[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 222 (Friday, November 16, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57706-57707]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-28756]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-791-810]


Amended Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination: 
Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From South Africa

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

ACTION: Notice of amended final affirmative countervailing duty 
investigation.

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SUMMARY: On October 3, 2001, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published in the Federal Register its final affirmative 
determination in the countervailing duty investigation of certain hot-
rolled carbon steel flat products from South Africa. The Department is 
now amending its final affirmative determination to correct a 
ministerial error in the calculations. The amended final subsidy rates 
are listed below in the ``Subsidy Rates'' section of this notice.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 16, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sally C. Gannon at (202) 482-0162, 
Mark Hoadley at (202) 482-0666, or Julio Fernandez at (202) 482-0190, 
Office of AD/CVD Enforcement VII, Group III, Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 
7866, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the Tariff Act of 1930 (the Act), as amended. In 
addition, unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department's 
regulations are to the regulations codified at 19 CFR part 351 (2000).

Background

    On October 3, 2001, the Department published its Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat 
Products from South Africa, 66 FR 50412 (October 3, 2001). On October 
3, 2001, Saldanha Steel Ltd. (Saldanha Steel), one of three respondents 
in this investigation, submitted comments to the Department alleging 
two ministerial errors in the calculation of the combined Saldanha 
Steel/Iscor Ltd. (Iscor) countervailable subsidy rate (Iscor is another 
respondent in this investigation). Specifically, Saldanha Steel 
contends that the Department made ministerial errors in calculating the 
benefit from loan guarantees provided by the Industrial Development 
Corporation (IDC), and in calculating the benefit from the Findevco 
Ltd. loan. On October 9, 2001, petitioners in this investigation 
rebutted Saldanha Steel's allegations by stating that they did not 
relate to errors of a ministerial nature.

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation is certain hot-rolled 
carbon steel flat products of a rectangular shape, of a width of 0.5 
inch or greater, neither clad, plated, nor coated with metal and 
whether or not painted, varnished, or coated with plastics or other 
non-metallic substances, in coils (whether or not in successively 
superimposed layers), regardless of thickness, and in straight lengths, 
of a thickness of less than 4.75 mm and of a width measuring at least 
10 times the thickness. Universal mill plate (i.e., flat-rolled 
products rolled on four faces or in a closed box pass, of a width 
exceeding 150 mm, but not exceeding 1250 mm, and of a thickness of not 
less than 4 mm, not in coils and without patterns in relief) of a 
thickness not less than 4.0 mm is not included within the scope of this 
investigation.
    Specifically included within the scope of this investigation are 
vacuum degassed, fully stabilized (commonly referred to as 
interstitial-free (IF)) steels, high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels, 
and the substrate for motor lamination steels. IF steels are recognized 
as low carbon steels with micro-alloying levels of elements such as 
titanium or niobium (also commonly referred to as columbium), or both, 
added to stabilize carbon and nitrogen elements. HSLA steels are 
recognized as steels with micro-alloying levels of elements such as 
chromium, copper, niobium, vanadium, and molybdenum. The substrate for 
motor lamination steels contains micro-alloying levels of elements such 
as silicon and aluminum.
    Steel products included in the scope of this investigation, 
regardless of definitions in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS), are products in which: (i) iron predominates, by 
weight, over each of the other contained elements; (ii) the carbon 
content is 2 percent or less, by weight; and (iii) none of the elements 
listed below exceeds the quantity, by weight, respectively indicated:

1.80 percent of manganese, or
2.25 percent of silicon, or
1.00 percent of copper, or
0.50 percent of aluminum, or
1.25 percent of chromium, or
0.30 percent of cobalt, or
0.40 percent of lead, or
1.25 percent of nickel, or
0.30 percent of tungsten, or
0.10 percent of molybdenum, or
0.10 percent of niobium, or
0.15 percent of vanadium, or
0.15 percent of zirconium.

    All products that meet the physical and chemical descriptions 
provided above are within the scope of this investigation unless 
otherwise excluded. The following products, by way of example, are 
outside or specifically excluded from the scope of this investigation:
     Alloy hot-rolled steel products in which at least one of 
the chemical elements exceeds those listed above (including, e.g., 
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications A543, 
A387, A514, A517, A506).
     Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)/American Iron & 
Steel Institute (AISI) grades of series 2300 and higher.
     Ball bearings steels, as defined in the HTSUS.
     Tool steels, as defined in the HTSUS.
     Silico-manganese (as defined in the HTSUS) or silicon 
electrical steel with a silicon level exceeding 2.25 percent.
     ASTM specifications A710 and A736.
     USS Abrasion-resistant steels (USS AR 400, USS AR 500).
     All products (proprietary or otherwise) based on an alloy 
ASTM specification (sample specifications: ASTM A506, A507).
     Non-rectangular shapes, not in coils, which are the result 
of having been processed by cutting or stamping and which have assumed 
the character of articles or products classified outside chapter 72 of 
the HTSUS.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation is classified in the 
HTSUS at subheadings: 7208.10.15.00,

