[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62130-62132]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24798]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-423-811]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From Belgium.

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Terpstra or Lyman Armstrong at 
(202) 482-3965 or (202) 482-3601, respectively; Enforcement Office VI, 
Group II, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

The 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 Department of Commerce (Department) 
regulations refer to the regulations codified at 19 CFR part 351 
(2001).

Final Determination

    We determine that certain cold-rolled carbon steel flat products 
(cold-rolled steel) from Belgium is being sold, or is likely to be 
sold, in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided 
in section 735 of the Act. The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are 
shown in the Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation section of this 
notice.

Case History

    The preliminary determination in this investigation was issued on 
May 9, 2002. See Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value and Postponement of Final Determination: Certain Cold-
Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Belgium, 67 FR 31195 (May 9, 
2002). Since the publication of the preliminary determination, the 
following events have occurred.
    On May 10, 2002, the Department issued supplemental Sections A, B, 
and C questionnaires to Sidmar, N.V. (Sidmar), the respondent in this 
review. The responses were received on May 14, 2002.
    On May 13, 2002, Sidmar, the respondent in this review and 
petitioners \1\ submitted comments regarding ministerial errors in the 
Department's preliminary determination. However, because these errors 
were not ``significant'' within the meaning of the regulations, 19 CFR 
351.224(g), we did not amend the preliminary determination. We have 
corrected these errors for purposes of our final dumping margin. For 
further discussion, see the Calculation Memorandum from Lyman Armstrong 
to the File for the Final Determination

[[Page 62131]]

of Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Belgium, dated 
September 23, 2002 (Final Calculation Memorandum).
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    \1\ The petitioners in this investigation are Bethlehem Steel 
Corporation, LTV Steel Company Inc., National Steel Corporation, 
Nucor Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc., United States Steel 
Corporation, WCI Steel, Inc., and Weirton Steel Corporation 
(collectively, the petitioners).
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    On May 20, 2002, petitioner Nucor Corporation, requested a hearing 
pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c). On May 29, 2002 and June 10, 2002, 
petitioners Bethlehem Steel Corporation, National Steel Corporation, 
and United States Steel Corporation, submitted letters, respectively, 
not requesting a hearing but wishing to participate in any hearing the 
Department held.
    In May and June 2002, the Department verified the responses 
submitted by Sidmar and its affiliates J&F Steel Corporation (J&F) and 
TradeARBED Corporation (TANY). Verification reports were issued in July 
and August 2002. On August 19, 2002, we received case briefs from the 
petitioners and the respondent. On August 26, 2002, we received 
rebuttal briefs from the petitioners and the respondents.
    On August 26, 2002, petitioner Nucor Corporation a submitted a 
letter withdrawing its request for a hearing. No hearing was held with 
respect to this investigation.
    On September 5, 2002, we sent a letter to Sidmar requesting revised 
databases correcting the minor corrections presented at the beginning 
of the sales and cost verifications.

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) is July 1, 2000, through June 30, 
2001.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we conducted verification 
of the cost and sales information submitted by the respondent. We used 
standard verification procedures including examination of relevant 
accounting and production records, and original source documents 
provided by the respondent.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this antidumping proceeding are listed in the appendix to this notice 
and addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Antidumping 
Duty Investigation of Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products 
from Belgium (Decision Memorandum) from Holly A. Kuga, Acting Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, to Faryar Shirzad, 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated concurrently with 
this notice, which is hereby adopted by this notice. The Decision 
Memorandum is on file in room B-099 of the main Department of 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/. The paper and electronic versions of the Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determinations

    Based on our findings at verification, and analysis of comments 
received, we have made the following adjustments to the preliminary 
determination in calculating the final dumping margin in this 
proceeding:
    [sbull] For a small number of sales in the home and U.S. market 
Sidmar did not report a date of payment. In accordance with 
Departmental practice in such cases where payment has not yet been 
made, we have used the last day of the U.S. sales verification (i.e., 
June 28, 2002) as payment date in the calculation of imputed credit 
expenses.
    [sbull] The Department corrected the margin program based on errors 
discovered at verification.
    [sbull] For the final determination the Department has denied all 
early payment discounts in the home market because Sidmar has failed to 
demonstrate that it is entitled to such an adjustment.
    [sbull] For billing adjustments in the U.S. market, the Department 
has applied partial adverse facts available by setting all positive 
billing adjustments to zero, and where a negative billing adjustment is 
misreported, the Department has taken each unique combination of J&F 
branch and invoice number for which a negative billing adjustment is 
reported and applied the largest per-unit negative billing adjustment 
for all records sharing the same branch/invoice number combination.
    [sbull] The Department corrected clerical errors presented by 
interested parties in the margin and comparison market program.
These adjustments are discussed in the relevant sections of the 
Decision Memorandum and Final Calculation Memorandum for this 
investigation.

