[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 92 (Friday, May 13, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25547-25548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2392]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-485-806]


Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Romania: 
Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed-Circumstances Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: In response to a letter from S.C. Ispat Sidex S.A. notifying 
the Department of Commerce (the Department) that its corporate name has 
changed to Mittal Steel Galati S.A., the Department is initiating a 
changed-circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on certain 
hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from Romania (see Notice of 
Amended Final Antidumping Duty Determination and Antidumping Duty 
Order: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from Romania, 66 
FR 59566 (November 29, 2001) (Amended Determination and Order). We have 
preliminarily concluded that Mittal Steel Galati S.A. is the successor-
in-interest to S.C. Ispat Sidex S.A. (Sidex) and, as a result, should 
be accorded the same treatment previously accorded to Sidex in regards 
to the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat 
products from Romania. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
these preliminary results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 13, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dunyako Ahmadu at (202) 482-0198 or 
Dave Dirstine at (202) 482-4033, AD/CVD Operations, Office 5, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On November 29, 2001, the Department published in the Federal 
Register an antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel 
flat products from Romania. See Amended Determination and Order. Since 
publication, there have been two review periods of this order. Sidex 
was a participant in both reviews. In a letter dated March 24, 2005, 
Sidex advised the Department that on February 7, 2005, it changed its 
corporate name to Mittal Steel Galati, S.A. (Mittal Steel), and that 
Mittal Steel is the successor-in-interest to Sidex. As such, Sidex 
requested that the Department initiate a changed-circumstances review 
to confirm that Mittal Steel is the successor-in-interest to Sidex for 
purposes of determining antidumping-duty liabilities. Sidex also 
requested that the Department conduct a changed-circumstances review on 
an expedited basis, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii). We did not 
receive any other comments.

Scope of the Order

    For purposes of the order, the products covered include hot-rolled 
carbon steel flat products. For a complete description of the scope of 
the order, see Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from 
Romania: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 
69 FR 70644 (December 7, 2004).

Initiation of Changed-Circumstances Review

    Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.216, the Department will conduct a changed-
circumstances review upon receipt of information concerning, or a 
request from an interested party for a review of, an antidumping duty 
order which shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review 
of the order. The information submitted by Mittal Steel claiming that 
it is the successor-in-interest to Sidex demonstrates changed 
circumstances sufficient to warrant a review. See 19 CFR 351.216(d).
    In accordance with the above-referenced regulation, the Department 
is initiating a changed-circumstances review to determine whether 
Mittal Steel is the successor-in-interest to Sidex. In determining 
whether one company is the successor to another for purposes of 
applying the antidumping duty law, the Department examines a number of 
factors including, but not limited to, changes in management, 
production facilities, supplier relationships, and customer base. See 
Industrial Phosphoric Acid From Israel: Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 59 FR 6944 (February 14, 1994). 
While no single or even several of these factors will necessarily 
provide a dispositive indication of succession, generally the 
Department will consider one company to be a successor to another 
company if its resulting operation is similar to that of its 
predecessor. See Brass Sheet and Strip from Canada; Notice of Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 57 FR 20460 (May 13, 
1992), and the attached Decision Memorandum at Comment 1.\1\ 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 prior company, the Department will assign the 
new company the cash-deposit rate of its predecessor.
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    \1\ ``{G{time} enerally, in the case of an asset acquisition, 
the Department will consider the acquiring company to be a successor 
to the company covered by the antidumping duty order, and thus 
subject to its duty deposit rate, if the resulting operation is 
essentially similar to that existing before the acquisition.''
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    On March 24, 2005, Mittal Steel submitted information demonstrating 
that it is the successor to Sidex. With respect to the name change 
itself, Mittal Steel provided the minutes to its January 10, 2005, 
``Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders'' at which the name 
change was approved. In addition, Mittal Steel provided a copy of the 
new company registration certificate issued by the Ministry of Justice 
Trade Register Office of the Galati Tribunal on February 7, 2005, the 
decision of Galati Tribunal to allow the name change (notarized by a 
delegated, tribunal judge), and the certificate issued by the National 
Office of the Trade Registry, Romanian Ministry of Justice, which 
established that Sidex would adopt the Mittal Steel name and logo. See 
Request for Initiation of Changed-Circumstances Review, dated March 24, 
2005, at Exhibit 1.
    According to information provided in Mittal Steel's March 24, 2005, 
request for a changed-circumstances review, we observed that Mittal 
Steel's management, production facilities, suppliers, and customer base 
were consistent with the management, production facilities, suppliers, 
and customer base of Sidex.
    With respect to management prior to and following the name change, 
the record includes a ``Good Standing Certificate'' issued by the Trade 
Registry Office of the Galati Tribunal for Mittal Steel. This document 
lists the members

