[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 17, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28275-28277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2466]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

(A-421-811)


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On December 16, 2004, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the 
Department) made its preliminary determination in the antidumping duty 
investigation of purified carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) from the 
Netherlands, which was amended on February 3, 2005, pursuant to 
comments received by Noviant B.V. We gave interested parties an 
opportunity to comment on the preliminary and amended determinations. 
Based upon the results of verification and our analysis of the comments 
received, we have made certain changes. We continue to find that 
purified CMC from the Netherlands was sold in the United States below 
normal value during the period of investigation. The final weighted-
average dumping margins are listed below in the section entitled 
``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation.''

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 17, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Angelica Mendoza, John Drury, David 
Kurt Kraus or Judy Lao, AD/CVD

[[Page 28276]]

Operations, Office 7, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3019, (202) 482-0195, 
(202) 482-7871, or (202) 482-7924, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 16, 2004, the Department determined that purified CMC 
from the Netherlands is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United 
States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 735(a) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). See Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination: Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the 
Netherlands, 69 FR 77205 (December 27, 2004) (Preliminary 
Determination). The two companies that the Department is investigating 
are Noviant B.V. (Noviant) and Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry (ANSC). The 
Department released disclosure materials to interested parties on 
December 21, 2004.
    On December 27, 2004, respondent Noviant submitted a letter to the 
Department alleging significant ministerial errors as defined by 
section 351.224(g) of the Department's regulations. On December 30, 
2004, Aqualon Company (petitioner) also submitted a letter to the 
Department alleging an additional ministerial error. ANSC did not 
allege ministerial errors with respect to the Department's calculation 
of its preliminary dumping margin.
    On January 21, 2005, petitioner and Noviant requested that a public 
hearing be held for this case. From January 31, 2005, through February 
4, 2005, Department officials verified constructed value information 
submitted by Noviant. See Memorandum to Neal M. Halper, Director, 
Office of Accounting, through Theresa L. Caherty, Program Manager, 
``Verification Report on the Constructed Value Data Submitted by 
Noviant BV,'' dated March 17, 2005.
    On February 3, 2005, the Department published its amended 
preliminary determination of the antidumping duty investigation of 
purified CMC from the Netherlands. See Amended Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Purified 
Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands, 70 FR 5609 (February 3, 
2005) (Amended Preliminary Determination). See also Memorandum to 
Richard O. Weible, Director, Office 7, ``Allegation of Significant 
Ministerial Errors; Preliminary Determination in the Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands'' 
dated January 27, 2005, a public version of which is on file in room B-
099 of the main Commerce building. Since the Amended Preliminary 
Determination, the following events have occurred:
    From February 14, 2005, through February 16, 2005, the Department 
verified U.S. sales information submitted by Noviant Inc. See the 
Memorandum to the File, through Abdelali Elouaradia, Program Manager, 
Office 7, ``Verification of U.S. Sales Information Submitted by Noviant 
Inc.,'' dated March 17, 2005. From February 21, 2005, through February 
23, 2005, the Department verified U.S. sales information submitted by 
Akzo Nobel Cellulosic Specialties, Inc. (AN-US), ANSC's U.S. affiliate. 
See the Memorandum to the File, through Abdelali Elouaradia, Program 
Manager, Office 7, ``Verification of U.S. Sales Information Submitted 
by AN-US,'' dated March 24, 2005. From February 21, 2005, through 
February 25, 2005, Department officials verified third country and U.S. 
sales information submitted by Noviant. See the Memorandum to the File, 
through Abdelali Elouaradia, Program Manager, Office 7, ``Verification 
of Third Country and U.S. Sales Information Submitted by Noviant B.V. 
(Noviant BV),'' dated March 17, 2005. From February 28, 2005, to March 
4, 2005, Department officials verified home and U.S. market sales data 
submitted by ANSC. See the Memorandum to the File, through Abdelali 
Elouaradia, Program Manager, Office 7, ``Verification of Home Market 
and U.S sales in the Netherlands,'' dated March 31, 2005.
    On March 24, 2005, petitioner submitted comments for consideration 
in the Department's final margin calculation for Noviant and withdrew 
its request for a public hearing; and Noviant submitted its case brief. 
On March 25, 2005, Noviant withdrew its January 21, 2005, request for a 
public hearing. Since both parties withdrew their hearing requests, we 
did not hold a public hearing for this case. On March 29, 2005, 
petitioner filed its rebuttal brief in response to arguments made by 
Noviant in its case brief. Noviant did not file a rebuttal brief. On 
April 6, 2005, ANSC filed its case brief regarding the Department's 
March 31, 2005, verification report. Petitioner did not file any briefs 
or rebuttal briefs to coincide with ANSC's submission.

