[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33472-33474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-14039]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-583-830]


Preliminary Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: 
Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Taiwan

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

ACTION: Notice of the Preliminary Rescission of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review of Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Taiwan.

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SUMMARY: On June 25, 2002, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') 
published a notice of initiation of an antidumping duty administrative 
review on stainless steel plate in coils from Taiwan. See Notice of 
Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Reviews and Request for Revocation in Part (``Notice of Initiation'') 
67 FR 42753 (June 25, 2002). This review covers two manufacturers/
exporters of the subject merchandise, Yieh United Steel

[[Page 33473]]

Corporation (``YUSCO''), a Taiwan producer and exporter of subject 
merchandise, and Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Co., Ltd. (``Ta Chen''), a 
Taiwan producer and exporter of subject merchandise. The period of 
review (``POR'') is May 1, 2001 through April 30, 2002. We are 
preliminarily rescinding this review based on evidence on the record 
indicating that there were no entries into the United States of subject 
merchandise during the POR from the respondents.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 4, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Catherine Bertrand, Enforcement Group 
III, Office 9, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, 
NW, Washington, DC 20230, telephone 202-482-3207.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 21, 1999, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') 
published the antidumping duty order on stainless steel plate in coils 
from Taiwan. See Antidumping Duty Orders; Certain Stainless Steel Plate 
in Coils From Belgium, Canada, Italy, the Republic of Korea, South 
Africa, and Taiwan, 64 FR 27756 (May 21, 1999). On May 6, 2002, the 
Department published a notice of opportunity to request an 
administrative review of this order for the period May 1, 2001 through 
April 30, 2002. See Notice of Opportunity to Request Administrative 
Review of Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation, 67 FR 30356 (May 6, 2002). On May 7, 2002, 
Petitioners\1\ timely requested that the Department conduct an 
administrative review of sales by YUSCO, a Taiwan producer and exporter 
of subject merchandise, and Ta Chen, a Taiwan producer and exporter of 
subject merchandise. On June 25, 2002, in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended (``the Act''), the 
Department published in the Federal Register a notice of initiation of 
this antidumping duty administrative review of sales by YUSCO and Ta 
Chen for the period May 1, 2001 through April 30, 2002. See Notice of 
Initiation.
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    \1\ Allegheny Ludlum, AK Steel Corporation, Butler Armco 
Independent Union, United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO/CLC, and 
Zanesville Armco Independent Organization are collectively 
``Petitioners'' for this review.
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    On July 10, 2002, the Department issued its antidumping duty 
questionnaire to YUSCO and Ta Chen. On July 15, 2002, Ta Chen stated 
that it did not have any U.S. sales, shipments or entries of subject 
merchandise during the POR, and requested that it not be required to 
answer the Department's questionnaire. On July 18, 2002, YUSCO stated 
that it did not have any U.S. sales, shipments or entries of subject 
merchandise during the POR. On October 8, 2002, we sent an inquiry to 
the U.S. Customs Service (as of March 1, 2003, renamed the U.S. Bureau 
of Customs and Border Protection) (``BCBP'') to confirm that YUSCO and 
Ta Chen had no shipments of subject merchandise into the United States 
during the POR. On October 29, 2002, BCBP responded to the inquiry. 
BCBP determined that there were no entries of subject merchandise by Ta 
Chen during the POR. However, BCBP informed the Department that 
potential shipment(s) of subject merchandise from YUSCO to the United 
States during the POR existed. On January 15, 2003, the Department 
requested that YUSCO explain the potential shipment(s). See letter from 
the Department to YUSCO, dated January 15, 2003. On January 16, 2003, 
Petitioners requested that the Department place the proprietary 
information regarding the potential shipment(s) on the record. See 
Petitioners letter to the Department, dated January 16, 2003. On 
January 22, 2003, YUSCO informed the Department that it would like the 
Department to place proprietary information on the record so that YUSCO 
may be able to identity the potential shipment(s). See YUSCO's letter 
to the Department, dated January 22, 2003. On January 27, 2003, the 
Department placed certain proprietary information on the record 
regarding the potential shipment(s) of subject merchandise from YUSCO. 
See Department's letter to YUSCO, dated January 27, 2003. Additionally, 
during the months of January and February 2003, the Department 
contacted BCBP to confirm that no shipments from Ta Chen entered the 
United States during the POR. During that time, BCBP provided the 
Department with information regarding the potential Ta Chen shipments. 
See Department's letter to BCBP on February 3, 2003, and Memorandum to 
the File on February 25, 2003, in which the Department determined that 
each potential shipment from Ta Chen that we analyzed was not subject 
merchandise.
    On February 5, 2003, we extended the preliminary results by sixty 
days. See Notice of Extension of Time Limit for the Preliminary Results 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 68 FR 5869 (February 5, 
2003). On March 21, 2003, we extended the preliminary results by sixty 
days. See Notice of Extension of Time Limit for the Preliminary Results 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 68 FR 13897 (March 21, 
2003).
    On February 11, 2003, the Department sent BCBP a letter to inquire 
about a possible discrepancy in the documentation sent to the 
Department by BCBP relating to YUSCO and the existence/non-existence of 
entries of subject merchandise during the POR. On March 19, 2003, BCBP 
sent the Department a response to its February 11, 2003 letter, in 
which BCBP stated that it was re-classifying the material in question 
and that, upon review of its records, it no longer considered the 
material to be subject merchandise.
    Petitioners have placed various submissions on the record alleging 
that Ta Chen and YUSCO are affiliated with other companies that may 
have shipped subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. 
Respondent YUSCO has denied Petitioner's allegations. See e.g., 
Petitioners' March 30, 2003 and Respondent's April 16, 2003 
submissions.

