[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:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   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