[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 5, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63216-63218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30169]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-866]


Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Certain Folding Gift Boxes From the People's Republic of China

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

ACTION: Notice of amended final determination of sales at less than 
fair value.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: December 5, 2001.
SUMMARY: We published in the Federal Register our final determination 
for the investigation of certain folding gift boxes from the People's 
Republic of China on November 20, 2001. See Notice of Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Certain Folding 
Gift Boxes from the People's Republic of China, 66 FR 50408 (November 
20, 2001). We are amending our final determination to correct 
ministerial errors discovered by Red Point Paper Products, Ltd.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Schauer or George Callen, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0410 or (202) 482-0180, 
respectively.

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 Tariff Act) 
by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. In addition, unless otherwise 
indicated, all citations to the Department of Commerce's (the 
Department's) regulations refer to 19 CFR part 351 (2000).

Background

    On November 13, 2001, the Department determined that certain 
folding gift boxes from the People's Republic of China are being, or 
are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(LTFV), as provided in section 735(a) of the Tariff Act. See Notice of 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Certain 
Folding Gift Boxes from the People's Republic of China, 66 FR 50408 
(November 20, 2001) (Final Determination). On November 19, 2001, 
respondent Red Point Paper Products Ltd. (Red Point) timely filed an

[[Page 63217]]

allegation that the Department had made two ministerial errors in its 
final determination.
    Red Point's submission alleges the following errors: (1) The 
Department inadvertently used the value of labor for 1998 rather than 
1999 as published on the Department's web site, and (2) the Department 
inadvertently deducted movement expenses incurred by Red Point's 
unaffiliated customer from the export price.
    On November 26, 2001, Harvard Folding Box Company and Field 
Container Company, LP (collectively, the petitioners), submitted 
comments rebutting Red Point's ministerial-error allegations. The 
petitioners argue that Red Point's allegations are untimely arguments 
for methodological changes rather than ministerial-error allegations. 
With regard to labor valuation, the petitioners argue that Red Point's 
allegation is an untimely argument as to which surrogate value the 
Department should use to value labor inputs. With regard to movement 
expenses, the petitioners contend that the Department used the same 
methodology in the Final Determination as it used in the Preliminary 
Determination and that Red Point did not comment upon the Department's 
deduction of these movement expenses in its case brief. The petitioners 
contend that Red Point is asking the Department, under the guise of 
correcting a ministerial error, to change a clearly articulated 
methodology and argue that the Department should not do so because the 
alleged errors were methodological choices, not ministerial errors.
    No other party alleged that there were ministerial errors in the 
Final Determination or commented about Red Point's allegations.

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain folding gift 
boxes. Certain folding gift boxes are a type of folding or knock-down 
carton manufactured from paper or paperboard. Certain folding gift 
boxes are produced from a variety of recycled and virgin paper or 
paperboard materials, including, but not limited to, clay-coated paper 
or paperboard and kraft (bleached or unbleached) paper or paperboard. 
The scope of the investigation excludes gift boxes manufactured from 
paper or paperboard of a thickness of more than 0.8 millimeters, 
corrugated paperboard, or paper mache. The scope of the investigation 
also excludes those gift boxes for which no side of the box, when 
assembled, is at least nine inches in length.
    Certain folding gift boxes are typically decorated with a holiday 
motif using various processes, including printing, embossing, 
debossing, and foil stamping, but may also be plain white or printed 
with a single color. The subject merchandise includes certain folding 
gift boxes, with or without handles, whether finished or unfinished, 
and whether in one-piece or multi-piece configuration. One-piece gift 
boxes are die-cut or otherwise formed so that the top, bottom, and 
sides form a single, contiguous unit. Two-piece gift boxes are those 
with a folded bottom and a folded top as separate pieces. Certain 
folding gift boxes are generally packaged in shrink-wrap, cellophane, 
or other packaging materials, in single or multi-box packs for sale to 
the retail customer. The scope of the investigation excludes folding 
gift boxes that have a retailer's name, logo, trademark or similar 
company information printed prominently on the box's top exterior (such 
folding gift boxes are often known as ``not-for-resale'' gift boxes or 
``give-away'' gift boxes and may be provided by department and 
specialty stores at no charge to their retail customers). The scope of 
the investigation also excludes folding gift boxes where both the 
outside of the box is a single color and the box is not packaged in 
shrink-wrap, cellophane, other resin-based packaging films, or 
paperboard.
    Imports of the subject merchandise are currently classified under 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
4819.20.00.40 and 4819.50.40.60. These subheadings also cover products 
that are outside the scope of this investigation. Furthermore, although 
the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes, our written description of the scope of this investigation is 
dispositive.

Ministerial Error

    The Department's regulations define a ministerial error as one 
involving ``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.'' See 19 CFR 351.224(f).
    After reviewing Red Point's allegations we have determined, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.224, that the Final Determination includes 
ministerial errors. We agree with Red Point that we should not have 
deducted the movement expenses incurred by Red Point's unaffiliated 
customer. These expenses, which include international freight, marine 
insurance, U.S. inland freight, U.S. brokerage & handling expenses, and 
U.S. Customs duties, were incurred by Lindy Bowman, not Red Point. See 
Red Point verification report dated September 13, 2001, at page 7 and 
Lindy Bowman verification report dated September 17, 2001, at page 4. 
We should have only deducted those movement expenses incurred by Red 
Point, not those incurred by its U.S. customer. Contrary to the 
petitioners' assertion, this constitutes an unintentional error on our 
part. Accordingly, we have corrected this ministerial error.
    We also agree with Red Point that we inadvertently used the labor 
value for 1998 in the Final Determination. The labor value for 1999 to 
which Red Point refers was published on the Department's website in 
September 2001 and, therefore, was available for our use in the Final 
Determination. See http://ia.ita.doc.gov/wages/. Furthermore, we 
disagree with the petitioners' characterization that Red Point's 
allegation is an untimely argument as to which surrogate value the 
Department should use for labor. The Department develops the surrogate 
value for the applicable labor calculations; it is not submitted by 
interested parties (as are most surrogate values). Finally, the revised 
labor rate corresponds more closely in time with the period of 
investigation than the surrogate value we used in the Preliminary 
Determination. Thus, we should have used the revised surrogate value 
for labor in the Final Determination. Our use of the same labor rate we 
used in the Preliminary Determination was unintentional. Accordingly, 
we have corrected this ministerial error.

Amended Final Determination

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(e), we are amending the final 
determination of the antidumping duty investigation of certain folding 
gift boxes from the People's Republic of China. For this amended final 
determination, we did not deduct the aforementioned movement expenses 
incurred by Lindy Bowman from the U.S. price and we have used the 
revised surrogate value for labor. The revised final weighted-average 
dumping margins for Red Point is 8.90 percent. The weighted-average 
dumping margins for all other companies remain unchanged.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Tariff Act, we are 
directing the United States Customs

[[Page 63218]]

Service (Customs) to continue suspending liquidation on all imports of 
the subject merchandise from the People's Republic of China. Customs 
shall require a cash deposit or the posting of a bond equal to the 
weighted-average amount by which normal value exceeds the export price 
as indicated in the chart above. These suspension-of-liquidation 
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Tariff Act, we have 
notified the International Trade Commission of our amended final 
determination.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
section 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

    Dated: November 29, 2001.
Richard W. Moreland,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 01-30169 Filed 12-4-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P