[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 24, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78417-78420]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32430]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-583-816]


Certain Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Taiwan: 
Final Results and Final Rescission in Part of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Notice of final results in the antidumping duty administrative 
review of certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Taiwan.

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SUMMARY: On July 9, 2002, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') 
published the

[[Page 78418]]

preliminary results and partial rescission in part of the 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain 
stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Taiwan. This review covers 
one manufacturer/exporter of the subject merchandise. The period of 
review (``POR'') is June 1, 2000 through May 31, 2001.
    We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the 
preliminary results. Based upon our analysis of the comments received, 
we have made changes in the margin calculation. Therefore, the final 
results differ from the preliminary results of this review. The final 
weight-averaged dumping margin is listed below in the section titled 
``Final Results of the Review.''

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 24, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lilit Astvatsatrian or James Doyle, 
Enforcement Group III, Office 9, Import Administration, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230, telephone 202-482-6412 or 202-
482-0159, respectively, fax 202-482-0865.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of 1930 
(``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's regulations are to the 
regulations at 19 CFR Part 351 (2001).

Background

    On June 16, 1993, the Department published in the Federal Register 
the antidumping duty order on certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe 
fittings from Taiwan. See Amended Final Determination and Antidumping 
Duty Order: Certain Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe and Tube Fittings 
from Taiwan, 58 FR 33250 (June 16, 1993). On June 11, 2001, the 
Department published in the Federal Register a notice of opportunity to 
request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Taiwan covering 
the period June 1, 2000 through May 31, 2001. See Notice of Opportunity 
to Request Administrative Review of Antidumping or Countervailing Duty 
Order, Finding, Or Suspended Investigation, 66 FR 31203 (June 11, 
2001). On June 29, 2001 respondent, Ta Chen requested that the 
Department conduct an administrative review for the period of June 1, 
2000 to May 31, 2001. Additionally, on June 29, 2001, the petitioners 
requested that the Department conduct an administrative review of Ta 
Chen, Liang Feng Stainless Steel Fitting Co., Ltd. (``Liang Feng'') and 
Tru-Flow Industrial Co., Ltd. (``Tru-Flow'') for the period June 1, 
2000 through May 31, 2001. On July 23, 2001, the Department published a 
notice of initiation of this antidumping duty administrative review for 
the period of June 1, 2000 through May 31, 2001. See Notice of 
Initiation of Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews 
and Requests for Revocation in Part, 66 FR 38252 (July 23, 2001).
    On July 25, 2001, the Department issued its antidumping 
questionnaire to Ta Chen, Liang Feng and Tru-Flow. On July 30, 2001, 
Liang Feng reported that it had no sales, entries or shipments of 
subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. Additionally, 
on July 31, 2001, Tru-Flow reported that it had no sales, entries or 
shipments of subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. 
On August 6, 2001, the petitioners opposed Liang Feng's and Tru-Flow's 
statements from their July 30 and July 31 letters, respectively.
    On August 15, 2001, Ta Chen reported that it made sales of subject 
merchandise to the United States during the period of review (``POR'') 
in its response to Section A of the Department's questionnaire. On 
September 7, 2001, Ta Chen submitted its response to Sections B, C, and 
D of the Department's questionnaire. On August 28, 2001, the Department 
issued to Ta Chen a supplemental questionnaire to Section A of the 
Department's questionnaire, for which Ta Chen submitted its response on 
September 25, 2001. On January 8, 2002, the Department issued to Ta 
Chen a supplemental questionnaire to Sections B, C, and D of the 
Department's questionnaire. On January 29, 2002, Ta Chen submitted its 
response to this supplemental questionnaire. On April 23, 2002, the 
Department issued to Ta Chen the second supplemental questionnaire to 
Sections A-D of the Department's questionnaire. On May 13, 2002, Ta 
Chen submitted its response to the second supplemental questionnaire 
for Sections A-D of the Department's questionnaire. On May 17, 2002, 
the Department asked Ta Chen to submit various pages that were missing 
from the exhibits in the May 13, 2002 submission. On May 17, 2002, Ta 
Chen submitted two sets of information, one of which contained the 
missing exhibit pages the Department requested. Ta Chen also submitted 
additional information it claimed was inadvertently omitted from its 
response to the Department's second Sections A-D supplemental 
questionnaire. From May 20-May 23, 2002, the Department of Commerce 
conducted the U.S. sales verification of the questionnaire responses of 
Ta Chen and TCI. On June 12, 2002, the Department requested that Ta 
Chen resubmit its U.S. sales database to incorporate one of the minor 
corrections from verification. Ta Chen submitted the revised U.S. sales 
database on June 14, 2002. On June 13, 2002, the Department asked Ta 
Chen an additional supplemental question regarding clarification of a 
specific home market sales observation. On June 20, 2002, Ta Chen 
submitted its response to the Department's supplemental question.
    Additionally, the Department sent questionnaires to two of Ta 
Chen's subcontractors on January 28, 2002, to which they responded on 
February 18, 2002. On April 25, 2002, the Department issued a 
supplemental questionnaire to the same two subcontractors. They filed 
in their responses on May 23, 2002.
    Pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act, the Department may 
extend the deadline for conducting an administrative review if it 
determines that it is not practicable to complete the review within the 
statutory time limit of 245 days. On January 22, 2002, the Department 
extended the time limits for the preliminary results by 120 days to 
June 29, 2002 in accordance with the Act. However, because June 29, 
2002 fell on a weekend, the Department stated it would release its 
preliminary results on July 1, 2002. See Notice of Postponement of 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Certain 
Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Taiwan, 67 FR 2856 
(January 22, 2002). The Department's preliminary determination in this 
review was published on July 9, 2002. See Certain Stainless Steel Butt-
Weld Pipe Fittings From Taiwan: Preliminary Results and Preliminary 
Rescission in Part of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 
(``Preliminary Results'') 67 FR 45467 (July 9, 2002). We invited 
parties to comment on the Preliminary Results. We received written 
comments on August 8, 2002 from petitioners and on August 9, 2002, from 
Ta Chen. On August 15, 2002, we received rebuttal comments from 
petitioners and Ta Chen. On November 7, 2002, (67 FR 67823) the 
Department extended the time limit for this review 30 days. On November 
27, 2002, the Department extended the time limit for this review an 
additional 11 days so that

