[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59252-59253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24003]



[[Page 59252]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-122-839]


Notice of Initiation of Expedited Reviews of the Countervailing 
Duty Order: Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada

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

ACTION: Notice of Initiation of Expedited Reviews.

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SUMMARY: On July 17, 2002, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published in the Federal Register its initiation of expedited reviews 
of the countervailing duty order covering certain softwood lumber 
products (subject merchandise) from Canada (67 FR 46955). In that 
notice, the Department initiated reviews of 73 exporters that filed 
timely and complete requests for expedited review. The purpose of such 
reviews is the calculation of company-specific cash deposit rates and 
the exclusion from the order of companies that received zero or de 
minimis subsidies during the period of investigation (April 1, 2000 to 
March 31, 2001).
    By this notice, the Department is initiating expedited reviews of 
31 additional companies. Twenty-three of these companies submitted 
timely but incomplete applications which were subsequently perfected. 
We also are initiating reviews on eight companies whose requests were 
received beyond the deadline for reasons outside the requester's 
control.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  September 20, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Gayle Longest at (202) 482-3338, 
Office of AD/CVD Enforcement VI, Group II, Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 
4012, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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 (2002).

Background

    On May 22, 2002, the Department published the countervailing duty 
order on softwood lumber from Canada. See 67 FR 36070. In that Federal 
Register notice, we indicated that Canadian exporters of subject 
merchandise could request expedited reviews for the purpose of 
establishing individual cash deposit rates. We posted, on the Internet 
at ia.ita.doc.gov, an electronic application form and requested that 
all applicants submit their review requests in electronic format. All 
such requests were to be filed with the Department by June 21, 2002.
    In response, the Department received a total of 100 timely requests 
for expedited review. A total of 73 of these requests were timely and 
complete. The Department initiated reviews of the exporters that filed 
timely and complete requests for expedited review on July 17, 2002 (67 
FR 46955, July 17, 2002).
    For those requests that were timely but incomplete, we provided 
each applicant with an opportunity to file an amended request for 
expedited review. We notified these applicants of the deficiencies in 
their submissions on July 15, 2002. The Department received properly 
amended requests for 23 of these applicants. Accordingly, we are 
initiating expedited reviews of these companies (see listing below) in 
this notice.
    In addition, nine companies' requests for expedited reviews were 
received after the June 21, 2002 deadline. We notified these companies 
that their requests were untimely filed. We received responses from 
several parties explaining the circumstances of their submissions. See 
Memorandum to the File from Gayle Longest through Melissa G. Skinner 
dated August 2, 2002, concerning Reconsideration of Timeliness of 
Certain Applications - Expedited Reviews of the Countervailing Duty 
Order on Softwood Lumber from Canada (C-122-839). After reviewing the 
information received, we concluded that each of these parties made a 
good faith effort to submit a timely application and that each 
application was mailed or delivered to the courier in time to be 
delivered to the Department by the deadline. Accordingly, we are 
treating these applications as having been timely filed.

Petitioner's Comments

    On August 28, 2002, petitioners submitted comments on procedural 
deficiencies. Petitioners contend that the Department did not follow 
its normal practice of rejecting improperly filed and untimely 
submissions for companies requesting expedited reviews. Petitioners 
maintain that the Department provided 36 requesters, who had submitted 
incomplete or incorrect submissions, an opportunity to correct their 
filings after the June 21, 2002, deadline. Petitioners argue that 14 of 
these companies still have failed to meet the procedural requirements.
    According to petitioners, the Department should have rejected the 
36 requests because they were improperly submitted. Petitioners assert 
that the Department should now reject any company's application that 
was not perfected by the Department's announced deadline. Furthermore, 
petitioners contend that the Department should not initiate on any of 
these 36 requests until after the final determination for all 
requesters in Round 1.
    Department's Response: Because this is the first time that the 
Department has conducted expedited reviews in a countervailing duty 
proceeding, there may well have been some uncertainty regarding what 
needed to be filed with the Department. After examining the requests 
for expedited review from the 36 companies whose submissions were 
improperly filed, we found that they had made a good faith effort to 
file a complete submission by the June 21, 2002 deadline. We therefore 
provided them with an opportunity to correct the deficiencies in their 
requests for expedited review by filing amendments to their requests. 
Five companies (Jazz Forest Products Ltd., Langley Timber Company Ltd, 
Mirax Lumber Products Ltd., Scierie A& M St. Pierre Inc., and Trans 
North Timber) did not perfect their applications by the Department's 
deadline for amended applications. Accordingly, those five companies' 
submissions are improperly filed and cannot be considered for expedited 
review. The remaining 31 companies have provided complete and timely 
requests for expedited review.
    With respect to petitioners' assertion that the Department should 
reject all 36 requests for expedited review, we do not agree. As we 
have explained in the Notice of Preliminary Results of Expedited 
Reviews published on August 14, 2002, this is the first time we have 
conducted expedited countervailing duty reviews, and the Department's 
regulations do not include procedures for the conduct of expedited 
countervailing duty reviews in aggregate cases. Thus, the uncertainty 
we noted above is, to some extent, understandable. Further, after an 
extensive review of the applications of these 36 companies, we 
determined that they made a good faith effort, in the first

[[Page 59253]]

instance, to comply with the Department's filing requirements. 
Consequently, we are not rejecting these companies' requests solely on 
the basis that they did not properly file their submissions by the June 
21, 2002, deadline. Moreover, we disagree with petitioners' contention 
that the Department should not initiate any additional reviews until 
the final determinations regarding all requests in Round 1 are issued. 
In order to reach our dual goals of providing company-specific rates 
and excluding from the order companies that receive zero or de minimis 
subsidies during the period of investigation and completing these 
reviews in the most expeditious manner possible, it is necessary to 
initiate expedited reviews on the 31 companies that have perfected 
their submissions at this time.

