[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72916-72917]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-31035]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-823-808]


Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate From Ukraine; 
Preliminary Results of Administrative Review of the Suspension 
Agreement

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

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of the administrative review of 
the suspension agreement on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate 
from Ukraine.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from the Ministry of Economy and for 
European Integration Issues of Ukraine (respondent) on behalf of the 
Government of Ukraine, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is 
conducting an administrative review of the suspension agreement on 
certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate from Ukraine (the Agreement) 
for the period November 1, 2000 through October 31, 2001, to review the 
current status of, and compliance with, the Agreement. For the reasons 
stated in this notice, the Department preliminarily determines the 
Government of Ukraine (GOU) is in compliance with the Agreement. The 
preliminary results are set forth in the section titled ``Preliminary 
Results of Review,'' infra. Interested parties are invited to comment 
on these preliminary results. Parties who submit comments are requested 
to submit with the argument: (1) A statement of the issues, and (2) a 
brief summary of the arguments.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 9, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Tran or Robert James, AD/CVD 
Enforcement Group III, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-
1121 or (202) 482-0649, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On October 24, 1997, the Department signed an agreement with the 
Government of Ukraine which suspended the antidumping duty 
investigation on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate (CTL plate) 
from Ukraine. See Suspension of Antidumping Duty Investigation: Certain 
Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Ukraine, 62 FR 61766 (November 
19, 1997). In accordance with section 734(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 
(the Tariff Act), on November 19, 1997, the Department also published 
its final determination of sales at less than fair value in this case. 
See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate From Ukraine, 62 FR 61754 
(November 19, 1997).
    On October 30, 2001, the Government of Ukraine submitted a request 
for an administrative review pursuant to the notice of Antidumping or 
Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or Suspended Investigation; 
Opportunity To Request Administrative Review, 66 FR 49923 (October 1, 
2001). The Department initiated a review of the Agreement on December 
13, 2001. See Notice of Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Administrative Reviews (Initiation Notice), 66 FR 65470 (December 
19, 2001).
    On July 1, 2002, the Department extended the time limit for the 
preliminary results of review by 120 days. See Notice of Extension of 
Time Limits for the Preliminary Results of Administrative Review of the 
Suspension Agreement on Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from 
Ukraine, 67 FR 44174 (July 1, 2002).

Scope of Review

    The products covered by this agreement include hot-rolled iron and 
non-alloy steel universal mill plates (i.e., flat-rolled products 
rolled on four faces or in a closed box pass, of a width exceeding 150 
mm but not exceeding 1250 mm and of a thickness of not less than 4 mm, 
not in coils and without patterns in relief), of rectangular shape, 
neither clad, plated nor coated with metal, whether or not painted, 
varnished, or coated with plastics or other nonmetallic substances; and 
certain iron and non-alloy steel flat-rolled products not in coils, of 
rectangular shape, hot-rolled, neither clad, plated, nor coated with 
metal, whether or not painted, varnished, or coated with plastics or 
other nonmetallic substances, 4.75 mm or more in thickness and of a 
width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness. 
Included as subject merchandise in this Agreement are flat-rolled 
products of nonrectangular cross-section where such cross-section is 
achieved subsequent to the rolling process (i.e., products which have 
been ``worked after rolling'') for example, products which have been 
beveled or rounded at the edges. This merchandise is currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) 
under item numbers 7208.40.3030, 7208.40.3060, 7208.51.0030, 
7208.51.0045, 7208.51.0060, 7208.52.0000, 7208.53.0000, 7208.90.0000, 
7210.70.3000, 7210.90.9000, 7211.13.0000, 7211.14.0030, 7211.14.0045, 
7211.90.0000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, 7212.50.0000. Although the 
HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written description of the scope of this Agreement is dispositive. 
Specifically excluded from subject merchandise within the scope of this 
Agreement is grade X-70 steel plate.

Period of Review

    The period of review (POR) is November 1, 2000 through October 31, 
2001.

Preliminary Results of Review

    Section 751(a)(1)(C) of the Tariff Act specifies that the 
Department shall ``review the current status of, and compliance with, 
any agreement by reason of which an investigation was suspended.'' In 
this case the Department and the GOU signed the Agreement suspending 
the antidumping duty investigation on CTL Plate from Ukraine on October 
24, 1997. In order to effectively restrict the volume of exports of CTL 
Plate from Ukraine to the United States, Article VI of the Agreement 
provides for the implementation by the GOU of certain legal and 
administrative provisions. Moreover, Article VIII of the Agreement 
(Monitoring) requires the GOU to ``provide to the Department such 
information as is necessary and appropriate to monitor the 
implementation of and compliance with the terms of [the] Agreement.'' 
The Department primarily relies upon three tools to administer the 
Agreement: (i) Export licenses issued by the GOU, and received by the 
Department from the U.S. Customs Service; (ii) reference prices, 
revised quarterly by the Department; and (iii) the annual export limits 
setting a quota on total imports of CTL plate from Ukraine. The GOU 
must restrict the volume of direct and indirect exports of CTL plate 
from Ukraine to the United States by means of export