Scope of the Review

    For purposes of this review, the product covered is certain 
stainless steel plate in coils. Stainless steel is an alloy steel 
containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 percent 
or more of chromium, with or without other elements. The subject plate 
products are flat-rolled products, 254 mm or over in width and 4.75 mm 
or more in thickness, in coils, and annealed or otherwise heat treated 
and pickled or otherwise descaled. The subject plate may also be 
further processed (e.g., cold-rolled, polished, etc.) provided that it 
maintains the specified dimensions of plate following such processing. 
Excluded from the scope of this review are the following: (1) Plate not 
in coils, (2) plate that is not annealed or otherwise heat treated and 
pickled or otherwise descaled, (3) sheet and strip, and (4) flat bars. 
In addition, certain cold-rolled stainless steel plate in coils is also 
excluded from the scope of these orders. The excluded cold-rolled 
stainless steel plate in coils is defined as that merchandise which 
meets the physical characteristics described above that has undergone a 
cold-reduction process that reduced the thickness of the steel by 25 
percent or more, and has been annealed and pickled after this cold 
reduction process. The merchandise subject to this review is currently 
classifiable in the HTS at subheadings: 7219.11.00.30, 7219.11.00.60, 
7219.12.00.05, 7219.12.00.20, 7219.12.00.25, 7219.12.00.50, 
7219.12.00.55, 7219.12.00.65, 7219.12.0070, 7219.12.00.80, 
7219.31.00.10,

[[Page 33474]]

7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60, 
7219.90.00.80, 7220.11.00.00, 7220.20.10.10, 7220.20.10.15, 
7220.20.10.60, 7220.20.10.80, 7220.20.60.05, 7220.20.60.10, 
7220.20.60.15, 7220.20.60.60, 7220.20.60.80, 7220.90.00.10, 
7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. Although the HTS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and BCBP purposes, the written 
description of the merchandise under investigation is dispositive.

Period of Review

    The POR is May 1, 2001 through April 30, 2002.

