[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 174 (Thursday, September 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54228-54229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-22996]



[[Page 54228]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-860, A-455-803]


Preliminary Determinations of Critical Circumstances: Steel 
Concrete Reinforcing Bars From the People's Republic of China and 
Poland

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 7, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Manning or Magd Zalok at (202) 
482-3936 and (202) 482-4162, respectively; AD/CVD Enforcement, Group 
II, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

Preliminary Determinations of Critical Circumstances

The Applicable Statute and Regulations

    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 references 
to the provisions codified at 19 CFR Part 351 (2000).

Background

    In the petition filed on June 28, 2000, the petitioner alleged that 
there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of steel concrete 
reinforcing bars (rebar) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and 
Poland.\1\ On July 18, 2000, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) initiated investigations to determine whether imports of 
rebar from the PRC and Poland, among others, are being, or are likely 
to be, sold in the United States at less-than-fair-value (LTFV) (65 FR 
45754, July 25, 2000). At that time we also initiated investigations to 
determine whether critical circumstances exist with respect to imports 
of rebar from the PRC and Poland.\2\
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    \1\ The petitioner also alleged that there is a reason to 
believe or suspect that critical circumstances exist with respect to 
imports of rebar from Latvia and the Republic of Korea. However, we 
are not making a determination with respect to these two countries 
at this time.
    \2\ The Department also initiated investigations to determine 
whether critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of 
rebar from Latvia and the Republic of Korea.
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    On August 14, 2000, the International Trade Commission (ITC) 
determined that there is a reasonable indication of material injury to 
the domestic industry from imports of rebar from the PRC and Poland, 
among others.
    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), because the petitioner 
submitted critical circumstances allegations more than 20 days before 
the scheduled date of the preliminary determinations, the Department 
must issue preliminary critical circumstances determinations not later 
than the date of the preliminary determinations. In a policy bulletin 
issued on October 8, 1998, the Department stated that it may issue 
preliminary critical circumstances determinations prior to the date of 
the preliminary determinations of dumping, assuming sufficient evidence 
of critical circumstances is available (see Change in Policy Regarding 
Timing of Issuance of Critical Circumstances Determinations, 63 FR 
55364). In accordance with this policy, at this time we are issuing 
preliminary critical circumstances decisions in the investigations of 
imports of rebar from the PRC and Poland, for the reasons discussed 
below and in the August 30, 2000, Memorandum from Tom Futtner and Gary 
Taverman to Holly A. Kuga regarding: Antidumping Duty Investigations of 
Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from the People's Republic of China and 
Poland--Preliminary Determinations of Critical Circumstances (Critical 
Circumstances Preliminary Determinations Memorandum).

Critical Circumstances

    Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides that the Department will 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist if there is a 
reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A)(i) There is a history 
of dumping and material injury by reason of dumped imports in the 
United States or elsewhere of the subject merchandise, or (ii) the 
person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was imported knew 
or should have known that the exporter was selling the subject 
merchandise at less than its fair value and that there was likely to be 
material injury by reason of such sales, and (B) there have been 
massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short 
period. Section 351.206(h)(1) of the Department's regulations provides 
that, in determining whether imports of the subject merchandise have 
been ``massive,'' the Department normally will examine: (i) The volume 
and value of the imports; (ii) seasonal trends; and (iii) the share of 
domestic consumption accounted for by the imports. In addition, section 
351.206(h)(2) of the Department's regulations provides that an increase 
in imports of 15 percent during the ``relatively short period'' of time 
may be considered ``massive.''
    Section 351.206(i) of the Department's regulations defines 
``relatively short period'' as normally being the period beginning on 
the date the proceeding begins (i.e., the date the petition is filed) 
and ending at least three months later. The regulations also provide, 
however, that if the Department finds that importers, exporters, or 
producers, had reason to believe, at some time prior to the beginning 
of the proceeding, that a proceeding was likely, the Department may 
consider a period of not less than three months from that earlier time.
    In determining whether the above criteria have been satisfied, we 
examined: (1) The evidence presented in the petition; (2) recent import 
statistics released by the Census Bureau after the initiation of the 
LTFV investigations; and (3) the ITC preliminary injury determinations.