[[Page 25548]]

of the board of directors and their respective tenure. Id. at Exhibit 
5. Based on this information, we conclude that the name change did not 
affect board membership nor the identity of the board members.
    Mittal Steel provided excerpts from the 15th edition of Iron and 
Steel Works of the World published in 2004 which details Sidex's 
production facilities. It also included a print-out from the Mittal 
Steel website (dated February 23, 2005) indicating that the production 
facilities have not changed location nor has the equipment used for the 
production of merchandise changed following the name change from Sidex 
to Mittal Steel.
    Mittal Steel states in its request for initiation that it is still 
part of the same corporate group to which Sidex belonged and that the 
affiliated suppliers in its corporate group are the same affiliated 
suppliers which Sidex used previously. Similarly, the record shows that 
the relationships with unaffiliated suppliers have not been altered as 
a consequence of the name change. In support of this position, Mittal 
Steel provided reports identifying Mittal Steel's suppliers of raw 
materials for the production of subject merchandise from September to 
December 2004 (i.e., before the name change) and from January to 
February 28, 2005. Id. at Exhibit 9.
    Regarding its customer base, Mittal Steel stated that the 
distribution channels for export and domestic sales, established by 
Sidex prior to the name change, remain the same after the name change. 
For example, Mittal Steel stated that the name change had no influence 
on its relationship with Ispat North America, an affiliated reseller of 
subject merchandise in the U.S. market. As further evidence that Mittal 
Steel's customer base remained the same after the name change, Mittal 
Steel attached a copy of a signed February 15, 2005, customer contract 
where the company's name is amended in the contract transferring legal 
rights and obligations of Sidex to Mittal Steel. Id. at Exhibit 10.
    Therefore, the information provided in Mittal Steel's March 24, 
2005, request for a changed-circumstances review demonstrates that no 
major changes have occurred with respect to Mittal Steel's management, 
production facilities, suppliers or customer base.
    When it concludes that expedited action is warranted, the 
Department may publish the notice of initiation and preliminary results 
for a changed-circumstances review concurrently. See 19 CFR 
351.221(c)(3)(ii). See also Canned Pineapple Fruit from Thailand; 
Initiation and Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed 
Circumstances Review, 69 FR 30878 (June 1, 2004). Based on the 
information on the record, we have determined that expedition of this 
changed-circumstances review is warranted. In this case, we 
preliminarily find that Mittal Steel is the successor-in-interest to 
Sidex and, as such, is entitled to Sidex's cash-deposit rate with 
respect to entries of subject merchandise.\2\
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    \2\ See, e.g., Circular Welded Non-Alloy Steel Pipe From Korea; 
Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 63 
FR 20572 (April 27, 1998), where the Department found successorship 
where the company only changed its name and did not change its 
operations.
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    Should our final results remain the same as these preliminary 
results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assign 
Mittal Steel the antidumping duty cash-deposit rate applicable to 
Sidex.

Public Comment

    Any interested party may request a hearing within 14 days of 
publication of this notice. See 19 CFR 351.310(c). Any hearing, if 
requested, will be held 28 days after the date of publication of this 
notice or the first working day thereafter. Interested parties may 
submit case briefs and/or written comments not later than 14 days after 
the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs and rebuttals 
to written comments, which must be limited to issues raised in such 
briefs or comments, may be filed not later than 21 days after the date 
of publication of this notice. Parties who submit case briefs or 
rebuttal briefs in this changed-circumstances review are requested to 
submit with each argument (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a brief 
summary of the argument with an electronic version included. Consistent 
with 19 CFR 351.216(e), we will issue the final results of this 
changed-circumstances review no later than 270 days after the date on 
which this review was initiated or within 45 days of publication of 
these preliminary results if all parties agree to our preliminary 
finding.
    We are issuing and publishing this initiation and preliminary 
results notice in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(c)(3).

    Dated: May 9, 2005.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E5-2392 Filed 5-12-05; 8:45 am]
(BILLING CODE: 3510-DS-S)