Preliminary Rescission of Review in Part

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), the Department may rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or with respect to a particular 
exporter or producer, if the Secretary concludes that, during the 
period covered by the review, there were no entries, exports, or sales 
of the subject merchandise. Both Ta Chen and YUSCO certified on the 
record that they did not export subject merchandise to the United 
States during the POR. The Department then conducted a BCBP inquiry and 
pursued additional questions following the BCBP inquiry pertaining to 
Ta Chen and YUSCO. In response to our requests, BCBP supplied further 
information to the Department. For Ta Chen, all the documentation 
provided to the Department by BCBP indicates that there were no 
shipments of subject merchandise during the POR. See Memorandum to the 
File dated February 25, 2003.
    Petitioners allege Ta Chen was affiliated with other Taiwanese 
companies during the POR. See Petitioners submission to the Department, 
dated April 4, 2003. Absent entries of subject merchandise produced and 
exported to the Unites States by Ta Chen during the POR, however, the 
Department has preliminarily determined to rescind this administrative 
review. See Memorandum to the File on February 25, 2003. The parties 
being reviewed in this case are Ta Chen and YUSCO, not the other 
parties which have been alleged to be affiliated with Ta Chen and 
YUSCO. Neither the Petitioners nor any other party requested an 
administrative review of Ta Chen's alleged affiliates. As it is, Ta 
Chen has been found preliminarily to have exported no subject 
merchandise to the Unites States during the POR. Therefore, absent 
entries, there is no reason for the Department to conduct an 
affiliation analysis. If the Petitioners believe other parties 
potentially affiliated with Ta Chen and YUSCO are exporting subject 
merchandise to the United States, then a review in subsequent periods 
of reviews for those companies should be requested. However, for 
purposes of this administrative review, the Department preliminarily 
finds that Ta Chen had no entries of subject merchandise in the United 
States during the POR. See 19 CFR 351.213(b) providing that the 
domestic industry must specify the exporter or producer it wishes the 
Department to review in its request for an administrative review.
    For YUSCO, the Department found a discrepancy in the BCBP database 
and contacted BCBP on this matter. BCBP agreed that a discrepancy 
existed and resolved it. See BCBP letter to Edward Yang from Alfred 
Morawski, placed on the record of this proceeding on March 20, 2003. As 
a result of BCBP's efforts, the BCBP's database now confirms that YUSCO 
had no shipments of subject merchandise to the Unites States during the 
POR.
    Petitioners provided affiliation arguments for YUSCO as well, but 
again, absent entries to the United States by YUSCO during the POR, the 
Department has preliminarily determined to rescind this administrative 
review. Petitioners did not request a review of the alleged affiliated 
parties. Had they made such an allegation, we would have conducted a 
review accordingly. The record indicates YUSCO had no entries to the 
United States of subject merchandise during the POR. Thus, the 
Department has preliminarily determined to rescind this administrative 
review. See 19 CFR 351.213(b).
    As discussed above, in this case the Department is satisfied, after 
a review of information on the record, certification from YUSCO and Ta 
Chen of no exports to the United States during the POR, the inquiry on 
data from BCBP, and further communications with BCBP, that there were 
no entries of stainless steel plate in coils produced or exported from 
Ta Chen or YUSCO during the POR to the United States. Therefore, the 
Department is preliminarily rescinding this administrative review. The 
cash deposit rate for YUSCO will remain at 8.02 percent, for Ta Chen 
the cash deposit rate will remain at 10.20 percent, and for ``all 
other'' producers/exporters of the subject merchandise the cash deposit 
rate will remain at 7.39 percent, the rates established in the most 
recently completed segment of this proceeding. See Notice of Final 
Results and Rescission in Part of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils From Taiwan, 67 FR 40914 (June 
14, 2002).
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309, interested parties may submit written 
comments in response to this preliminary rescission. Case briefs must 
be submitted within 30 days after the date of publication of this 
notice and rebuttal briefs, limited to arguments raised in the case 
briefs, must be submitted no later than 7 days after the time limit for 
filing case briefs. Case and rebuttal briefs must be served on 
interested parties in accordance with 19 CFR 351.303(f).
    This administrative review and notice is published in accordance 
with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: May 27, 2003.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-14039 Filed 6-3-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S