[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 229 (Tuesday, November 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66880-66881]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31098]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-412-810, C-412-811]


Certain Hot-Rolled Lead and Bismuth Carbon Steel Products From 
the United Kingdom: Final Results of Changed-Circumstances Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews

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

ACTION: Notice of final results of changed-circumstances antidumping 
and countervailing duty administrative reviews.

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SUMMARY: On October 5, 1999, the Department of Commerce published a 
notice of initiation and preliminary results of changed-circumstances 
antidumping and countervailing duty administrative reviews of the 
antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hot-rolled lead and 
bismuth carbon steel products from the United Kingdom, in which we 
preliminarily determined that Niagara LaSalle (UK) Limited is the 
successor-in-interest to Glynwed Metals Processing Limited for purposes 
of determining antidumping and countervailing duty liability. We are 
now affirming our preliminary results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 30, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rebecca Trainor or Kate Johnson 
(Antidumping) or Dana Mermelstein (Countervailing), Office of AD/CVD 
Enforcement, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone (202) 482-4007, (202) 482-4929, or 
(202) 482-3208, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), are references to the provisions effective 
January 1, 1995, the effective date of the amendments made to the 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 at 19 CFR Part 351 
(1998).

Background

    On March 22, 1993, the Department published in the Federal Register 
the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled lead and bismuth 
carbon steel products from the United Kingdom (58 FR 15324). Also, on 
March 22, 1993, the Department published in the Federal Register the 
companion countervailing duty order (58 FR 15327).
    On August 18, 1999, Niagara LaSalle (UK) Limited (Niagara) 
submitted a letter stating that it is the successor-in-interest to 
Glynwed Metals Processing Limited (Glynwed), and requested that the 
Department conduct a changed-circumstances review to determine whether 
Niagara should receive the same antidumping and countervailing duty 
treatment as is accorded Glynwed with respect to the subject 
merchandise. Niagara requested that the result of the Department's 
changed-circumstances review be retroactive to May 21, 1999, the date 
of its acquisition of Glynwed.
    On October 5, 1999, we published a notice of initiation and 
preliminary results of changed-circumstances antidumping and 
countervailing duty administrative reviews (64 FR 53994 ) in which we 
preliminarily found that Niagara is the successor-in-interest to 
Glynwed for purposes of determining antidumping and countervailing duty 
liability. We stated that this finding would be effective as of the 
publication date of our final results for the purposes of antidumping 
duties, and as of May 21, 1999 for purposes of countervailing duties, 
if affirmed in our final results. We received comments from Niagara on 
October 15, 1999.

Scope of the Review

    The products covered by this review are hot-rolled bars and rods of 
nonalloy or other alloy steel, whether or not descaled, containing by 
weight 0.03 percent or more of lead or 0.05 percent or more of bismuth, 
in coils or cut lengths, and in numerous shapes and sizes. Excluded 
from the scope of this review are other alloy steels (as defined by the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) Chapter 72, 
note 1 (f)), except steels classified as other alloy steels by reason 
of containing by weight 0.4 percent or more of lead, or 0.1 percent or 
more of bismuth, tellurium, or selenium. Also excluded are semi-
finished steels and flat-rolled products. Most of the products covered 
in this review are provided for under subheadings 7213.20.00.00 and 
7214.30.00.00 of the HTSUS. Small quantities of these products may also 
enter the United States under the following HTSUS subheadings: 
7213.31.30.00; 7213.31.60.00; 7213.39.00.30; 7213.39.00.60; 
7213.39.00.90; 7213.91.30.00; 7213.91.45.00; 7213.91.60.00; 7213.99.00; 
7214.40.00.10, 7214.40.00.30, 7214.40.00.50; 7214.50.00.10; 
7214.50.00.30, 7214.50.00.50; 7214.60.00.10; 7214.60.00.30; 
7214.60.00.50; 7214.91.00; 7214.99.00; 7228.30.80.00; and 
7228.30.80.50. HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes. The written description of the scope of this 
proceeding is dispositive.

