[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10048-10049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4522]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-122-601]


Brass Sheet and Strip From Canada: Amended Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review in Accordance With Panel 
Decision Upon Remand

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

ACTION: Notice of amendment to final results of antidumping duty 
administrative review in accordance with Panel decision upon remand.

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SUMMARY: As a result of a remand from a Binational Panel (``the 
Panel''), convened pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement 
(``NAFTA''), the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is 
amending its final results in the antidumping duty administrative 
review of Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada. The Department has 
determined, in accordance with the instruction of the Panel, the 
dumping margin for entries of Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada for the 
1996 period of review to be 0.40 percent.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 25, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paige Rivas or James Terpstra, Office 
of Antidumping/Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Office Four, Group II, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0651 or 482-3965, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 17, 1998, the Department published the final results of the 
antidumping duty administrative review for the period January 1, 1996 
through December 31, 1996 with respect to Brass Sheet and Strip from 
Canada. Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada: Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review and Notice of Intent Not To Revoke Order in 
Part (``Final Results''), 64 Fed. Reg. 33037.
    Subsequent to the publication of those Final Results, the sole 
respondent, Wolverine Tube (Canada) Inc. (``Wolverine''), and a 
coalition representing the United States brass industry 
(``Petitioner'') challenged the Department's findings and requested 
that the Panel review the Final Results with respect to various issues. 
Thereafter, at the Department's request, the Panel remanded the 
Department's final determination to permit the Department to correct 
its use of a simple-average cost of production instead of a weighted-
average cost of production for Wolverine. In the Matter of: Brass Sheet 
and Strip from Canada, Secretariat File USA-CAN-98-1904-03 (July 16, 
1999). The July 16, 1999 Decision of the Panel upheld the Department as 
to all other contested issues.
    On remand, the Department recalculated Wolverine's cost of 
production using a weighted-average methodology. The recalculated 
margin for Wolverine was 0.40 percent. During the 1996 review, 
Wolverine, which had

[[Page 10049]]

received de minimis margins in the 1994 and 1995 reviews, had requested 
that it be revoked from the antidumping duty order if it received a 
third de minimis margin in the 1996 review. In the Final Results, 
Commerce did not reach the question of whether Wolverine had otherwise 
met the criteria for revocation from the order because Wolverine had 
not met the first criterion for revocation. Specifically Wolverine had 
not obtained a third sequential de minimis margin in the 1996 review. 
64 FR at 33041. Therefore, on remand, the Department went on to 
consider whether, in view of the recalculated de minimis margin for the 
1996 review, Wolverine met the other criteria for revocation from the 
order. The Department determined that, because Wolverine had received 
an above de minimis margin in the 1997 review, this margin constituted 
sufficient positive evidence that the discipline of the order continued 
to be necessary to offset dumping by Wolverine, and that, were the 
order to be revoked, it was likely that Wolverine would continue to 
dump subject merchandise in the United States. The Department submitted 
its remand determination, upon which parties had been allowed to 
comment, to the Panel on September 14, 1999.\1\
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    \1\ For a complete discussion of the Department's reasoning with 
respect to the remand issues, see Redetermination on Remand: Brass 
Sheet and Strip from Canada; Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review (September 14, 1999).
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    On November 5, 1999, the Panel affirmed the remand redetermination 
of the Department. In the Matter of: Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada, 
Secretariat File USA-CAN-98-1904-03 (November 5, 1999)(Order of the 
Panel). As a result, the margin for Wolverine for the 1996 POR was 
reduced from 0.67 to 0.40 percent.

Suspension of Liquidation

    There is now a final and conclusive decision in the Panel 
proceeding. See North American Free-Trade Agreement, Article 1904 NAFTA 
Panel Reviews; Notice of Completion of Panel Review, 64 FR 73015 
(December 29, 1999). Therefore, effective as of the publication date of 
this notice, the following final weighted-average percent margin 
exists:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Weight-
                Producer/manufacturer/exporter                  average
                                                                percent
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Wolverine....................................................       0.40
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Due to the fact that 0.40 percent is considered de minimis, 
pursuant to 19 CFR 351.106(c), the Department will instruct the Customs 
Service to liquidate at zero percent all shipments of the subject 
merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption 
during the period January 1, 1996 through December 31, 1996. The 
Customs Service will continue to suspend liquidation of future entries 
and require a cash deposit in the amount of the margin calculated in 
the most recent administrative review, i.e., the cash deposits 
described in the final results of the 1997 review. See Brass Sheet and 
Strip from Canada: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review and Notice of Intent Not to Revoke Order in Part, 64 FR 46344, 
46349 (August 25, 1999).
    This notice is published pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 
1516a(g)(5)(B)(1996); section 735(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (19 U.S.C. 1673d(d)(1996)); and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: February 14, 2000.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-4522 Filed 2-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P