[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 5, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24772-24773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11918]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-821-802]
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium
From the Russian Federation
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is hereby providing interested
parties an opportunity to comment on proposed procedures to administer
and enforce the uranium matched sales annual quotas. All Comments are
due to the
[[Page 24773]]
Department of Commerce within 30 days of publication of this notice.
EFFECTIVE DATE: May 5, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Doyle or Letitia Kress, AD/CVD
Enforcement Group III, Office VII, Import Administration, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-
0159 or (202) 482-6412, respectively.
Background: Under the matched sale amendment to the Agreement
Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian
Federation (57 FR 15373), the Department has been administering quotas
on a quota year basis, April 1 through March 31. On March 6, 1998, the
Department received a request from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
on behalf of certain of its members requesting that the Department
revise its practice and administer the matched-sales quota on a
calendar year basis, January 1 through December 31 (see attached annex
for details).
The Department is soliciting comments of parties regarding this
change in administrative practice, and the two subsidiary issues which
would be generated. The first is the effect the change would have on
the existing allocations of quota, and the second would be the
necessity to arrive at a proper accounting for the periods April 1,
1996 through December 31, 1996 and January 2004 through March 2004.
Opportunity to Submit Comments: Prior to reaching a final decision
on this issue, the Department is providing an opportunity for full
participation on the record to all parties wishing to comment.
Accordingly, not later than 30 days from the date of publication of
this notice, parties may submit comments with respect to the matched
sales delivery year issue. Seven copies of the comments should be
submitted to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for AD/CVD Enforcement
Group III, Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
room 1870, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. All
comments provided to the Department in response to this notice will be
subject to release under Administrative Protective Order in accordance
with 19 CFR 353.34. Therefore, all comments must properly identify
information the submitter would like treated as business proprietary,
and be accompanied by a properly bracketed public version. The
Department will meet with affected or interested parties upon request
to fully explain the procedures contained in the Annex to this notice.
Dated: April 29, 1998.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group
III.
Annex--Proposed Procedures for Changing the Matched Sales Delivery
Year From a Quota Year Method to a Calendar Year Basis
Under the current matched sales system, the Department has been
administering quota years running from April 1st to March 31st of the
following year. On March 6, 1998, NEI noted in its submission that a
calendar-year quota would make tracking operational or contractual
flexibilities for both buyers and sellers of uranium more consistent
with their other internal tracking systems. Therefore, NEI proposed
that the current quota year be changed to a calendar-year basis
(January 1st through December 31st year). (See letter from NEI to
Department on March 6, 1998, on record at the Department of Commerce
room B-099.) In implementing such a change, two issues arise. The first
is the change to the existing allocations of used quota. The second is
the proper treatment of two specific periods, April 1, 1996 through
December 31, 1996, and January 1, 2004 through March 31, 2004.
Table 1 illustrates how the Department would reconcile the used
quota limitations under the existing and proposed systems. Though the
amount of used quota allocated to two periods, 1996 and 1997, would
change under the new system, the overall totals do not. NEI notes that
this reconciliation of historical transactions specifying deliveries in
1996 and 1997 does not affect the commercial balance among competing
suppliers as marketing opportunities have long passed. Furthermore, no
quota limitations would be exceeded in the reallocation. Table 1:
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Quota year based Calendar year based
accounting QY volume used accounting CY volume used Quota limitations
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4/1/96-3/31/97....... 1,056,132 4/1/96-12/31/96 448,632 1,930,000
4/1/97-3/31/98....... 645,879 1/1/97-12/31/97 1,253,379 2,710,000
4/1/98-3/31/99....... 1,150,121 1/1/98-12/31/98 1,150,121 3,600,000
4/1/99-3/31/00....... 722,001 1/1/99-12/31/99 722,001 4,040,000
4/1/00-3/31/01....... 685,001 1/1/00-12/31/00 685,001 4,230,000
4/1/01-3/31/02....... 150,000 1/1/01-12/31/01 150,000 4,040,000
4/1/02-3/31/03....... ..................... 1/1/02-12/31/02 ..................... 4,890,000
4/1/03-3/31/04....... ..................... 1/1/03-3/31/04 ..................... 4,300,000
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Total............ 4,409,134 ..................... 4,409,134
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As set forth in the March 11, 1994 amendment to the Suspension
Agreement, matched sales delivery quotas began April 1, 1996, and will
expire March 31, 2004. However, neither the period April 1, 1996,
through December 31, 1996 nor the period January 1, 2004 through March
31, 2004, which are currently seamlessly covered under the Department's
existing quota year methodology, can fit a calendar year methodology
absent modification. To resolve this issue, NEI proposed designating
1996 as a ``short'' quota year, starting April 1, 1996 and ending
December 31, 1996. In addition, NEI proposed that 2003 be designated a
``long'' quota year, beginning January 1st of that year and ending
March 31, 2004. This accounting method is reflected in the CY Volume
Used column in Table 1.
[FR Doc. 98-11918 Filed 5-4-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P