[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 143 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40567-40570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19129]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-475-824]


Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value and Antidumping Duty Order; Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip in 
Coils From Italy

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

ACTION: Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: July 27, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lesley Stagliano or Rick Johnson, 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Enforcement Group III, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20230, at (202) 482-6134, or (202) 482-3818, respectively.

APPLICABLE STATUTE AND REGULATIONS: Unless otherwise indicated, all 
citations to the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''), are to 
the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective date of the 
amendments made to the Tariff Act by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 
(``URAA''). In addition, unless otherwise indicated, all citations to 
the Department of Commerce's (``the Department's'') regulations are to 
the regulations codified at 19 CFR Part 351 (April 1, 1998).

Amendment to the Final Determination

    On May 19, 1999, the Department determined that stainless steel 
sheet and strip in coils (SSSS) from Italy are being, or are likely to 
be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as 
provided in section 735(a) of the Tariff Act. See Notice of Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel Sheet 
and Strip in Coils From Italy, 64 FR 30750 (June 8, 1999) (Final 
Determination). On June 4, 1999, respondent Acciai Speciali Terni, 
SpA., (AST) filed an allegation that the Department had made several 
ministerial errors in its final determination. Petitioners (Allegheney 
Ludlum Corp., Armco, Inc. J&L Specialty Steel, Inc., Washington Steel 
Division of Bethlehem Steel Corp., United Steelworkers of America, AFL-
CIO/CLC, Butler Armco Independent Union, and Zanesville Armco 
Independent Organization) also timely alleged ministerial errors on 
June 4, 1999. Both interested parties requested that we correct the 
errors and publish a notice of amended final determination in the 
Federal Register. See 19 CFR 351.224(e). In addition, on June 11, 1999, 
petitioners filed comments in rebuttal of three of AST's alleged 
errors.
    AST's submission alleged the following errors:

     the Department overstated the value of AST's eighty-
four rejected U.S. sales in its facts available margin calculation 
for these sales;
     the Department inadvertently used a previously reported 
insurance revenue amount based on a pending claim rather than revise 
AST's insurance revenue field to reflect AST's final settlement 
amount as it had intended to do;
     the Department inadvertently applied the mill edge 
discount to all products, rather than to products only sold with a 
mill edge;
     the Department failed to convert U.S. inventory 
carrying costs from a per-kilogram amount to a per-pound amount;
     finally, in applying adverse facts available to the 
affiliated U.S. reseller, the Department erred by failing to exclude 
sales identifiable as non-subject cut-to-length material (which is 
not included in the scope of this investigation).

    See Letter, Hogan & Hartson, June 4, 1999 passim.
    Petitioners' submission alleged the following errors:

     the Department inadvertently included AST's packing 
costs in the calculation of COP and CV in the margin program, and 
therefore, understated AST's overall profit and AST's CEP profit 
ratio;
     the Department inadvertently failed to convert U.S. 
values stated in lire per pound

[[Page 40568]]

to values stated in lire per kilogram before adding them to home 
market values stated in lire per kilogram in order to calculate the 
CEP profit ratio;
     finally, the Department inadvertently excluded the 
value of AST's unreported U.S. sales and the value of the sales 
through AST's affiliated U.S. reseller from the denominator that the 
Department used to calculate the ratio for AST's U.S. insurance 
revenue.

