[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 183 (Monday, September 22, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55029-55030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24127]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-827]


Notice of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty 
Changed Circumstances Review and Intent to Revoke Order in Part: 
Certain Cased Pencils from the People's Republic of China

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

ACTION: Notice of initiation and preliminary results of antidumping 
duty changed circumstances review and intent to revoke order in part.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 751(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the Act), and section 351.216(b) of the Department of 
Commerce's (the Department) regulations, Accoutrements filed a request 
for a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty (AD) order 
on certain cased pencils from the People's Republic of China (PRC). 
Specifically, Accoutrements requests that the Department revoke the AD 
order with respect to a large novelty pencil, which is described below. 
The domestic industry has affirmatively expressed a lack of interest in 
the continuation of the order with respect to this product. In response 
to the request, the Department is initiating a changed circumstances 
review and issuing a notice of preliminary intent to revoke, in part, 
the AD order on certain cased pencils from the PRC. Interested parties 
are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 22, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Crystal Crittenden or Howard Smith AD/
CVD Enforcement, Group II, Office 4, Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone 
(202) 482-0989 and (202) 482-5193, respectively.,

Background

    On July 30, 2003, Accoutrements, a U.S. importer, filed a request 
with the Department to revoke the AD order on certain cased pencils 
from the PRC with respect to a large novelty pencil. See Accoutrements 
letter to the Secretary, dated July 25, 2003 (Accoutrements Request 
Letter). Specifically, Accoutrements requests that the Department 
revoke the AD order with respect to imports meeting the following 
description: novelty jumbo pencil that is octagonal in shape, 
approximately fourteen inches long, one-and-one quarter inches in 
diameter, and three-and-three quarter inches in circumference, composed 
of turned wood imprinted with the word, ACCOUTREMENTS, and the number 
2, on one side, encasing one-and-one half inches of sharpened lead on 
one end and a rubber eraser on the other end. See Accoutrements Request 
Letter at 1.
    On August 11, 2003, the petitioner in the pencils AD proceeding\1\ 
submitted a letter to the Department stating that it ``would not 
support inclusion in the referenced antidumping duty order of a jumbo 
novelty pencil (approximately 1 foot long and 1 inch in diameter) that 
a company called Accoutrements is considering importing.'' On September 
8, 2003, the petitioner submitted a letter to the Department clarifying 
its August 11, 2003 submission. In its September 8, 2003, letter, the 
petitioner submitted the following proposed scope language with respect 
to the above-mentioned jumbo novelty pencil: ``Also excluded from the 
scope of the order are pencils with all of the following physical 
characteristics: 1) length: 14 or more inches; 2) sheath diameter: not 
less than one-and-one quarter inches at any point (before sharpening); 
and 3) core length: not more than 15 percent of the length of the 
pencil.''
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    \1\ The petitioner is the Pencil Section of the Writing 
Instrument Manufacturers Association, a trade association composed 
of domestic pencil producers, and Sanford Corporation, Musgrave 
Pencil Company, Mood Products, Inc., and General Pencil Company 
(collectively, the petitioner).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scope of the Order

    Imports covered by this order are shipments of certain cased 
pencils of any shape or dimension which are writing and/or drawing 
instruments that feature cores of graphite or other materials, encased 
in wood and/or man-made materials, whether or not decorated and whether 
or not tipped (e.g., with erasers, etc.) in any fashion, and either 
sharpened or unsharpened. The pencils subject to this order are 
classified under item number 9609.10.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Specifically excluded from the 
scope of this order are mechanical pencils, cosmetic pencils, pens, 
non-cased crayons (wax), pastels, charcoals, chalks, and pencils 
produced under U.S. patent number 6,217,242, from paper infused with 
scents by the means covered in the above-referenced patent, thereby 
having odors distinct from those that may emanate from pencils lacking 
the scent infusion.

[[Page 55030]]

    Although the HTSUS item number is provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, our written description of the scope of the order is 
dispositive.

