[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62102-62104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24785]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-580-849]


Notice of Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination: 
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From the Republic of 
Korea

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

ACTION: Notice of final affirmative countervailing duty determination.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tipten Troidl at (202) 482-1767 or 
Darla Brown at (202) 482-2849, Office of AD/CVD Enforcement VI, Import 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 4012, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.
SUMMARY: On March 4, 2002, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published in the Federal Register its preliminary affirmative 
determination in the countervailing duty investigation of certain cold-
rolled carbon steel flat products (subject merchandise) from the 
Republic of Korea for the period of investigation (POI) calendar year 
2000 (67 FR 9685).
    The net subsidy rate in the final determination differs from that 
of the preliminary determination. The revised final net subsidy rate is 
listed below in the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this 
notice.

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 (2001).

Background

    On March 4, 2002, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published in the Federal Register its preliminary affirmative 
determination in the countervailing duty investigation of certain cold-
rolled carbon steel flat products from the Republic of Korea. See 
Notice of Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination with Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination: Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat 
Products from the Republic of Korea, 67 FR 9685 (March 4, 2002) 
(Preliminary Determination). This investigation covers the POI calendar 
year 2000.
    We invited interested parties to comment on the Preliminary 
Determination. We received both case briefs and rebuttal briefs from 
interested parties. A public hearing was held on August 27, 2002. All 
issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to this 
investigation are addressed in the ``Issues and Decision Memorandum'' 
(Decision Memorandum) dated September 23, 2002, which is hereby adopted 
by this notice.
    With respect to scope, in the Preliminary Determinations in these 
cases, the Department preliminarily

[[Page 62103]]

excluded certain porcelain enameling steel from the scope of these 
investigations. See Scope Appendix to the Notice of Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cold-Rolled 
Carbon Steel Flat Products from Argentina, 67 FR 31181 (May 9, 2002) 
(Scope Appendix--Argentina Preliminary LTFV Determination). On June 13, 
2002, we issued a preliminary decision on the remaining 75 scope 
exclusion requests filed in a number of the on-going cold-rolled steel 
investigations (see the June 13, 2002, memorandum regarding 
``Preliminary Scope Rulings in the Antidumping Investigations on 
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Argentina, 
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, the 
Netherlands, New Zealand, the People's Republic of China, the Russian 
Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and 
Venezuela, and in the Countervailing Duty Investigations of Certain 
Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Argentina, Brazil, France, 
and Korea'' (Preliminary Scope Rulings), which is on file in the 
Department's Central Records Unit (CRU), room B-099 of the main 
Department building. We gave parties until June 20, 2002, to comment on 
the preliminary scope rulings, and until June 27, 2002, to submit 
rebuttal comments. We received comments and/or rebuttal comments from 
petitioners and respondents from various countries subject to these 
investigations of cold-rolled steel. In addition, on June 13, 2002, the 
North American Metals Company (an interested party in the Japanese 
proceeding) filed a request that the Department issue a ``correction'' 
for an already excluded product. On July 8, 2002, the petitioners 
objected to this request.
    At the request of multiple respondents, the Department held a 
public hearing with respect to the Preliminary Scope Rulings on July 1, 
2002. The Department's final decisions on the scope exclusion requests 
are addressed in the ``Scope of Investigation'' section below.

Scope of Investigation

    For purposes of this investigation, the products covered are 
certain cold-rolled (cold-reduced) flat-rolled carbon-quality steel 
products. A full description of the scope of this investigation is 
contained in ``Appendix I'' attached to the Notice of Correction to 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cold-
Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Australia, 67 FR 52934 (August 
14, 2002). For a complete discussion of the comments received on the 
Preliminary Scope Rulings, see the memorandum regarding ``Issues and 
Decision Memorandum for the Final Scope Rulings in the Antidumping Duty 
Investigations on Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from 
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, 
Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the People's Republic of China, 
the Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, 
Turkey, and Venezuela, and in the Countervailing Duty Investigations of 
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Argentina, Brazil, 
France, and Korea,'' dated July 10, 2002, which is on file in the CRU.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) for which we are measuring 
subsidies is calendar year 2000.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we conducted verification 
of the government responses from April 15 through 18, 2002. We also 
conducted verification of the responses of companies from April 17 
through 25, 2002. We used standard verification procedures, including 
meeting with government and company officials and examining relevant 
accounting records and original source documents provided by the 
respondents. Our verification results are outlined in detail in the 
public versions of the verification reports, which are on file in the 
Central Records Unit of the Department of Commerce (Room B-099).