Initiation

    At this time, we are initiating expedited reviews of the following 
companies:
    2859-8936 Quebec Inc. Les Cedre
    Basques
    9027-7971 Quebec Inc.
    Antrim Cedar Corporation
    Bridgeside Higa Forest Industries Ltd.
    Carson Lake Lumber Ltd.
    Central Cedar Ltd.
    Doman Forest Products Limited
    Forstex Industries Inc.
    Goldwood Industries Ltd.
    Hollcan Millworks Ltd.
    Hudson Mitchell & Sons Lumber Inc.
    Indian River Lumber
    Les Scieries Jocelyn Lavoie Inc.
    Leslie Forest Products Ltd.
    Lukwa Mills Ltd.
    Lyle Forest Products Ltd.
    Power Wood Corp.
    Precision Moulding Products
    Ram. Co. Lumber Ltd.
    Rielly Industrial Lumber Inc.
    Shawood Lumber Inc.
    South East Forest Products Ltd.
    St. Jean Lumber (1984) Ltd.
    Sylvanex Lumber Products Inc.
    Teal Cedar Products Ltd.
    United Wood Frames Inc.
    W.I. Woodtone Industries
    Westwood Wholesale Lumber Ltd.
    Williamsburg Woods & Garden Inc.
    Winnipeg Forest Products, Inc.
    Wynndel Box & Lumber Co. Ltd.

Request for Pass-Through Analysis

    Under the Department's proposed methodology for these expedited 
reviews, all Crown inputs (logs and lumber) into subject merchandise 
are included in the subsidy calculations. Because of the expedited 
nature of these reviews, we originally proposed not to consider whether 
subsidies pass through in the context of alleged arm's-length 
transactions. In comments on the methodology, parties requested and 
proposed several alternative methodologies to measure whether or not 
subsidies to crown inputs pass through as a result of an arm's-length 
transaction. See Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Expedited 
Reviews: Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada (67 FR 52945, 
52948-52949, August 14, 2002). Petitioners also commented that the 
proposed methodology underestimates the benefits for entities that are 
highly subsidized. See id. at 52947. After consideration of the 
comments received on the Department's proposed methodology, in the 
notice of preliminary results of countervailing duty expedited reviews 
we noted that the complexities of the pass-through analysis that were 
brought to light by parties' proposed methodologies did not lend 
themselves to an expeditious analysis in the context of these reviews. 
We invited those companies that nonetheless wished the Department to 
conduct a pass-through analysis, to advise the Department in writing. 
Companies whose expedited reviews are initiated in this notice may thus 
also request in writing that the Department conduct a pass-through 
analysis. Such requests must be received by the Department within 14 
days from the date of publication of this notice.
    We will determine, based on the total number of pass-through 
requests received, how many companies it is practicable to consider for 
such an analysis, as well as the amount of time that will be necessary 
for this aspect of the reviews. If a company requests a pass-through 
analysis and the Department determines that it is not practicable to 
conduct that analysis, the Department will conduct an expedited review 
of the company using the streamlined methodology outlined in the 
notices of initiation and preliminary results, either with Group 1 or 
with Group 2, based on the Group that was previously identified for the 
company. (See Notice of Initiation of Expedited Reviews of the 
Countervailing Duty Order: Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada 
(67 FR 46955, 46956-46957, July 17, 2002) and Preliminary Results of 
Countervailing Duty Expedited Reviews: Certain Softwood Lumber Products 
from Canada (67 FR 52945, 52947-52950, August 14, 2002).

Procedure to withdraw requests for expedited review

    As indicated in the notice of preliminary results of expedited 
reviews (67 FR 52950), requests for recission of a respondent's 
expedited review must be received by the Department no later than 30 
days after the date of publication of the preliminary results of the 
relevant expedited review. If a company requests a pass-through 
analysis and the request is accepted, the company will have 30 days 
after the publication of the preliminary results of the relevant pass-
through analysis in which to withdraw its request.

Notice of Appearance

    The Expedited Reviews/Round 2 is a separate segment of the 
proceeding. All parties wishing to participate in this segment of the 
proceeding, must file a letter of appearance. Those parties wishing to 
receive access to business proprietary information subject to 
Administrative Protective Order (APO) must file an APO application for 
this segment.
    This notice is in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930.

    Dated: September 13, 2002.
Richard W. Moreland,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-24003 Filed 9-19-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S