[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 7, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56272-56274]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27976]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION

[A-423-808]


Stainless Steel Plate in Coils From Belgium: Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Notice of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review.

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[[Page 56273]]

SUMMARY: On February 26, 2001, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published the preliminary affirmative results of the 
antidumping duty administrative review on stainless steel plate in 
coils (SSPC) from Belgium (66 FR 11559) (Preliminary Results). The 
review covers exports of this merchandise to the United States for the 
period November 4, 1998 through April 30, 2000, by ALZ, N.V. (ALZ), a 
manufacturer and exporter of subject merchandise.
    Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have made 
changes in the margin calculations. The final dumping margin for the 
reviewed firm is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results 
of Review.''

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 7, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elfi Blum or Abdelali Elouaradia, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230 at (202) 482-0197 or (202) 482-1374, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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

Background

    In its Preliminary Results, the Department assigned to ALZ, as 
adverse facts available (AFA), the highest calculated rate from the 
petition, 16 percent, given that the company withdrew from the review 
and requested that its questionnaire responses be removed from the 
record. The Department also invited parties to submit additional 
information if they considered such information more appropriate or 
relevant for use as AFA. On February 23, 2001, Allegheny Ludlum, AK 
Steel Corporation, J&L Specialty Steel Inc., North American Stainless, 
Butler-Armco Independent Union, Zanesville Armco Independent Union, and 
the United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO/CLC (petitioners) submitted 
comments proposing that the Department calculate ALZ's dumping margin 
using, as AFA, ALZ's public summary of its proprietary questionnaire 
responses. On March 5, 2001, ALZ submitted a response to petitioners' 
proposed margin calculations. On March 28, 2001, petitioners filed 
their case briefs. On April 2, 2001, ALZ filed a rebuttal brief. The 
Department has conducted this administrative review in accordance with 
section 751 of the Act.

Scope of Reviews

    The product covered by this order is certain stainless steel plate 
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 plate products are flat-rolled 
products, 254 mm or over in width and 4.75 mm or more in thickness, in 
coils, and annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise 
descaled. The subject plate may also be further processed (e.g., cold-
rolled, polished, etc.) provided that it maintains the specified 
dimensions of plate following such processing. Excluded from the scope 
of these orders are the following: (1) Plate not in coils, (2) plate 
that is not annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise 
descaled, (3) sheet and strip, and (4) flat bars. In addition, certain 
cold-rolled stainless steel plate in coils is also excluded from the 
scope of these orders. The excluded cold-rolled stainless steel plate 
in coils is defined as that merchandise which meets the physical 
characteristics described above that has undergone a cold-reduction 
process that reduced the thickness of the steel by 25 percent or more, 
and has been annealed and pickled after this cold reduction process.
    The merchandise subject to these orders is currently classifiable 
in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) at 
subheadings: 7219.11.00.30, 7219.11.00.60, 7219.12.00.06, 
7219.12.00.21, 7219.12.00.26, 7219.12.00.51, 7219.12.00.56, 
7219.12.00.66, 7219.12.00.71, 7219.12.00.81, 7219.31.00.10, 
7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60, 
7219.90.00.80, 7220.11.00.00, 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, 7220.90.00.10, 
7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. Although the HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes, the 
written description of the scope of the orders is dispositive.

Period of Review

    This is the first administrative review. The period of review (POR) 
is November 4, 1998 through April 30, 2000.

Facts Available

    Consistent with our Preliminary Results, we have applied AFA with 
respect to ALZ for purposes of the final results of this review. For a 
detailed discussion of our application, selection, and corroboration of 
facts available, see Preliminary Results, 66 FR at 11561. However, 
since the Preliminary Results, we have re-examined the information on 
which the preliminary margin, calculated on the basis of the price-to-
constructed value (CV) comparison, was based. We found that the CV has 
increased in the POR. To the extent that POR information was reasonably 
available to us, we recalculated this margin. Specifically, we 
recalculated the factory overhead, selling and general expenses and 
profit ratios, using ALZ's 1998, 1999 and 2000 publicly-available 
financial statements. We applied the weighted-average of these ratios 
to the original base cost to get the total CV. Finally, we compared the 
CV to the net U.S. price in the original petition, which resulted in a 
margin of 24.43 percent. See Memorandum to Barbara E. Tillman through 
Sally Gannon from Abdelali Elouaradia: Total Adverse Facts Available 
Calculation Memorandum, October 24, 2001 (Calculation Memorandum).

Corroboration

    For the Preliminary Results, in accordance with section 776(c) of 
the Act, to the extent practicable, we examined the key elements of the 
export price and normal value calculations on which the margins in the 
petition were based. As stated above, we have recalculated the margin 
using information from ALZ's most recent financial statements. See 
Calculation Memorandum. Because this is ALZ's own information from its 
audited financial statements, which are publicly available, it needs no 
further corroboration. Accordingly, we find the margin used in these 
final results to be corroborated to the extent practicable. See Certain 
Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Mexico: Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 64 FR 76, 84 (January 4, 1999).

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this administrative review are addressed in the ``Issues and Decision 
Memorandum'' (Decision Memorandum) from Joseph A. Spetrini, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary,

[[Page 56274]]

AD/CVD Enforcement Group III, to Faryar Shirzad, Assistant Secretary 
for Import Administration, dated October 24, 2001, which is hereby 
adopted by this notice.
    A list of the issues which parties have raised and to which we have 
responded, all of which are in the Decision Memorandum, is attached to 
this notice as an Appendix. Parties can find a complete discussion of 
all issues raised in this review and the corresponding recommendations 
in this public memorandum which is on file in the Central Records Unit, 
located in room B-099 of the main Department of Commerce Building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be accessed 
directly on the Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov. The paper copy and 
electronic version of the Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Final Results of Review

    As a result of our review covering the period of November 4, 1998 
through April 30, 2000, we determine that the dumping margin for ALZ, 
based on total AFA, is as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALZ, N.V...................................................       24.43
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liquidation

    The Department shall determine, and U.S. Customs Service (Customs) 
shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. These 
final results of review shall be the basis for the assessment of 
antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by this review. 
For ALZ, we based the assessment rate on the facts available margin 
percentage. We will direct Customs to assess the resulting percentage 
margin against the entered Customs values for the subject merchandise 
on each of ALZ's entries under the relevant order during the POR.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of this notice of final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of SSPC from Belgium entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication, as 
provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for 
the reviewed company will be the rate shown above; (2) for previously 
reviewed or investigated companies not listed above, the cash deposit 
rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published for the 
most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this 
review, a prior review, or the original less-than-fair-value (LTFV) 
investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be 
the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of 
the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other 
manufacturers or exporters will continue to be 9.86 percent. This rate 
is the ``All Others'' rate from the LTFV investigation (see Notice of 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel 
Plate in Coils from Belgium, 64 FR 15476 (March 31, 1999)). These 
deposit requirements shall remain in effect until publication of the 
final results of the next administrative review.
    This notice also serves as a final reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate regarding 
the reimbursement of antidumping or countervailing duties prior to 
liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure 
to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary's 
presumption that reimbursement of antidumping or countervailing duties 
occurred and the subsequent assessment of doubled antidumping duties.
    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely written 
notification of the return/destruction of APO materials or conversion 
to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply 
with the regulations and terms of an APO is a violation which is 
subject to sanction.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: October 24, 2001.
Richard W. Moreland,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix

List of Issues

    Selection of the Appropriate Adverse Facts Available Margin.
[FR Doc. 01-27976 Filed 11-6-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P