History of Dumping and Importer Knowledge

    Because we are not aware of any existing antidumping order in any 
country on rebar from the PRC or Poland, we do not find a history of 
dumping from the PRC or Poland pursuant to section 733(e)(1)(A)(i). 
However, the Department may look to the second criterion for 
determining knowledge of dumping.
    In determining whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect that an importer knew or should have known that the exporter 
was selling rebar at LTFV, pursuant to section 733(e)(1)(A)(ii) of the 
Act, the Department's normal practice is to consider margins of 25 
percent or more sufficient to impute knowledge of dumping. See 
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain 
Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate From the People's Republic of China, 
62 FR 31972, 31978 (June 11, 1997). In the instant cases, given that we 
have not yet made a preliminary finding of dumping, the most reasonable 
source of information concerning knowledge of dumping is the petition 
itself. In the petition, the petitioner calculated estimated dumping 
margins of 59.98 percent for the PRC and 53.54 percent for Poland. 
Since these estimated dumping margins exceed the 25 percent threshold, 
we have preliminarily imputed knowledge of dumping to

[[Page 54229]]

importer, exporters, or producers of subject merchandise from the PRC 
and Poland. See the Critical Circumstances Preliminary Determinations 
Memorandum.
    In determining whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect that an importer knew or should have known that there was 
likely to be material injury by reason of dumped imports, under section 
733(e)(1)(A)(ii) of the Act, the Department normally will look to the 
preliminary injury determinations of the ITC. If the ITC finds a 
reasonable indication of present material injury to the relevant U.S. 
industry, the Department will determine that a reasonable basis exists 
to impute importer knowledge that there was likely to be material 
injury by reason of dumped imports. See Final Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-To-Length Carbon Steel Plate from the 
People's Republic of China, 62 FR 61964 (November 20, 1997). In the 
instant cases, the ITC has found that a reasonable indication of 
present material injury due to dumping exists for all imports of rebar 
from the PRC and Poland. See ITC's Preliminary Determinations, August 
14, 2000. Therefore, we preliminarily find that there is a reasonable 
basis to believe or suspect that importers knew or should have known 
that dumped imports of rebar from the PRC and Poland were likely to 
cause material injury.

Massive Imports

    In determining whether there are ``massive imports'' over a 
``relatively short period,'' pursuant to section 733(e)(1)(B) of the 
Act, the Department normally compares the import volume of the subject 
merchandise for at least three months immediately preceding the filing 
of the petition (i.e., the ``base period''), and at least three months 
following the filing of the petition (i.e., the ``comparison period''). 
However, as stated in section 351.206(i) of the Department's 
regulations, if the Secretary finds that importers, exporters, or 
producers had reason to believe, at some time prior to the beginning of 
the proceeding, that a proceeding was likely, then the Secretary may 
consider a time period of not less than three months from that earlier 
time. Imports normally will be considered massive when imports during 
the comparison period have increased by 15 percent or more compared to 
imports during the base period.
    In this case, the petitioner argues that importers, exporters, or 
producers of rebar from the PRC and Poland had reason to believe that 
an antidumping proceeding was likely before the filing of the petition. 
Based upon information contained in the petition, we found that press 
reports and published statements were sufficient to establish that, by 
December 1999, importers, exporters, and foreign producers knew or 
should have known that a proceeding was likely concerning rebar from 
the PRC and Poland. Accordingly, we examined the increase in import 
volumes from July 1999 through December 1999, as compared to the import 
volume during January 2000 through June 2000, and found that imports of 
rebar from the PRC increased by 182.76 percent and that imports from 
Poland increased from zero to over 58,000 metric tons, an 
unquantifiable percent. See the Critical Circumstances Preliminary 
Determinations Memorandum. Therefore, pursuant to section 733(e) of the 
Act and section 351.206(h) of the Department's regulations, we 
preliminarily determine that there have been massive imports of rebar 
from the PRC and Poland over a relatively short time.

Conclusion

    Given the above-referenced reasons, we preliminarily determine that 
there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that critical 
circumstances exist for imports of rebar from the PRC and Poland.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Act, upon issuance of 
affirmative preliminary determinations of sales at LTFV in the 
investigations with respect to the PRC and Poland, the Department will 
direct the U.S. Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all such 
entries of rebar from the PRC and Poland that are entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after 90 days prior to the date 
of publication in the Federal Register of our preliminary 
determinations of sales at LTFV. The Customs Service shall require a 
cash deposit or posting of a bond equal to the estimated preliminary 
dumping margins reflected in the preliminary determinations of sales at 
LTFV published in the Federal Register. This suspension of liquidation 
will remain in effect until further notice.

Final Critical Circumstances Determinations

    We will make final determinations concerning critical circumstances 
for the PRC and Poland when we make our final determinations regarding 
sales at LTFV in those investigations, which will be 75 days (unless 
extended) after the preliminary LTFV determinations.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our determinations. This notice is issued and published pursuant 
to section 777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: August 30, 2000.
Troy H. Cribb,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-22996 Filed 9-6-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P