[[Page 78419]]

final results of this review become due on December 17, 2002.
    The Department is conducting this administrative review in 
accordance with section 751 of the Act.

Scope of the Review

    The merchandise subject to this administrative review is certain 
stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings (``SSBWPF'') whether finished 
or unfinished, under 14 inches inside diameter. Certain SSBWPF are used 
to connect pipe sections in piping systems where conditions require 
welded connections. The subject merchandise is used where one or more 
of the following conditions is a factor in designing the piping system: 
(1) Corrosion of the piping system will occur if material other than 
stainless steel is used; (2) contamination of the material in the 
system by the system itself must be prevented; (3) high temperatures 
are present; (4) extreme low temperatures are present; and (5) high 
pressures are contained within the system.
    Pipe fittings come in a variety of shapes, with the following five 
shapes the most basic: ``elbows'', ``tees'', ``reducers'', ``stub-
ends'', and ``caps.'' The edges of finished pipe fittings are beveled. 
Threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings are excluded from this review. 
The pipe fittings subject to this review are classifiable under 
subheading 7307.23.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (``HTSUS'').
    Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, our written description of the scope of the review is 
dispositive. Pipe fittings manufactured to American Society of Testing 
and Materials specification A774 are included in the scope of this 
order.
    During this administrative review, the Department received a scope 
ruling request on April 12, 2001 and in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.225(k)(2) from Allegheny Bradford Corporation d/b/a Top Line 
Process Equipment Company (``Top Line''), for a scope ruling on whether 
stainless steel butt-weld tube fittings it plans to import are covered 
by the antidumping duty order on stainless steel butt-weld pipe 
fittings from Taiwan. On November 15, 2001, the Department issued its 
preliminary scope ruling. See Memorandum from Edward C. Yang, Director, 
Enforcement, Group III, Office 9, to Joseph A. Spetrini, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, Group III: Preliminary 
Scope Ruling on the Antidumping Duty Order on Stainless Steel Butt-Weld 
Pipe Fittings: Allegheny Bradford Corporation d/b/a Top Line Process 
Equipment (``Preliminary Scope Ruling''), dated November 15, 2001, 
which is on file at the U.S. Department of Commerce, in the Central 
Records Unit, in room B-099. We gave interested parties an opportunity 
to comment on our Preliminary Scope Ruling. Top Line and Petitioners 
filed briefs on November 21, 2001. On November 26, 2001, Top Line and 
Petitioners filed rebuttal briefs. On December 10, 2001, the Department 
issued its final scope ruling that Top Line's stainless steel butt-weld 
tube fittings are within the scope of the Order. See Memorandum from 
Edward C. Yang, Director, Enforcement, Group III, Office 9, to Joseph 
A. Spetrini, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, 
Group III: Final Scope Ruling on the Antidumping Duty Order on 
Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings: Allegheny Bradford Corporation 
d/b/a Top Line Process Equipment, dated December 10, 2001, which is 
also on file at the U.S. Department of Commerce, in the Central Records 
Unit, in room B-099.

