[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 66 (Thursday, April 7, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17656-17658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-1607]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-829]


Stainless Steel Bar From Italy: Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Preliminary Rescission of 
Review

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative 
review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Italy. 
The period of review is March 1, 2003, through February 29, 2004. This 
review covers imports of stainless steel bar from one producer/
exporter. We have preliminarily found that the respondent in this 
review did not make shipments of subject merchandise to the United 
States during the period of review and, therefore, we are preliminarily 
rescinding this administrative review. In addition, the Department of 
Commerce has received information sufficient to warrant a successor-in-
interest analysis. Based on this information, we preliminarily find 
that UGITECH S.A. is the successor-in-interest to Ugine-Savoie Imphy 
S.A. for purposes of determining antidumping duty liability. We invite 
interested parties to comment on these preliminary results. We will 
issue the final results not later than 120 days from the date of 
publication of this notice.

DATES: Effective Date: April 7, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Holland, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office 1, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-1279.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 7, 2002, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') 
published an antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar (``SSB'') 
from Italy. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Order: Stainless Steel Bar 
from Italy, 67 FR 10384 (March 7, 2002). On October 10, 2003, the 
Department published an amended antidumping duty order on SSB from 
Italy. See Notice of Amended Antidumping Duty Orders: Stainless Steel 
Bar from France, Germany, Italy, Korea, and the United Kingdom, 68 FR 
58660 (October 10, 2003).
    On March 1, 2004, the Department published in the Federal Register 
a notice of the opportunity for interested parties to request an 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on SSB from Italy. 
See Notice of Opportunity to Request Administrative Review of 
Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding or Suspended 
Investigation, 69 FR 9584 (March 1, 2004). On March 31, 2004, Carpenter 
Technology Corp., Crucible Specialty Metals, Electralloy Corp., Empire 
Specialty Steel Inc., Slater Steels Corp., and the United Steelworkers 
of America, AFL-CIO/CLC (collectively, ``the petitioners''), requested 
an administrative review of imports of the subject merchandise produced 
by UGITECH S.A. (``UGITECH'') (formerly known as Ugine Savoie-Imphy 
S.A.), an Italian exporter/producer of the subject merchandise.
    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(1), we published a notice of 
initiation of this antidumping duty administrative review on May 27, 
2004. See Notice of Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 69 FR 30282 (May 27, 2004). The period of 
review (``POR'') is March 1, 2003, through February 29, 2004.
    On May 21, 2004, UGITECH informed the Department that it made no 
entries of subject merchandise during the POR and requested that the 
Department rescind the instant review with respect to UGITECH, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3). In June 2004, the petitioners 
submitted comments on UGITECH's May 21, 2004, submission and requested 
that the Department investigate further UGITECH's rescission request. 
In June 2004, UGITECH responded to the petitioner's comments.
    For our successor-in-interest analysis, on June 25, 2004, the 
Department requested additional information concerning the nature of 
the name change of Ugine Savoie-Imphy S.A. to UGITECH. We received 
UGITECH's response on July 23, 2004. On September 1, 2004, the 
petitioners submitted comments on UGITECH's July 23, 2004, response. We 
issued a supplemental questionnaire on October 12, 2004, requesting 
additional information with regard to UGITECH's no shipment claim and 
received UGITECH's response on October 28, 2004.
    In November 2004, the Department conducted a verification of 
UGITECH's questionnaire responses, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.307. 
The verification report was issued on January 13, 2005. See Memorandum 
to the File, ``Verification of UGITECH's S.A.'s No-Shipment Claim,'' 
(``UGITECH's VR'') dated January 13, 2005.
    On November 17, 2004, we extended the time limit for the 
preliminary results in this review until February 1, 2005. See 
Stainless Steel Bar from Italy: Notice of Extension of Time Limit for 
the Preliminary Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 
69 FR 67309 (November 17, 2004). On January 14, 2005, we extended the 
time limit for the preliminary results in this review until March 31, 
2005. See Stainless Steel Bar from Italy: Notice of Extension of Time

[[Page 17657]]

Limit for the Preliminary Results of the Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review, 70 FR 2612 (January 14, 2005). On February 10, 
2005, and March 14, 2005, the petitioners submitted comments for 
purposes of the preliminary results. On March 18, 2005, UGITECH 
responded to the petitioner's comments.

Scope of the Order

    For purposes of this order, the term ``stainless steel bar'' 
includes articles of stainless steel in straight lengths that have been 
either hot-rolled, forged, turned, cold-drawn, cold-rolled or otherwise 
cold-finished, or ground, having a uniform solid cross section along 
their whole length in the shape of circles, segments of circles, ovals, 
rectangles (including squares), triangles, hexagons, octagons, or other 
convex polygons. Stainless steel bar includes cold-finished stainless 
steel bars that are turned or ground in straight lengths, whether 
produced from hot-rolled bar or from straightened and cut rod or wire, 
and reinforcing bars that have indentations, ribs, grooves, or other 
deformations produced during the rolling process.
    Except as specified above, the term does not include stainless 
steel semi-finished products, cut length flat-rolled products (i.e., 
cut length rolled products which if less than 4.75 mm in thickness have 
a width measuring at least 10 times the thickness, or if 4.75 mm or 
more in thickness having a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at 
least twice the thickness), products that have been cut from stainless 
steel sheet, strip or plate, wire (i.e., cold-formed products in coils, 
of any uniform solid cross section along their whole length, which do 
not conform to the definition of flat-rolled products), and angles, 
shapes and sections.
    The stainless steel bar subject to this order is currently 
classifiable under subheadings 7222.11.00.05, 7222.11.00.50, 
7222.19.00.05, 7222.19.00.50, 7222.20.00.05, 7222.20.00.45, 
7222.20.00.75, and 7222.30.00.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS subheadings are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description 
of the scope of this order is dispositive.