Initiation and Preliminary Results of AD Changed Circumstances Review 
and Intent to Revoke in Part

    Section 751(d)(1) of the Act and section 351.222 (g) of the 
Department's regulations provide that the Department may revoke an AD 
or countervailing duty order, in whole or in part, after conducting a 
changed circumstances review and concluding from the available 
information that changed circumstances sufficient to warrant revocation 
or termination exist. The Department may conclude that changed 
circumstances sufficient to warrant revocation (in whole or in part) 
exist when producers accounting for substantially all of the production 
of the domestic like product to which the order pertains have expressed 
a lack of interest in the order, in whole or in part. See section 
782(h) of the Act and section 351.222 (g)(1) of the Department's 
regulations. Based on an affirmative statement by domestic producers of 
the like product, we find that no interest exists in continuing the AD 
order with respect to large novelty pencils described in the proposed 
scope language below. Therefore, we are hereby notifying the public of 
our preliminary intent to revoke, in part, the AD order on certain 
cased pencils from the PRC with respect to imports of novelty pencils 
that meet the description below. We intend to modify the scope of the 
AD order to read as follows:
    Imports covered by this order are shipments of certain cased 
pencils of any shape or dimension (except as noted below) which are 
writing and/or drawing instruments that feature cores of graphite or 
other materials, encased in wood and/or man-made materials, whether or 
not decorated and whether or not tipped (e.g., with erasers, etc.) in 
any fashion, and either sharpened or unsharpened. The pencils subject 
to the order are classified under subheading 9609.10.00 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States (HTSUS). Specifically 
excluded from the scope of the order are mechanical pencils, cosmetic 
pencils, pens, non-cased crayons (wax), pastels, charcoals, chalks, and 
pencils produced under U.S. patent number 6,217,242, from paper infused 
with scents by the means covered in the above-referenced patent, 
thereby having odors distinct from those that may emanate from pencils 
lacking the scent infusion. Also excluded from the scope of the order 
are pencils with all of the following physical characteristics: 1) 
length: 14 or more inches; 2) sheath diameter: not less than one-and-
one quarter inches at any point (before sharpening); and 3) core 
length: not more than 15 percent of the length of the pencil. Although 
the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes 
our written description of the scope of the order is dispositive.
    Furthermore, pursuant to section 351.221(c)(3)(ii) of the 
Department's regulations, because all parties to the proceeding agree 
to the outcome of the review, we determine that expedited action is 
warranted and have combined the notices of initiation and preliminary 
results. If the final partial revocation occurs, we intend to instruct 
the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) to liquidate, 
without regard to applicable antidumping duties, all unliquidated 
entries of pencils that meet the above-noted specifications, and to 
refund any estimated antidumping duties collected on such merchandise 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
December 1, 2001, the day after the most recent period for which the 
Department issued assessment instructions to BCBP (12/1/2000-11/30/
2001), in accordance with 19 CFR 351.222. We will also instruct BCBP to 
pay interest on such refunds with respect to the subject merchandise 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
December 1, 2001, in accordance with section 778 of the Act. See Notice 
of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and Intent to Revoke Order in 
Part: Certain Cut-To-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate Products from 
Japan, 68 FR 1436 (January 10, 2003). The current requirement for a 
cash deposit of estimated antidumping duties on pencils that meet the 
above-noted specifications will continue unless, and until, we publish 
a final determination to revoke the order in part.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results. Written comments may be submitted by interested parties not 
later than 14 days after the date of publication of this notice. 
Parties who submit argument in this proceeding are requested to submit 
with the argument (1) a statement of the issue, and (2) a brief summary 
of the argument. Pursuant to section 351.309(d) of the Department's 
regulations, rebuttals to written comments, limited to the issues 
raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after 
the deadline for submission of case briefs. Also, interested parties 
may request a hearing within 10 days of publication of this notice. Any 
hearing, if requested, will be held no later than two days after the 
deadline for the submission of rebuttal briefs, or the first workday 
thereafter. All written comments shall be submitted in accordance with 
section 351.303 of the Department's regulations and shall be served on 
all interested parties on the Department's service list. The Department 
will issue the final results of this review within the time limits 
established in section 351.216(e) of its regulations.
    This notice is published in accordance with section 751(b)(1) of 
the Act and sections 351.216 and 351.222 of the Department's 
regulations.

    Dated: September 12, 2003.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-24127 Filed 9-18-03; 12:01pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S