[[Page 57707]]

7208.10.30.00, 7208.10.60.00, 7208.25.30.00, 7208.25.60.00, 
7208.26.00.30, 7208.26.00.60, 7208.27.00.30, 7208.27.00.60, 
7208.36.00.30, 7208.36.00.60, 7208.37.00.30, 7208.37.00.60, 
7208.38.00.15, 7208.38.00.30, 7208.38.00.90, 7208.39.00.15, 
7208.39.00.30, 7208.39.00.90, 7208.40.60.30, 7208.40.60.60, 
7208.53.00.00, 7208.54.00.00, 7208.90.00.00, 7211.14.00.90, 
7211.19.15.00, 7211.19.20.00, 7211.19.30.00, 7211.19.45.00, 
7211.19.60.00, 7211.19.75.30, 7211.19.75.60, and 7211.19.75.90. Certain 
hot-rolled carbon steel flat products covered by this investigation, 
including vacuum degassed fully stabilized; high strength low alloy; 
and the substrate for motor lamination steel may also enter under the 
following tariff numbers: 7225.11.00.00, 7225.19.00.00, 7225.30.30.50, 
7225.30.70.00, 7225.40.70.00, 7225.99.00.90, 7226.11.10.00, 
7226.11.90.30, 7226.11.90.60, 7226.19.10.00, 7226.19.90.00, 
7226.91.50.00, 7226.91.70.00, 7226.91.80.00, and 7226.99.00.00. Subject 
merchandise may also enter under 7210.70.30.00, 7210.90.90.00, 
7211.14.00.30, 7212.40.10.00, 7212.40.50.00, and 7212.50.00.00. 
Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and U.S. 
Customs purposes, the Department's written description of the 
merchandise under investigation is dispositive.

Amended Final Determination

    Saldanha Steel's first allegation is that we made a ministerial 
error in our calculation of the benefit from loan guarantees provided 
by the IDC by calculating the difference between the IDC's guarantee 
fee and a commercial guarantee fee, as well as the difference between 
the actual interest rate and a commercial interest rate for an 
unguaranteed loan. We disagree. We believe that Saldanha Steel's 
allegation constitutes an argument with the Department's methodology in 
calculating the benefit from these loan guarantees, rather than a 
ministerial error. Section 351.224(f) of the Department's regulations 
defines a ministerial error as ``an error in addition, subtraction, or 
other arithmetic function, clerical error resulting from inaccurate 
copying, duplication, or the like, and any other similar type of 
unintentional error which the Secretary considers ministerial.'' 19 CFR 
351.224(f). Saldanha Steel's disagreement with our method for 
calculating the benefit from the guarantee program does not constitute 
an allegation of an ``unintentional error.'' The Department 
intentionally used the formula described above, as well as an 
unguaranteed commercial loan benchmark, in calculating the amount of 
the benefit. See Memorandum from Joseph Spetrini to Faryar Shirzad, 
Regarding Issues and Decision Memorandum in the Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat 
Products from South Africa (September 21, 2001), at 17. Likewise, the 
Department explicitly and intentionally rejected the use of Saldanha 
Steel's actual loans as possible benchmarks. Id., at 8.
    Saldanha Steel's second allegation is that we made a ministerial 
error in our calculation of the benefit from the Findevco Ltd. loan. 
Saldanha Steel claims that the Department verified that it made actual 
and scheduled interest payments before 2003 on the loan it received 
from Findevco Ltd., which loan was determined to be countervailable by 
the Department, and that such interest payments were omitted from the 
calculation. We agree that this omission constitutes a ministerial 
error within the meaning of section 351.224(f) of the Department's 
regulations. We have, therefore, corrected our calculation to include 
these payments.
    This correction resulted in the total combined countervailable 
subsidy rate attributable to Saldanha Steel and Iscor decreasing from 
6.37 percent ad valorem to 5.76 percent ad valorem. Because the ``all 
others'' rate is based on the combined Saldanha Steel and Iscor rate, 
the correction also results in an identical change in the ``all 
others'' rate.

Subsidy Rates

------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Producer/exporter                       Subsidy rate
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Saldanha Steel/Iscor.............  5.76 % Ad Valorem.
All Others.......................  5.76 % Ad Valorem.
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    This determination is issued and published pursuant to section 
351.224(e) of the Department's regulations.

    Dated: November 8, 2001.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 01-28756 Filed 11-15-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P