    See Letter, Collier, Shannon, Rill & Scott, June 4, 1999 passim.
    Petitioners' rebuttal addressed three of AST's allegations. First, 
petitioners disagree with AST's allegation, that the Department 
overstated the value of the rejected eighty-four U.S. sales when it 
calculated the facts available margin for these sales. Due to the 
proprietary nature of this issue, please refer to the Memorandum For Ed 
Yang from Lesley Stagliano; Allegations of Ministerial Errors; Final 
Determination in the Investigation of Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip 
in Coils from Italy (Ministerial Errors Memorandum), dated July 21, 
1999, for further information. With respect to AST's claim that the 
Department failed to use AST's revised insurance revenue in its 
calculations, petitioners argue that the INSUREVU field correctly 
refers to the transaction-specific insurance revenue that AST claimed 
it received for sales during the period of investigation, and 
therefore, should not be revised. Finally, with respect to AST's U.S. 
reseller, petitioners contend that the Department's decision not to 
attempt segregating cut-to-length stainless sheet and strip from the 
subject stainless sheet in coils is methodological, and not ministerial 
as AST claims. Furthermore, petitioners continue, the Department 
determined that the U.S. reseller's sales data were so replete with 
errors as to be unreliable in toto; and that therefore, it would be 
inappropriate for the Department now to accept the reliability of 
selective portions of those data (i.e., the two specific variables AST 
suggests using for this purpose). Because the Department rejected the 
entire database, petitioners aver, it would not make sense for the 
Department to then assume that these two fields were reported 
accurately and to use these as the basis for segregating cut-to-length 
products from products in coil form.
    After reviewing both parties' allegations and petitioners' rebuttal 
we have determined, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224, that the Final 
Determination includes several ministerial errors. As to AST's 
allegations, we agree with AST that each of the points raised by AST 
constitutes a ministerial error with the exception of two: the alleged 
overstatement of the value of AST's eighty-four sales in the 
Department's facts available margin calculation for these sales; and 
the alleged ``failure'' to exclude cut-to-length merchandise. Our 
calculation of the facts available rate on eighty-four U.S. sales, and 
our treatment of the U.S. Reseller's reported sales represented a 
methodological choice, and not ``an error in addition, subtraction, or 
other arithmetic function'' or ``error resulting from inaccurate 
copying, duplication, or the like, and any other type of unintentional 
error which the administering authority considers ministerial.'' 
Section 735(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(e) of the Department's 
regulations; see also Ministerial Errors Memorandum, and the Final 
Determination, 64 FR at 30757-58.
    Finally, we also agree that the first two errors alleged by 
petitioners represent ministerial errors and have corrected both for 
this final determination. However, we disagree with petitioners that 
excluding the value of AST's unreported U.S. sales and the value of the 
sales through AST's affiliated U.S. reseller from the denominator the 
Department used to calculate the ratio for AST's U.S. insurance revenue 
was a clerical error as defined by the 735(e) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (``the Act''), and Section 351.224 of the Department's 
regulations, as defined above. Therefore, we have made no adjustments 
to the final determination for this allegation. For a detailed 
description of each of these allegations and, where applicable, our 
resultant corrections, see the Ministerial Errors Memorandum. 
Therefore, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(e), we are amending the 
final determination of the antidumping duty investigation of stainless 
steel sheet and strip in coils from Italy. The revised weighted-average 
dumping margins are in the ``Antidumping Duty Order'' section, below.

Scope of the Order

    For purposes of this order, the products covered are certain 
stainless steel sheet and strip in coils. Stainless steel is an alloy 
steel containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 
percent or more of chromium, with or without other elements. The 
subject sheet and strip is a flat-rolled product in coils that is 
greater than 9.5 mm in width and less than 4.75 mm in thickness, and 
that is annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise 
descaled. The subject sheet and strip may also be further processed 
(e.g., cold-rolled, polished, aluminized, coated, etc.) provided that 
it maintains the specific dimensions of sheet and strip following such 
processing.
    The merchandise subject to this order is classified in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) at subheadings: 
7219.13.00.30, 7219.13.00.50, 7219.13.00.70, 7219.13.00.80, 
7219.14.00.30, 7219.14.00.65, 7219.14.00.90, 7219.32.00.05, 
7219.32.00.20, 7219.32.00.25, 7219.32.00.35, 7219.32.00.36, 
7219.32.00.38, 7219.32.00.42, 7219.32.00.44, 7219.33.00.05, 
7219.33.00.20, 7219.33.00.25, 7219.33.00.35, 7219.33.00.36, 
7219.33.00.38, 7219.33.00.42, 7219.33.00.44, 7219.34.00.05, 
7219.34.00.20, 7219.34.00.25, 7219.34.00.30, 7219.34.00.35, 
7219.35.00.05, 7219.35.00.15, 7219.35.00.30, 7219.35.00.35, 
7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60, 
7219.90.00.80, 7220.12.10.00, 7220.12.50.00, 7220.20.10.10, 
7220.20.10.15, 7220.20.10.60, 7220.20.10.80, 7220.20.60.05, 
7220.20.60.10, 7220.20.60.15, 7220.20.60.60, 7220.20.60.80, 
7220.20.70.05, 7220.20.70.10, 7220.20.70.15, 7220.20.70.60, 
7220.20.70.80, 7220.20.80.00, 7220.20.90.30, 7220.20.90.60, 
7220.90.00.10, 7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. 
Although the HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs 
purposes, the Department's written description of the merchandise under 
investigation is dispositive.
    Excluded from the scope of this order are the following: (1) sheet 
and strip that is not annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or 
otherwise descaled, (2) sheet and strip that is cut to length, (3) 
plate (i.e., flat-rolled stainless steel products of a thickness of 
4.75 mm or more), (4) flat wire (i.e., cold-rolled sections, with a 
prepared edge, rectangular in shape, of a width of not more than 9.5 
mm), and (5) razor blade steel. Razor blade steel is a flat-rolled 
product of stainless steel, not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-
reduced), in coils, of a width of not more than 23 mm and a thickness 
of 0.266 mm or less, containing, by weight, 12.5 to 14.5 percent 
chromium, and certified at the time of entry to be used in the 
manufacture of razor blades. See Chapter 72 of the HTS, ``Additional 
U.S. Note'' 1(d).
    Flapper valve steel is also excluded from the scope of the order. 
This product is defined as stainless steel strip in coils containing, 
by weight, between 0.37 and 0.43 percent carbon, between

