United States, we requested that Barilla provide cost data 
relevant to the production of pasta produced in Italy that is 
repackaged and sold in the United States as well as the costs 
associated with for the processing and repackaging operations performed 
in the United States. Barilla, however, refused to provide any of the 
information requested in the Department's questionnaire.

Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Circumvention

    For the reasons described below, we preliminarily determine that 
circumvention of the antidumping duty order on certain pasta from Italy 
is occurring by reason of exports of bulk pasta from Italy produced by 
Barilla which subsequently are repackaged in the United States into 
packages of five pounds or less for sale in the United States.

Facts Available

    Section 776(a) of the Act requires the Department to resort to 
facts otherwise available if necessary information is not available on 
the record or when an interested party or any other person fails to 
provide (requested) information by the deadlines for submission of the 
information or in the form and manner

[[Page 18366]]

requested, subject to subsections (c)(1) and (e) of section 782. As 
provided in section 782(c)(1) of the Act, if an interested party, 
promptly after receiving a request from [the Department] for 
information, notifies [the Department] that such party is unable to 
submit the information requested in the requested form and manner, the 
Department may modify the requirements to avoid imposing an 
unreasonable burden on that party. Since Barilla did not provide any 
such notification to the Department, subsection (c)(1) does not apply 
to this situation. Furthermore, since Barilla failed to respond to the 
Department's questionnaire, we must base the preliminary determination 
in this inquiry on the facts otherwise available.
    Section 776(b) of the Act permits the Department to use an 
inference that is adverse to the interests of an interested party if 
that party has failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its 
ability to comply with a request for information. Because Barilla 
refused to comply with the Department's request for information, we 
find that Barilla failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its 
ability to comply with the Department's request. Barilla's refusal to 
respond to our questionnaire impedes our ability not only to determine 
if circumvention of the antidumping duty order is occurring, but also 
to distinguish between its bulk imports for repackaging and any bulk 
imports which may have been exempt from the scope of the antidumping 
duty order. Therefore, the adverse inference we are relying upon in 
accordance with section 776(b) of the Act is that Barilla has been 
exporting pasta in bulk packages to the United States, where it has 
been repackaged into what would have been subject merchandise had it 
been imported directly. The Statement of Administrative Action (SAA), 
which accompanied the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, H.R. Doc. No. 316, 
103rd Congress, 2nd Session (1994) (URAA), states that information used 
to make an adverse inference may include such sources as the petition, 
other information placed on the record, or determinations in a prior 
proceeding regarding the subject merchandise. SAA at 870. We reviewed 
all information on the record including the petitioners' October 23, 
1997 application for this anti-circumvention inquiry (see Memorandum 
from Gary Taverman to Richard W. Moreland, dated December 8, 1997). We 
have concluded that the application alleged each of the elements 
required by 781(a) of the Act and was accompanied by supporting data, 
and continues to be of probative value.

Barilla's Certification Proposal

    The scope of the antidumping duty order on pasta excluded pasta in 
packages of greater than five pounds. Our affirmative preliminary 
determination in this proceeding is that circumvention of the order is 
occurring by reason of imports of bulk pasta produced in Italy by 
Barilla which are subsequently repackaged in the United States into 
packages of five pounds or less for sale in the United States. This 
anti-circumvention inquiry, initiated pursuant to section 781(a) of the 
Act with respect to merchandise completed or assembled in the United 
States, is not intended to examine bulk pasta produced by Barilla, 
imported into the United States, and resold in bulk quantities within 
the United States because imports of bulk pasta into the United States 
for resale as bulk pasta would not constitute circumvention of the 
antidumping duty order.
    As discussed in the Background section above, Barilla requested 
that the Department implement a certification scheme whereby each of 
its independent distributors would certify that it would resell all 
pasta purchased from Barilla in the packaging in which the pasta was 
delivered to it, and would not repack any pasta from packages greater 
than five pounds into packages of five pounds or less. According to 
Barilla, this scheme would enable the Department to exclude bulk pasta 
that was not destined for repackaging after importation, e.g., bulk 
pasta shipped directly to institutional or food service users, from the 
scope of the antidumping duty order.
    For our final circumvention determination, we will allow Barilla an 
additional opportunity to provide the Department with information 
necessary to distinguish its exports of bulk pasta for repackaging in 
the United States from those imported for sale as bulk pasta. If 
Barilla provides sufficient relevant information, we will consider the 
certification scheme it proposed. In doing so, we will consult with the 
U.S. Customs Service to determine the effectiveness of this scheme and 
of alternative proposals.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 773(d) of the Act, the Department is 
directing the Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of 
bulk pasta from Italy produced by Barilla that were entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after December 8, 1997, 
the date of initiation of this anti-circumvention inquiry.
    The merchandise subject to suspension of liquidation is pasta in 
packages of greater than five pounds as defined in the ``Scope of the 
Anti-circumvention Inquiry'' section of this notice. The U.S. Customs 
Service shall require a cash deposit in the amount of 11.26 percent for 
all such unliquidated entries.
    This suspension of liquidation will remain in effect until further 
notice.

Notification of the International Trade Commission

    The Department, consistent with section 781(e) of the Act, will 
notify the ITC of this preliminary determination to include the 
merchandise subject to this inquiry within the antidumping duty order 
on certain pasta from Italy. Pursuant to section 781(e) of the Act, the 
ITC may request consultations concerning the Department's proposed 
inclusion of the subject merchandise. If, after consultations, the ITC 
believes that a significant injury issue is presented by the proposed 
inclusion, the ITC may provide written advice to the Department. In 
such a case, the ITC will have 60 days to provide written advice to the 
Department.

Public Comment

    Interested parties may request disclosure within five days of the 
date of publication of this determination, and may request a hearing 
within 10 days of publication. Case briefs and/or written comments from 
interested parties may be submitted no later than 20 days from the 
publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs and rebuttals to comments, 
limited to issues raised in those briefs or comments, may be filed no 
later than 27 days after publication of this notice. Any hearing, if 
requested, will be held no later than 34 days after publication of this 
notice. The Department will publish the final determination with 
respect to this anti-circumvention inquiry, including the results of 
its analysis of any written comments.
    This affirmative preliminary circumvention determination is in 
accordance with section 781(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225 of the 
Department's regulations.

    Dated: April 7, 1998.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 98-9869 Filed 3-14-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P