Successor-In-Interest Analysis

    In its July 23, 2004, response to the Department's request for 
additional information, UGITECH reported that on November 28, 2003, the 
shareholders of Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. voted to change the company's 
name to UGITECH S.A. UGITECH claimed that Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. and 
UGITECH remained the same legal entity and there was no change in 
ownership associated with the change in name. According to UGITECH, 
prior to the name change Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. dissolved one of its 
wholly-owned French subsidiaries (i.e., Ugine-Savoie France S.A.) and 
integrated that company's operations as an internal department within 
Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. Similarly, shortly after the name change, 
UGITECH dissolved another wholly-owned French subsidiary (i.e., Sprint 
Metal S.A.) and integrated its operations as a internal department 
within UGITECH. Also at that time, the former chief executive officer 
of Sprint Metal was made vice president of sales at UGITECH. Other than 
the name change and the incorporation of the two former subsidiaries 
into the company, UGITECH operations and facilities remain essentially 
unchanged.
    Thus, in accordance with section 751(b) of the Act, the Department 
is conducting a successor-in-interest analysis to determine whether 
UGITECH is the successor-in-interest to Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. for 
purposes of determining antidumping liability with respect to the 
subject merchandise. In making such a successor-in-interest 
determination, the Department examines several factors including, but 
not limited to, changes in: (1) Management; (2) production facilities; 
(3) supplier relationships; and (4) customer base. See, e.g., 
Polychloroprene Rubber from Japan: Final Results of Changed 
Circumstances Review, 67 FR 58 (January 2, 2002) (``Polychloroprene 
Rubber from Japan''); and Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada: Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 57 FR 20460 (May 13, 
1992) (``Canadian Brass''). While no single factor or combination of 
factors will necessarily provide a dispositive indication, the 
Department will generally consider the new company to be the successor 
to the previous company if its resulting operation is not materially 
dissimilar to that of its predecessor. See, e.g., Polychloroprene 
Rubber from Japan; Industrial Phosphoric Acid from Israel: Final 
Results of Changed Circumstances Review, 59 FR 6944 (February 14, 
1994); Canadian Brass; and Fresh and Chilled Atlantic Salmon from 
Norway: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 63 FR 50880 (September 23, 
1998). Thus, if the evidence demonstrates that, with respect to the 
production and sale of the subject merchandise, the new company 
operates as the same business entity as the former company, the 
Department will accord the new company the same antidumping duty 
treatment as its predecessor.
    We preliminarily find that UGITECH is the successor-in-interest to 
Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. UGITECH submitted documentation supporting its 
claims that its name change resulted in no significant changes in 
either production facilities, supplier relationships, customer base, or 
management. This documentation consisted of: (1) A copy of the board 
meeting minutes for the name change; (2) a copy of the article of 
incorporation for UGITECH; and (3) copies of the official registration 
of Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. (before the name change) and UGITECH (after 
the name change); and (4) copies of the statements of dissolution for 
Ugine-Savoie France S.A. and Sprint Metal S.A. These documents, which 
the Department examined thoroughly at verification, demonstrate that 
UGITECH operates as the same business entity as Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A. 
Because UGITECH has presented evidence to establish a prima facie case 
of its successorship status, we preliminarily find that UGITECH should 
receive the same antidumping duty treatment with respect to SSB as the 
former Ugine-Savoie Imphy S.A.

Preliminary Rescission of Administrative Review

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), we are preliminarily 
rescinding this review with respect to UGITECH, which reported that it 
made no shipments of subject merchandise during the POR. We examined 
shipment data furnished by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') 
and analyzed UGITECH's quantity and value of sales at verification. See 
UGITECH's VR. Based on this, we are satisfied that there were no U.S. 
shipments of subject merchandise from UGITECH during the POR.

Public Comment

    Any interested party may request a hearing within 30 days of 
publication of this notice. A hearing, if requested, will be held 37 
days after the publication of this notice, or the first business day 
thereafter. Interested parties may submit case briefs within 30 days of 
the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, which must be 
limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later 
than 35 days after the date of publication of this notice. The 
Department will issue the final results of this administrative review, 
which

[[Page 17658]]

will include the results of its analysis of issues raised in any such 
comments, within 120 days of publication of the preliminary results.

Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) 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 administrative review and notice are in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(I)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: March 31, 2005.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E5-1607 Filed 4-7-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P