[[Page 40569]]

1.15 and 1.35 percent molybdenum, and between 0.20 and 0.80 percent 
manganese. This steel also contains, by weight, phosphorus of 0.025 
percent or less, silicon of between 0.20 and 0.50 percent, and sulfur 
of 0.020 percent or less. The product is manufactured by means of 
vacuum arc remelting, with inclusion controls for sulphide of no more 
than 0.04 percent and for oxide of no more than 0.05 percent. Flapper 
valve steel has a tensile strength of between 210 and 300 ksi, yield 
strength of between 170 and 270 ksi, plus or minus 8 ksi, and a 
hardness (Hv) of between 460 and 590. Flapper valve steel is most 
commonly used to produce specialty flapper valves in compressors.
    Also excluded is a product referred to as suspension foil, a 
specialty steel product used in the manufacture of suspension 
assemblies for computer disk drives. Suspension foil is described as 
302/304 grade or 202 grade stainless steel of a thickness between 14 
and 127 microns, with a thickness tolerance of plus-or-minus 2.01 
microns, and surface glossiness of 200 to 700 percent Gs. Suspension 
foil must be supplied in coil widths of not more than 407 mm, and with 
a mass of 225 kg or less. Roll marks may only be visible on one side, 
with no scratches of measurable depth. The material must exhibit 
residual stresses of 2 mm maximum deflection, and flatness of 1.6 mm 
over 685 mm length.
    Certain stainless steel foil for automotive catalytic converters is 
also excluded from the scope of this order. This stainless steel strip 
in coils is a specialty foil with a thickness of between 20 and 110 
microns used to produce a metallic substrate with a honeycomb structure 
for use in automotive catalytic converters. The steel contains, by 
weight, carbon of no more than 0.030 percent, silicon of no more than 
1.0 percent, manganese of no more than 1.0 percent, chromium of between 
19 and 22 percent, aluminum of no less than 5.0 percent, phosphorus of 
no more than 0.045 percent, sulfur of no more than 0.03 percent, 
lanthanum of less than 0.002 or greater than 0.05 percent, and total 
rare earth elements of more than 0.06 percent, with the balance iron.
    Permanent magnet iron-chromium-cobalt alloy stainless strip is also 
excluded from the scope of this order. This ductile stainless steel 
strip contains, by weight, 26 to 30 percent chromium, and 7 to 10 
percent cobalt, with the remainder of iron, in widths 228.6 mm or less, 
and a thickness between 0.127 and 1.270 mm. It exhibits magnetic 
remanence between 9,000 and 12,000 gauss, and a coercivity of between 
50 and 300 oersteds. This product is most commonly used in electronic 
sensors and is currently available under proprietary trade names such 
as ``Arnokrome III.'' 1
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    \1\ ``Arnokrome III'' is a trademark of the Arnold Engineering 
Company.
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    Certain electrical resistance alloy steel is also excluded from the 
scope of this order. This product is defined as a non-magnetic 
stainless steel manufactured to American Society of Testing and 
Materials (ASTM) specification B344 and containing, by weight, 36 
percent nickel, 18 percent chromium, and 46 percent iron, and is most 
notable for its resistance to high temperature corrosion. It has a 
melting point of 1390 degrees Celsius and displays a creep rupture 
limit of 4 kilograms per square millimeter at 1000 degrees Celsius. 
This steel is most commonly used in the production of heating ribbons 
for circuit breakers and industrial furnaces, and in rheostats for 
railway locomotives. The product is currently available under 
proprietary trade names such as ``Gilphy 36.'' 2
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    \2\ ``Gilphy 36'' is a trademark of Imphy, S.A.
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    Certain martensitic precipitation-hardenable stainless steel is 
also excluded from the scope of this order. This high-strength, ductile 
stainless steel product is designated under the Unified Numbering 
System (UNS) as S45500-grade steel, and contains, by weight, 11 to 13 
percent chromium, and 7 to 10 percent nickel. Carbon, manganese, 
silicon and molybdenum each comprise, by weight, 0.05 percent or less, 
with phosphorus and sulfur each comprising, by weight, 0.03 percent or 
less. This steel has copper, niobium, and titanium added to achieve 
aging, and will exhibit yield strengths as high as 1700 Mpa and 
ultimate tensile strengths as high as 1750 Mpa after aging, with 
elongation percentages of 3 percent or less in 50 mm. It is generally 
provided in thicknesses between 0.635 and 0.787 mm, and in widths of 
25.4 mm. This product is most commonly used in the manufacture of 
television tubes and is currently available under proprietary trade 
names such as ``Durphynox 17.'' 3
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    \3\ ``Durphynox 17'' is a trademark of Imphy, S.A.
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    Finally, three specialty stainless steels typically used in certain 
industrial blades and surgical and medical instruments are also 
excluded from the scope of this order. These include stainless steel 
strip in coils used in the production of textile cutting tools (e.g., 
carpet knives).4 This steel is similar to AISI grade 420 but 
containing, by weight, 0.5 to 0.7 percent of molybdenum. The steel also 
contains, by weight, carbon of between 1.0 and 1.1 percent, sulfur of 
0.020 percent or less, and includes between 0.20 and 0.30 percent 
copper and between 0.20 and 0.50 percent cobalt. This steel is sold 
under proprietary names such as ``GIN4 Mo.'' The second excluded 
stainless steel strip in coils is similar to AISI 420-J2 and contains, 
by weight, carbon of between 0.62 and 0.70 percent, silicon of between 
0.20 and 0.50 percent, manganese of between 0.45 and 0.80 percent, 
phosphorus of no more than 0.025 percent and sulfur of no more than 
0.020 percent. This steel has a carbide density on average of 100 
carbide particles per 100 square microns. An example of this product is 
``GIN5'' steel. The third specialty steel has a chemical composition 
similar to AISI 420 F, with carbon of between 0.37 and 0.43 percent, 
molybdenum of between 1.15 and 1.35 percent, but lower manganese of 
between 0.20 and 0.80 percent, phosphorus of no more than 0.025 
percent, silicon of between 0.20 and 0.50 percent, and sulfur of no 
more than 0.020 percent. This product is supplied with a hardness of 
more than Hv 500 guaranteed after customer processing, and is supplied 
as, for example, ``GIN6''.5
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    \4\ This list of uses is illustrative and provided for 
descriptive purposes only.
    \5\ ``GIN4 Mo,'' ``GIN5'' and ``GIN6'' are the proprietary 
grades of Hitachi Metals America, Ltd.
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Antidumping Duty Orders

