[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58436-58437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29148]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-588-046]


Notice of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed 
Circumstances Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Polychloroprene 
Rubber From Japan

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) has received 
information sufficient to warrant initiation of a changed circumstances 
administrative review of the antidumping duty finding on 
polychloroprene rubber from Japan. Based on this information, we 
preliminarily determine that the restructured manufacturing and 
marketing joint ventures, Showa DDE

[[Page 58437]]

Manufacturing KK (SDEM) and DDE Japan Kabushiki Kaisha (DDE Japan), are 
the successor-in-interest companies to Dupont Showa Denko (SDP) and its 
predecessor, Showa Neoprene, for purposes of determining antidumping 
liability in this proceeding. Interested parties are invited to comment 
on these preliminary results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 21, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Trentham or Tom Futtner, AD/DVD 
Enforcement, Group II, Office 4, Import Administration, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-
6320 or (202) 482-3814, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise stated, all citations to the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the Act), are references to the provisions as of 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 references to the regulations of the Department are to 
19 CFR part 351 (2001).

Background

    On December 6, 1973, the Department published in the Federal 
Register (38 FR 33593) the antidumping finding on polychloroprene 
rubber from Japan. On September 27, 2001, DuPont Dow Elastomers L.L.C. 
(Dupont Dow) and DDE Japan submitted a letter stating that SDEM and DDE 
Japan are the successor-in-interest companies to SDP and Showa 
Neoprene, and, as such, entitled to receive the same antidumping 
treatment as these companies have been accorded.

Scope of Review

    Imports covered by this review are shipments of polychloroprene 
rubber, an oil resistant synthetic rubber also known as polymerized 
chlorobutadiene or neoprene, currently classifiable under items 
4002.42.00, 4002.49.00, 4003.00.00, 4462.15.21 and 4462.00.00 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). HTSUS item 
numbers are provided for convenience and for U.S. Customs Service 
purposes. The written descriptions remain dispositive.

Initiation and Preliminary Results of Review

    In a letter dated September 27, 2001, Dupont Dow and DDE Japan 
advised the Department that in 1998, SDP was restructured. The 
production portion of SDP was renamed SDEM. Further, the marketing end 
of SDP's business was separated from SDEM and renamed DDE Japan. 
According to Dupont Dow and DDE Japan, these entities were renamed to 
reflect Dupont Dow's participation in the joint ventures and to make 
the companies more globally competitive. Nevertheless, like SDP and 
similar to Showa Neoprene, the two firms, SDEM and DDE Japan, remained 
jointly owned ventures of Dupont Dow and Showa Denko KK. For further 
discussion of the SDP restructuring, see Memorandum from Bernard T. 
Carreau to Faryar Shirzad, dated concurrently with this notice, 
regarding Polychloroprene Rubber from Japan: Request for Changed 
Circumstances Review.
    Thus, in accordance with section 751(b) of the Act and sections 
351.216 and 351.221(a) of the Department's regulations, the Department 
is initiating a changed circumstances review to determine whether SDEM 
and DDE Japan are the successor-in-interest companies to SDP and its 
predecessor, Showa Neoprene, for purposes of determining antidumping 
duty liability in this proceeding. In making a successor-in-interest 
determination, the Department examines several factors including, but 
not limited to, changes in: (1) Management; (2) production facilities; 
(3) supplier relationships; and (4) customer base. See Brass Sheet and 
Strip from Canada: Notice of Final Results of Antidumping 
Administrative Review, 57 FR 20460, 20462 (May 13, 1992) (Canadian 
Brass). While no one or several of these factors will necessarily 
provide a dispositive indication, the Department will generally 
consider the new company to be the successor to the previous company if 
its resulting operation is not materially dissimilar to that of its 
predecessor. See, e.g., Industrial Phosphoric Acid from Israel: Final 
Results of Changed Circumstances Review, 59 FR 6944, 6945 (February 14, 
1994) and Canadian Brass, 57 FR 20460. Therefore, if the evidence 
demonstrates that, with respect to the production and sale of the 
subject merchandise, the new company essentially operates as the same 
business entity as the former company, the Department will assign the 
new company the cash deposit rate of its predecessor.
    Dupont Dow and DDE Japan have presented evidence to establish a 
prima facie case of SDEM's and DDE Japan's successorship status. As a 
consequence, we find that it is appropriate to issue the preliminary 
results of our review in combination with the notice of initiation of 
the changed circumstances review in accordance with section 
351.221(c)(3)(ii). Although SDP has become two separate companies, SDEM 
and DDE Japan, and this restructuring has precipitated some changes, 
the management, production facilities, supplier relationships, sales 
facilities and customer base are essentially unchanged from those of 
SDP, and before that, Showa Neoprene. Therefore, the record evidence 
demonstrates that the new joint venture entities essentially operate in 
the same manner as the predecessor companies of SDP and Showa Neoprene. 
As DDE Japan sells and distributes all the polychloroprene rubber for 
the newly restructured joint venture entities, we preliminarily 
determine that DDE Japan should be given the same antidumping duty 
treatment as SDP and its predecessor, Showa Neoprene, i.e., 0 percent 
antidumping duty cash deposit rate.
    The cash deposit determination from this changed circumstances 
review will apply to all entries of the subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of the final results of this changed circumstances review. 
This deposit rate shall remain in effect until publication of the final 
results of the next relevant administrative review.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results. Any written comments may be submitted no later than 21 days 
after date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to 
arguments raised in case briefs, are due five days after the case brief 
deadline. Case briefs and rebuttal briefs must be served on interested 
parties in accordance with 19 CFR 351.209. The Department will publish 
the final results of the changed circumstances review including the 
results of its analysis of any issues raised in any such comments.
    This initiation of review, preliminary results of review and notice 
are in accordance with sections 751(b) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: November 13, 2001.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 01-29148 Filed 11-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P