Analysis of Comments Received

    A list of issues which parties have raised and to which we have 
responded, all of which are in the Decision Memorandum, is attached to 
this notice as Appendix I. Parties can find a complete discussion of 
all issues raised in this investigation and the corresponding 
recommendations in this public memorandum which is on file in room B-
099 of the Main Commerce Building. In addition, a complete version of 
the Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the World Wide Web 
at http://ia.ita.doc.gov, under the heading ``Federal Register 
Notices.'' The paper copy and electronic version of the Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 705(c)(1)(B)(i)(I) of the Act, we have 
calculated individual rates for the companies under investigation. For 
the period calendar year 2000, we determine the net subsidy rates for 
the investigated companies to be as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Net subsidy
                     Producer/exporter                           rate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. (Dongbu)............................         1.09
                                                              percent ad
                                                                 valorem
Hyundai Hysco (Hysco)......................................         0.36
                                                              percent ad
                                                                 valorem
Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (POSCO)......................         0.76
                                                              percent ad
                                                                 valorem
Union Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Union)................         3.43
                                                              percent ad
                                                                 valorem
All Others Rate............................................         1.09
                                                              percent ad
                                                                 valorem
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In accordance with our preliminary affirmative determination, we 
instructed the U.S. Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of certain cold-rolled carbon steel flat products from Korea, 
which were entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after March 4, 2002, the date of the publication of our preliminary 
determination in the Federal Register. In accordance with section 
703(d) of the Act, we instructed the U.S. Customs Service to 
discontinue the suspension of liquidation for merchandise entered on or 
after July 2, 2002, but to continue the suspension of liquidation of 
entries made between March 4, 2002 and July 1, 2002.
    We will reinstate suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of 
the Act for all entries if the ITC issues a final affirmative injury 
determination and will require a cash deposit of estimated 
countervailing duties for such entries of merchandise in the amounts 
indicated above. If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat 
of material injury, does not exist, this proceeding will be terminated 
and all estimated duties deposited or securities posted as a result of 
the suspension of liquidation will be refunded or canceled.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. In addition, we are making available to the 
ITC all non-privileged and non-proprietary information related to this 
investigation. We will allow the ITC access to all privileged and 
business proprietary information in our files, provided that the ITC 
confirms that it will not disclose such information, either publically 
or under an administrative protective order (APO), without the written 
consent of the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[[Page 62104]]

    If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat of material 
injury, does not exist, these proceedings will be terminated. If 
however, the ITC determines that such injury does exist, we will issue 
a countervailing duty order.

Return or Destruction of Proprietary Information

    In the event that the ITC issues a final negative injury 
determination, this notice will serve as the only reminder to parties 
subject to APO of their responsibility concerning the destruction of 
proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3). Failure to comply is a violation of the APO.
    This determination is published pursuant to sections 705(d) and 
777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: September 23, 2002.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix I--Issues and Decision Memorandum

Methodology and Background Information

I. The Net Subsidy Rate Attributable to Union Steel Manufacturing 
Co., Ltd. (Union)
II. Subsidies Valuation Information
    A. Allocation Period
    B. Benchmarks for Loans and Discount Rate
    C. Treatment of Subsidies Received by Trading Companies

Analysis of Programs

I. Programs Conferring Subsidies
    A. Pre-Shipment and Post-Shipment Export Financing
    B. GOK Infrastructure Investment at Kwangyang Bay Through 1991
    C. Research and Development (R&D)
    D. Provision of Land at Asan Bay
    E. POSCO's Exemption of Bond Requirement for Port Use at Asan 
Bay
    F. Investment Tax Credits
    G. Reserve for Export Loss--Article 16 of the TERCL
    H. Reserve for Overseas Market Development under TERCL Article 
17
    I. Asset Revaluation Under Article 56(2) of the TERCL
    J. Tax Reserve for Balanced Development under TERCL Article 41/ 
RSTA Article 58
    K. Short-term Export Financing
    L. Local Tax Exemption on Land outside of Metropolitan Area
    M. Electricity Discounts under the Requested Load Adjustment 
Program
    N. POSCO's Provision of Steel Inputs at Less than Adequate 
Remuneration
    O. Dongbu's Excessive Exemptions under the Harbor Act
    P. Exemption of VAT on Imports of Anthracite Coal
II. Programs Determined To Be Not Countervailable
    A. GOK Infrastructure Investments at Kwangyang Bay
    B. R&D Aid for Anthracite Coal Technology
    C. Asan Bay Infrastructure Subsidies
    D. Reserve for Energy-Saving Equipment (RSTA Article 30)
III. Programs Determined To Be Not Used
    A. Anthracite Coal for Less than Adequate Remuneration
    B. Grants to Dongbu
    C. Technical Development Fund (RSTA Article 9, formerly TERCL 
Article 8)
    D. Export Insurance
IV. Total Ad Valorem Rate
V. Analysis of Comments
Comment 1: GOK Control of POSCO
Comment 2: POSCO's Provision of Hot-rolled Coil at Less than 
Adequate Remuneration
Comment 3: Exemption of VAT
Comment 4: Direction of Credit
Comment 5: Tax Programs
Comment 6: Research and Development Subsidies
Comment 7: The GOK's Provision of Infrastructure at Kwangyang Bay
Comment 8: The GOK's Provision of Infrastructure at Asan Bay
Comment 9: Provision of Land at Asan Bay: Land Price and Benchmark
Comment 10: Provision of Land at Asan Bay: Fees Waived
Comment 11: Exemption of Port Fees under the Harbor Act
Comment 12: POSCO's donation to POSTECH

[FR Doc. 02-24785 Filed 10-2-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P