Interested Party Comments

    Niagara argues that, while the Department properly recognized that 
Niagara's antidumping deposit rate as of May 21, 1999, should be that 
of the former Glynwed, the preliminary notice

[[Page 66881]]

fails to apply the correct rate as of that date. Niagara argues that 
the Department's determination to apply Glynwed's antidumping duty 
deposit rate to Niagara prospectively from the publication date of the 
final results, is contrary to the Department's finding that Niagara is 
the successor-in-interest to Glynwed as of May 21, 1999, and 
inconsistent with the retroactive application of Glynwed's 
countervailing duty deposit rate to Niagara. Niagara states that this 
failure to retroactively apply Glynwed's antidumping deposit rate of 
7.69 percent to Niagara unjustly subjects it to the higher all-others 
rate of 25.82 percent for the entire period from May 21, 1999, to the 
date on which the final results in this case are published.
    Finally, Niagara asserts that it has no practical means of 
obtaining a refund of the higher deposits, since the costs of 
undertaking an administrative review would exceed the value of the 
excess deposits it was erroneously required to pay.

Department's Position

    We disagree with Niagara that it has been treated inconsistently 
with respect to the applicable cash deposit rates under the antidumping 
and countervailing duty orders. The basis for Niagara's apparent 
misunderstanding is that it fails to recognize that Glenwyd, the 
predecessor company to Niagara, was excluded, ab initio, from the 
countervailing duty order, but has always been subject to the 
antidumping duty order. As such, Glenwyd, and now its successor-in-
interest Niagara, was never liable for any estimated cash deposits 
under the countervailing duty order. Thus, with the Department's 
determination that Niagara is the successor-in-interest to Glenwyd, 
Niagara (like Glenwyd) is not now, and never was subject to the 
countervailing duty order. Therefore, with respect to the 
countervailing duty order, it is appropriate to apply the changed 
circumstances-determination retroactively to May 21, 1999, the date 
Glenwyd became Niagara. (This is analogous to revocation, which may 
also apply retroactively. See, e.g., Certain Fresh Cut Flowers From 
Ecuador: Final Results of Changed Circumstances Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; Revocation of Order; Termination of 
Administrative Reviews, 64 FR 56327, Oct. 9, 1999.)
    However, with respect to the antidumping duty order, it is 
appropriate to change the estimated cash deposit rate for Niagara only 
as of the effective date of the Department's final changed-
circumstances determination. Because Glenwyd was always subject to the 
antidumping duty order, it was always potentially liable for estimated 
cash deposits. Further, any new company under the antidumping duty 
order in question, even if it were subsequently determined to be the 
successor-in-interest to an existing company, would also be subject to 
estimated cash deposits.
    In this instance, subject merchandise was entered under the name of 
Niagara, a company not heretofore assigned its own rate. Accordingly, 
its entries were properly subject to the all-others cash deposit rate 
at the time of entry. The all-others rate is by its very nature a 
prospective rate in that it is simply an estimate of the amount of 
duties to be paid by importers on future entries. It is not the 
assessment rate. Furthermore, in accordance with section 751(a)(2)(C) 
of the Act, a company's estimated cash deposit rate is only changed as 
the result of an administrative review. Thus, until the Department 
makes a final determination that a company subject to this antidumping 
duty order should be assigned a different cash deposit rate, the cash 
deposit rate assigned to its entries is the rate in effect at the time 
of entry.
    Accordingly, in this instance, it is appropriate that the 
applicable cash deposit rate for Niagara's entries prior to these final 
results is the all-others cash deposit rate. That rate will, of course, 
be changed prospectively to Glenwyd's previous rate upon the effective 
date of this notice because the Department has determined that Niagara 
is, in fact, the successor-in-interest to Glenwyd. However, because 
cash deposits are only estimates of the amount of antidumping duties 
that will be due, changes in cash deposit rates are not made 
retroactive. Any given cash deposit rate may, ultimately, be too high 
or too low. If Niagara believes that the deposits paid exceed the 
actual amount of dumping, it is entitled to request a review of those 
entries to determine the proper assessment rate and receive a refund of 
any excess deposits. This is the normal operation of our retrospective 
system.

Final Results

    We determine that Niagara is the successor-in-interest to Glynwed 
for purposes of determining antidumping and countervailing duty 
liability. Because Glynwed is excluded from the countervailing duty 
order, we will instruct the Customs Service to liquidate, without 
regard to countervailing duties, all shipments of the subject 
merchandise produced and sold by Niagara (formerly Glynwed) entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 21, 1999, the 
date of Niagara's acquisition of Glynwed. With regard to antidumping 
duties, a cash deposit rate of 7.69 percent will be effective for 
Niagara (formerly Glynwed) for all shipments of the subject merchandise 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
publication date of these final results of this changed-circumstances 
review.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and section 
351.216 of the Department's regulations.

    Dated: November 19, 1999.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-31098 Filed 11-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P