[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 151 (Friday, August 6, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42920-42922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20336]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-588-833]


Stainless Steel Bar From Japan: Initiation and Preliminary 
Results of Changed-Circumstances Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review, and Intent To Revoke Order in Part

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

ACTION: Notice of initiation and preliminary results of changed-
circumstances antidumping duty administrative review, and intent to 
revoke order in part.

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

SUMMARY: In response to a request by Tohoku Steel Co., Ltd. (Tohoku), 
the Department of Commerce (the Department) is initiating a changed-
circumstances antidumping duty

[[Page 42921]]

administrative review and issuing an intent to revoke in part the 
antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Japan. Tohoku 
requested that the Department revoke the order in part with regard to 
imports of K-M35FL steel bar. Based on the fact that Al Tech Specialty 
Steel Corp., Dunkirk, NY, Carpenter Technology Corp., Reading, PA, 
Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., Massillon, OH, Slater Steels Corp., 
Fort Wayne, IN, Talley Metals Technology, Inc., Hartsville, SC, and the 
United Steel Workers of America, AFL-CIO/CLC, collectively petitioners 
in the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation and also in this 
review, support Tohoku's request for a changed-circumstances review and 
revocation in part of the order with regard to K-M35FL steel bar, we 
are initiating this review and we preliminarily determine to revoke the 
order in part with regard to this merchandise.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 6, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minoo Hatten or Robin Gray, Office of 
AD/CVD Enforcement, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-
1690 or (202) 482-4023, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 17, 1999, Tohoku requested that the Department conduct a 
changed-circumstances administrative review to determine whether to 
revoke the antidumping duty order in part with regard to K-M35FL steel 
bar, which is currently covered by the scope of the order. Tohoku 
stated that the leaded steel product in question is not produced in 
commercial quantities in the United States. With its June 17, 1999 
submission, Tohoku included a letter from the petitioners agreeing to 
Tohoku's request to have K-M35FL steel bar excluded from the scope of 
the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Japan. As the 
parties to this proceeding agree on the outcome of the review, Tohoku 
requests that the Department issue its determination with respect to 
the changed-circumstances review in an expedited fashion pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.216(e).

The Applicable Statute

    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 (URAA). In addition, unless otherwise 
indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are to 19 CFR 
part 351 (1998).

Scope of Review

    The products covered by this changed-circumstances review are 
imports of K-M35FL steel bar manufactured by Tohoku and exported from 
Japan.
    The scope of the order covers stainless steel bar (SSB). For 
purposes of this review, the term SSB means articles of stainless steel 
in straight lengths that have been either hot-rolled, forged, turned, 
cold-drawn, cold-rolled or otherwise cold-finished, or ground, having a 
uniform solid cross section along their whole length in the shape of 
circles, segments of circles, ovals, rectangles (including squares), 
triangles, hexagons, octagons or other convex polygons. SSB includes 
cold-finished SSBs that are turned or ground in straight lengths, 
whether produced from hot-rolled bar or from straightened and cut rod 
or wire, and reinforcing bars that have indentations, ribs, groves, or 
other deformations produced during the rolling process.
    Except as specified above, the term does not include stainless 
steel semi-finished products, cut-length flat-rolled products (i.e., 
cut-length rolled products which if less than 4.75 mm in thickness have 
a width measuring at least 10 times the thickness or if 4.75 mm or more 
in thickness having a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least 
twice the thickness), wire (i.e., cold-formed products in coils, of any 
uniform solid cross section along their whole length, which do not 
conform to the definition of flat-rolled products), and angles, shapes 
and sections.
    The SSB subject to this order is currently classifiable under 
subheadings 7222.10.0005, 7222.10.0050, 7222.20.0005, 7222.20.0045, 
7222.20.0075, and 7222.30.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the scope 
of this order is dispositive.

Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and Intent To Revoke Order 
In Part

    Pursuant to section 751(d)(1) of the Act, the Department may 
partially revoke an antidumping duty order based on a review under 
section 751(b) of the Act (i.e., a changed-circumstances review). 
Section 751(b)(1) of the Act requires a changed-circumstances 
administrative review to be conducted upon receipt of a request 
containing information concerning changed circumstances sufficient to 
warrant a review.
    The Department's regulations at 19 CFR 351.216 provide that the 
Department will conduct a changed-circumstances administrative review 
under 19 CFR 351.216(e) based upon an affirmative statement of no 
interest from the petitioner in the proceeding (i.e., such a statement 
constitutes ``changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review''). 
Section 782(h) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i) provide further 
that the Department may revoke an order, or revoke an order in part, if 
it determines that the order under review is no longer of interest to 
domestic interested parties. In addition, in the event that the 
Department concludes that expedited action is warranted, section 
351.216(e) of the regulations permits the Department to combine the 
notices of initiation and preliminary results.
    Therefore, in accordance with sections 751(d) and 782(h) of the Act 
and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.216(e), based on petitioners' affirmative 
statement of no interest in the continued application of the order to 
K-M35FL steel bar, we are initiating this changed-circumstances 
administrative review. Based on the fact that no other domestic 
interested parties have objected to the position taken by petitioners 
that they have no further interest in the application of the order to 
imports of K-M35FL steel bar from Japan, we have determined that 
expedited action is warranted, and we are combining these notices of 
initiation and preliminary results. We have preliminarily determined 
that there are changed circumstances sufficient to warrant partial 
revocation of the order on stainless steel bar from Japan. Therefore, 
we are hereby notifying the public of our intent to revoke in part the 
antidumping duty order as it relates to imports of K-M35FL from Japan. 
This partial revocation will apply to all entries of K-M35FL from Japan 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of publication of the final results.

Public Comment

    Any interested party may request a hearing within 10 days of 
publication of this notice. Any hearing, if requested, will be held no 
later than 28 days after the date of publication of this notice, or the 
first workday thereafter. Case briefs and/or written comments from 
interested parties may be submitted not later than 14 days after the 
date of

[[Page 42922]]

publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs and rebuttals to written 
comments, limited to the issues raised in those comments, may be filed 
not later than 21 days after the date of publication of this notice. 
All written comments shall be submitted in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.303. Persons interested in attending the hearing, if one is 
requested, should contact the Department for the date and time of the 
hearing. The Department will publish the final results of this changed 
circumstances review, including the results of its analysis of issues 
raised in any written comments.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 
sections 351.216 and 351.222 of the Department's regulations.

    Dated: July 30, 1999.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-20336 Filed 8-5-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P