    On July 23, 1999, the International Trade Commission (the 
Commission) notified the Department of its final determination pursuant 
to section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Tariff Act that an industry in the 
United States is materially injured by reason of less-than-fair-value 
imports of subject merchandise from Italy. Therefore, in accordance 
with section 736(a)(1) of the Tariff Act, the Department will direct 
Customs officers to assess, upon further advice by the Department, 
antidumping duties equal to the amount by which the normal value of the 
merchandise exceeds the export price (or constructed export price) of 
the merchandise for all relevant entries of stainless steel sheet and 
strip in coils from Italy. These antidumping duties will be assessed on 
all unliquidated entries of stainless steel sheet and strip in coils 
from Italy entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after January 4, 1999, the date on which the Department published its 
notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register (64 FR 
116). On or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register, Customs officers must require, at the same time as importers 
would

[[Page 40570]]

normally deposit estimated, cash deposits for the subject merchandise 
equal to the estimated weighted-average antidumping duty margins as 
noted below. The ``All Others'' rate applies to all exporters of 
subject stainless steel sheet and strip in coils not specifically 
listed. The revised weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
                   Exporter/manufacturer                        margin
                                                              (percent)
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Acciai Speciali Terni, SpA.................................        11.23
All Others.................................................        11.23
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    This notice constitutes the antidumping duty order with respect to 
stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Italy. Interested parties 
may contact the Department's Central Records Unit, room B-099 of the 
main Commerce building, for copies of an updated list of antidumping 
duty orders currently in effect.
    This order is published in accordance with section 736(a) of the 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

    Dated: July 21, 1999.
Bernard T. Carreau,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration
[FR Doc. 99-19129 Filed 7-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P