Facts Available

    Section 776(a)(2) of the Act provides that ``if an interested party 
or any other person--(A) Withholds information that has been requested 
by the administering authority; (B) fails to provide such information 
by the deadlines for the submission of the information or in the form 
and manner requested, subject to subsections (c)(1) and (e) of section 
782; (C) significantly impedes a proceeding under this title; or (D) 
provides such information but the information cannot be verified as 
provided in section 782(i), the administering authority shall, subject 
to section 782(d), use the facts otherwise available in reaching the 
applicable determination under this title.'' In addition, section 
776(b) of the Act provides that, if the Department finds that an 
interested party ``has failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of 
its ability to comply with a request for information,'' the Department 
may use information that is adverse to the interests of the party as 
the facts otherwise available. The statute also provides that such an 
adverse inference may be based on secondary information, including 
information drawn from the petition. In this case, the Department has 
applied partial facts available for various expenses and adjustments. 
(See the Decision Memorandum at comments 9 and 10).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we are 
directing the Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of cold-rolled steel exported from Belgium that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 9, 2002, the 
date of publication of our preliminary determination. The Customs 
Service shall continue to require a cash deposit or the posting of a 
bond based on the estimated

[[Page 62132]]

weighted-average dumping margins shown below. The suspension of 
liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
    We determine that the following weighted-average dumping margins 
exist for Belgium:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
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Sidmar, N.V................................................        11.56
All Others.................................................        11.56
------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determinations. The ITC 
will determine, within 45 days, whether imports of subject merchandise 
from Belgium are causing material injury, or threaten material injury, 
to an industry in the United States. If the ITC determines that 
material injury or threat of injury does not exist, the proceedings 
will be terminated and all securities posted will be refunded or 
canceled. If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, the 
Department will issue antidumping orders directing Customs Service 
officials to assess antidumping duties on all imports of the subject 
merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or 
after the effective date of the suspension of liquidation.
    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely notification of return/
destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order 
is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and the 
terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

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

Appendix--Issues Covered in Decision Memorandum

Sales Issues

(1) Whether to Apply Partial Adverse Facts Available (AFA) to 
Sidmar's U.S. Sales of Products Further Processed by Laminoir de 
Dudelange S.A. (LDD) and Imported by J&F Steel Corporation (J&F)
(2) Constructed Export Price (CEP) Offset
(3) Whether the Department Should Make All Minor Corrections 
Presented On the First Day of Verification
(4) Whether to Correct Sidmar's Failure to Report Rebates for 
Certain U.S. Sales
(5) Whether to Apply Partial Adverse Facts Available for Sidmar's 
Failure to Report Certain Movement Expenses
(6) Whether the Department Should Calculate U.S. Credit Expense 
Using the Weighted Average of TradeARBED (TANY)'s Short-Term 
Interest Rates
(7) Whether Sidmar's Freight Components Arranged Through Transaf 
N.V. (Transaf) Were at Arm's Length
(8) Whether the Department Should Calculate TANY's Indirect Selling 
Expenses Using TANY's Corrected Indirect Selling Expense Ratio
(9) Whether to Apply Partial Adverse Facts Available (AFA) for 
Sidmar's Misreporting of its Billing Adjustments on its U.S. Sales
(10) Early Payment Discounts
(11) Alleged Clerical Errors in the Preliminary Determination

Cost Issues

(12) General & Administrative (G&A) Expense
(13) Foreign Exchange Gains and Losses
(14) Valuation of Certain Inputs in the Cost of Manufacture
(15) Affiliated Input Transactions

[FR Doc. 02-24798 Filed 10-2-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P