Partial Rescission of Review

    In the Preliminary Determination, the Department preliminarily 
rescinded the review with respect to Liang Feng and Tru-Flow as we 
found that there were no entries of subject merchandise during the POR. 
See Preliminary Determination, 65 FR 45467, 45469. As the Department 
received no comments on this issue and as no additional evidence has 
arisen, the Department is rescinding the review with respect to Liang 
Feng and Tru Flow.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case briefs, as well as the Department's 
findings, in this administrative review are addressed in the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum for the Administrative Review of Stainless Steel 
Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Taiwan: June 1, 2000 through May 31, 2001 
(``Decision Memorandum''), dated December 17, 2002, which is hereby 
adopted by this notice. A list of the issues 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 review and the corresponding 
recommendations in this public memorandum which is on file at the U.S. 
Department of Commerce, in the Central Records Unit, in room B-099. In 
addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be accessed 
directly on the Web at www.ia.ita.doc.gov. The paper copy and 
electronic version of the public version of the Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.

Sales Below Cost in the Home Market

    As discussed in more detail in the Preliminary Results, the 
Department disregarded home market below-cost sales that failed the 
cost test in the final results of review.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    A list of the 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. Based on our analysis of the comments 
received, we have made certain changes in the margin calculation, as 
discussed in the Decision Memorandum, accessible in B-099. The changes 
are as follows:
    [sbull] The Department has changed the amount used for inter-
warehouse transfer.
    [sbull] The Department has applied, as facts available, the average 
margin of all the U.S. sales to two sets of sales in question, instead 
of the average positive margin applied in the preliminary results.
    [sbull] The Department has recalculated the indirect selling 
expense ratio since it is our policy to offset interest expenses 
included in indirect selling expenses by the amount of imputed expenses 
related to subject merchandise.
    [sbull] The Department has recalculated Ta Chen's G&A to include 
bonuses to employees, supervisors, and directors paid from 
stockholder's equity.

Final Results of the Review

    We determine that the following percentage weighted-average margin 
exists for the period June 1, 2000 through May 31, 2001:

                   Certain Welded Stainless Steel Pipe
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Weighted-Average
            Producer/Manufacturer/Exporter               [chyph]Margin
                                                           (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ta Chen..............................................               2.38
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Department shall determine, and the U.S. Customs Service 
(``Customs'') shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate 
entries. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b), we have calculated 
importer-specific assessment rates. With respect to the constructed 
export price sales, we divided the total dumping margins for the 
reviewed sales by the total entered value of those reviewed sales for 
each importer. We will direct Customs to assess any resulting non-de 
minimis percentage margins against the entered Customs values for the 
subject

[[Page 78420]]

merchandise on each of that importer's entries during the review 
period.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of this notice of final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of certain SSBWPF from Taiwan entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication, as 
provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for 
Ta Chen will be the rate shown above; (2) for previously reviewed or 
investigated companies not listed above, the cash deposit rate will 
continue to be the company-specific rate published for the most recent 
period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a 
prior review, or the original less-than-fair-value (LTFV) 
investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be 
the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of 
the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other 
manufacturers shall continue to be 51.01 percent.
    These deposit requirements shall remain in effect until publication 
of the final results of the next administrative review.
    This notice also serves as a final reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate regarding 
the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the 
relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this 
requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of doubled antidumping duties.
    This notice also serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (``APO'') of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely written 
notification of the return/destruction of APO materials or conversion 
to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply 
with the regulations and terms of an APO is a violation which is 
subject to sanction.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: December 17, 2002.
Bernard T. Carreau,
ActingAssistant Secretary for Import Administration.

APPENDIX I

Discussion of the Issues:

Comment 1: Intra-Warehouse Freight Costs
Comment 2: CEP Profit
Comment 3: Use of Adverse Facts Available
Comment 4: Home Market Credit Expenses
Comment 5: CEP Expenses
Comment 6: CEP Offset
Comment 7: Costs Associated with U.S. Short-Term Borrowings
Comment 8: U.S. Indirect Selling Expenses
Comment 9: Home Market Indirect Selling Expenses
Comment 10: Home Market Inventory Carrying Costs Related to U.S. Sales
Comment 11: General and Administrative Expenses
Comment 12: Miscellaneous
[FR Doc. 02-32430 Filed 12-23-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S