[[Page 72917]]

licenses. In addition, subject merchandise may not be sold below the 
quarterly reference prices issued by the Department.
    On March 29, 2002, September 26, 2002, and October 29, 2002, the 
Department issued questionnaires to the GOU. The GOU submitted its 
responses to our March 29, 2002, September 26, 2002, and October 29, 
2002 requests for information on May 13, 2002, October 14, 2002, and 
November 12, 2002, respectively. Our review of the information 
submitted by the GOU indicates that the GOU adhered to the major terms 
of the agreement. The GOU implemented the provisions of the Agreement 
through the passage of Presidential Decrees, Orders of the Ministry of 
Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of Ukraine, and Statute of the 
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. See Exhibit 1 through 6 of May 13, 
2002 response, and Exhibit I-3 of the October 14, 2002 and October 18, 
2002 responses.
    These legal enactments by the GOU established an export licensing 
program for all exports of CTL plate to the United States and mandated 
that merchandise would not be sold under the reference price. Pursuant 
to section VIII of the Agreement, the GOU conformed to the Agreement's 
monitoring requirement by timely filing semi-annual reports indicating 
the volume of sales of CTL plate in the home market and to third 
countries. It has also timely filed monthly reports on export licenses 
issued for sales of subject merchandise to the United States. The 
Agreement also stipulates the GOU must ensure compliance ``by any 
official Ukrainian institution, chamber, or other entities authorized 
by the [GOU], all producers, exporters, brokers, and traders of CTL 
plate, and their affiliated parties, as well as independent trading 
companies/resellers utilized by the Ukrainian producer to make sales to 
the United States.'' The Ukrainian producers conformed to this 
requirement by inserting a clause in its contracts which prohibited the 
re-exportation of subject merchandise to the United States without the 
written permission of the producer and required their customers to 
include re-exportation cautions in contracts of further resells of the 
goods. See GOU's response on October 14, 2002 at 133.
    Our review of the information submitted by the GOU indicates that 
each of the export licenses governed by the Agreement were at or above 
the quarterly FOB reference prices stipulated by the Agreement. 
Furthermore, data supplied by the GOU in its monthly reports, as well 
as our independent review of import data compiled by the U.S. Customs 
Service, indicates Ukraine did not exceed its annual export limits. 
Therefore, we preliminarily determine that the GOU has been in 
compliance with the Agreement. We note, however, that upon further 
review of the record and specifically the information provided by the 
GOU in its November 12, 2002 submission, Azovstal reported sales made 
during the POR to an affiliated trading company, instead of sales to 
the first unaffiliated customer. Appendix B12 of the Agreement requires 
Azovstal to report the name and address of the first unaffiliated 
customer. Consequently, certain information concerning the movement 
expenses incurred by this affiliated trading company on sales to the 
first unaffiliated customer in the United States and the nature of the 
affiliation between Azovstal and the trading company is not on the 
record of this segment of the proceeding. On November 25, 2002, we sent 
a supplemental questionnaire to the GOU requesting the GOU to provide 
sales to the first unaffiliated customer, the movement expenses 
incurred on all sales to these customers, and to describe the nature of 
the affiliation between the Ukrainian producer and its affiliated 
trading company. If appropriate, we will use the reported movement 
expenses to adjust the unaffiliated customer's reported CFR unit prices 
to the FOB prices specified in section IV E of the Agreement. We will 
inform the public of our decision in a Memorandum to the File. 
Additionally, prior to issuing the final results of this review, we 
will conduct a verification in Ukraine to verify the information 
submitted by the GOU in this proceeding.

Public Comment

    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate 
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 
1870, within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice. 
Requests should contain: (1) The party's name, address, and telephone 
number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of the issues to 
be discussed. At the hearing, each party may make an affirmative 
presentation only on issues raised in that party's case brief, and may 
make rebuttal presentations only on arguments included in that party's 
rebuttal brief. See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    Case briefs from interested parties may be submitted no later than 
one week after the issuance of the verification reports. Rebuttal 
briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be filed not later 
than five days after the date of filing case briefs. Further, we would 
appreciate it if parties submitting written comments would provide the 
Department with an additional copy of the public version of any such 
comments on diskette. Any hearing, if requested, will be held 37 days 
after the date of publication or the first business day thereafter. If 
this review proceeds normally, the Department will publish the final 
results of this administrative review, including its analysis of issues 
raised in the case and rebuttal briefs, not later than 120 days after 
the date of publication of this notice.
    We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act.

    Dated: December 2, 2002.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-31035 Filed 12-6-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P