[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 29, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37387-37388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13390]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-427-822]


Notice of Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value: Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from France

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

ACTION: Notice of Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 29, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Angelica Mendoza, John Drury or 
Abdelali Elouaradia at (202) 482-3019, (202) 482-0195 and (202) 482-
1374, respectively; AD/CVD Enforcement, Office 8, Group III, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (``the Act''), are references to the provisions 
effective 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 citations to the Department of Commerce 
(``Department'') regulations are to 19 CFR part 351 (April 2001).

Amendment of Preliminary Determination

    The Department of Commerce (the Department) is amending the 
preliminary determination in the antidumping investigation of certain 
cold-rolled carbon steel flat products from France. This amended 
preliminary determination results in a revised antidumping rate for the 
single respondent in this case.

Scope of Investigations

    For purposes of this investigation, the products covered are 
certain cold-rolled (cold-reduced) flat-rolled carbon-quality steel 
products. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, as 
well as a complete discussion of all scope exclusion requests submitted 
in the context of the on-going cold-rolled steel investigations, please 
see the ``Scope Appendix'' attached to the Notice of Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cold-Rolled 
Carbon Steel Flat Products from Argentina, 67 FR 31204 (May 9, 2002).

Background

    On May 4, 2001, the Department issued its negative preliminary 
determination in this proceeding. See Notice of Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Not Less than Fair Value: Certain Cold-Rolled 
Carbon Steel Flat Products from France, 67 FR 31204 (May 9, 2002) 
(``Preliminary Determination''). That preliminary determination covered 
the following manufacturer/exporter, Usinor Group (``Usinor'').
    On May 6, 2002, the Department received from the petitioners a 
timely allegation of ministerial errors in the preliminary 
determination.\1\ The petitioners alleged that the Department made a 
number of ministerial errors. The alleged ministerial errors include:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The petitioners in this investigation are Bethlehem Steel 
Corporation, LTV Steel Company, National Steel Corporation, Nucor 
Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc., WCI Steel, Inc., Weirton Steel 
Corporation, and United States Steel Corporation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    the creation of a temporary, rather than permanent, dataset in the 
Model Match program;
    use of multiple producers' costs rather than a single, weighted-
average cost for each product;
    exclusion of certain United States sales from the margin 
calculation;
 exclusion of certain billing adjustments to revenue;
 reintroduction, into the home market dataset, of sales made to 
affiliated resellers that failed the arm's-length test;
[sbull] failure to correct warranty expenses in the home market;
[sbull] failure to implement weighted-average movement expenses;
[sbull] failure to use the proper customer codes in the arm's-length 
test program;
[sbull] improper specification of the sorting macro for U.S. variables 
(``USBYVARS'');
[sbull] failure to exclude as intended all sales between affiliates in 
the model match and arm's-length test programs where downstream sales 
were reported;
[sbull] improper calculation of credit for all non-cash sales;
[sbull] failure to exclude all home market commissions paid to 
affiliates;
[sbull] failure to exclude certain rebates;
[sbull] failure to correct the cost of minor inputs in the cost of 
production;
[sbull] failure to convert certain adjustments stated in Euros to U.S. 
dollars;
[sbull] failure to correct U.S. sales with respect to non-prime 
merchandise; and
[sbull] improper merger of COP and home market data files.
    See letters from petitioners alleging ministerial errors in the 
preliminary determination (May 6, 2002).
    On May 6, 2002, the respondent alleged one clerical error. The 
respondent stated, as did the petitioners, that the model match program 
created a temporary, rather than a permanent, dataset.

Significant Ministerial Error

    A significant ministerial error is defined as an error, the 
correction of which, singly or in combination with other errors, would 
result in (1) a change of at least five absolute percentage points in, 
but not less than 25 percent of, the weighted-average dumping margin 
calculated in the original (erroneous) preliminary determination; or 
(2) a difference between a weighted-average dumping margin of zero or 
de minimis and a weighted-average dumping margin of greater than de 
minimis or vice versa. See 19 CFR 351.224(g).
    In this instance, the original preliminary determination resulted 
in a weighted-average margin which was de minimis. Implementation of 
the corrections of the ministerial errors results in a weighted-average 
dumping margin which is greater than de minimis, thus meeting the 
requirements under 19 CFR 351.224(g)(2).

Amended Determination

    The Department has reviewed its preliminary calculations and agrees 
that most of the items identified as ministerial errors do constitute 
ministerial errors within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.224(f). For a 
detailed analysis and the Department's determinations, see the May 15, 
2002 Memorandum to Richard O. Weible from Angelica Mendoza regarding 
Ministerial Error Allegations on file in room B-099 of the main 
Commerce building. As a result of our analysis of petitioners' and 
respondent's allegations, we are amending our preliminary determination 
to revise the antidumping rates in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(e). 
Specifically, we corrected all of the points raised by all parties with 
the following exception:
    we did not include freight revenue as a billing adjustment in the 
definition of home market revenue for sales by Etilam.

[[Page 37388]]

    In addition to the ministerial errors reported by petitioners and 
respondent, the Department separately identified and corrected another 
ministerial error. With respect to revised home market imputed credit 
expense calculations for sales with missing payment dates, we 
inadvertently defined the billing adjustment variable (``BILADJH'') 
after the programming code specifying the revised credit calculations, 
thereby omitting this adjustment from the credit expense calculation. 
See the analysis memorandum.
    Suspension of liquidation will be revised in accordance with 
section 733(d) of the Act.
    The following weighted-average dumping margins apply:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Usinor Group...............................................         5.17
All Others.................................................         5.17
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The all others rate has been amended, and applies to all entries of 
the subject merchandise except for entries from exporters/producers 
that are identified individually above.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we are directing 
the U.S. Customs Service (``Customs'') to suspend liquidation of all 
imports of certain cold-rolled carbon steel flat products from France 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of publication of this amended preliminary determination in the 
Federal Register. Customs shall require a cash deposit or the posting 
of a bond equal to the weighted-average amount by which the normal 
value exceeds the export price, as indicated in the chart above. These 
suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until 
further notice.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to section 
733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act.

    Dated: May 21, 2002
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretaryfor Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-13390 Filed 5-28-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S