Scope of Investigation

    For purposes of this investigation, the products covered are all 
purified carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), sometimes also referred to as 
purified sodium CMC, polyanionic cellulose, or cellulose gum, which is 
a white to off-white, non-toxic, odorless, biodegradable powder, 
comprising sodium CMC that has been refined and purified to a minimum 
assay of 90 percent. Purified CMC does not include unpurified or crude 
CMC, CMC Fluidized Polymer Suspensions, and CMC that is cross-linked 
through heat treatment. Purified CMC is CMC that has undergone one or 
more purification operations which, at a minimum, reduce the remaining 
salt and other by-product portion of the product to less than ten 
percent.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation is classified in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) at subheading 
3912.31.00. This tariff classification is provided for convenience and 
customs purposes; however, the written description of the scope of this 
investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2003, through March 
31, 2004. This period corresponds to the four most recent fiscal 
quarters prior to the filing of the petition on June 9, 2004.

Fair Value Comparisons

    We calculated constructed export price, export price, and normal 
value based on the same methodologies used in the Preliminary 
Determination and Amended Preliminary Determination for Noviant. 
However, we made the following changes:
    Noviant
    We used the third country and U.S. sales databases submitted by 
Noviant after verification, which included revisions for minor 
corrections and findings from verification. We revised our treatment of 
the indirect selling expense calculation of Noviant Pte., an affiliate 
of Noviant that handles all of its sales to Asia. See the Memorandum 
from Barbara E. Tillman to Joseph A. Spetrini, ``Issues and Decision 
Memorandum for the Final Determination of the Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the 
Netherlands,'' dated May 10, 2005 (Decision Memo) at Comment 2. We 
corrected an inadvertent error in the Department's preliminary 
calculation of certain movement expenses incurred on sales by Noviant, 
which was not

[[Page 28277]]

corrected in our Amended Preliminary Determination. See Decision Memo 
at Comment 3. We applied facts available to account for certain 
unreported U.S. sales of subject merchandise. We made an adjustment to 
account for the bad debt expenses incurred by Noviant. We revised 
Noviant's reported inventory carrying costs to reflect corrections 
presented at verification and to correct for errors discovered in our 
preliminary inventory carrying cost calculations. We used the shipment 
dates as the date of sale for sales where the date of shipment occurred 
prior to the issuance of an invoice. For a detailed discussion of the 
changes made to Noviant's final margin calculation, see the Memorandum 
to File, through Abdelali Elouaradia, Program Manager, Office 7, 
``Noviant's Final Determination Calculation Memorandum,'' dated May 10, 
2005.
    ANSC
    We used the U.S. database submitted by ANSC after verification in 
our margin calculations, which includes the minor corrections presented 
at verification. We made no changes to ANSC's final margin calculation, 
see the Memorandum to File, through Abdelali Elouaradia, Program 
Manager, Office 7, ``ANSC's Final Determination Calculation 
Memorandum,'' dated May 10, 2005.

Constructed Value

    We calculated constructed value (CV) for Noviant based on the same 
methodologies used in the Preliminary Determination. However, we 
revised Noviant's general and administrative (G&A), research and 
development (R&D) and financial expense ratios consistent with the 
summary of findings section of the cost verification report. See 
Memorandum to Neal Halper, Director, Office of Accounting, through 
Theresa L. Caherty, Program Manager, ``Constructed Value Calculation 
Adjustments for the Final Determination - Noviant BV,'' dated May 10, 
2005.

Verifications

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, we verified the 
information submitted by the respondents during January and February 
2005. We used standard verification procedures, including examination 
of relevant accounting and production records, as well as original 
source documents provided by the respondents.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the petitioner's and the respondents' case and 
rebuttal briefs are addressed in the May 10, 2005, Decision Memo, which 
is hereby adopted by this notice. Attached to this notice as an 
appendix is a list of the issues that the petitioner and the 
respondents have raised and to which we have responded in the Decision 
Memo. Parties can find a complete discussion of all issues raised in 
this investigation and the corresponding recommendations in this public 
memorandum, which is on file in the Department's Central Record Unit 
(CRU), room B-099 of the main Commerce building. In addition, a 
complete version of the Decision Memo can be accessed directly on the 
Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov/frn/summary/list.htm. The paper copy and 
electronic version of the Decision Memo are identical in content.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act, we are 
directing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all imports of subject merchandise from the 
Netherlands that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after December 27, 2004, the date of publication of 
the Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register. The CBP shall 
continue to require a cash deposit or the posting of a bond equal to 
the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds the EP or CEP, as 
indicated in the chart below. These suspension-of-liquidation 
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
    The weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                       Weighted-Average Margin
                Manufacturer/Exporter                              POI                        (percent)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry........................           04/01/03 - 03/31/04                         13.39
Noviant BV..........................................           04/01/03 - 03/31/04                         14.88
All Others..........................................           04/01/03 - 03/31/04                         14.57
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    See Memoranda to the File, Final Determination Analysis for ANSC 
and Noviant, respectively, dated May 10, 2005. Public versions of our 
analysis memoranda are on file in the CRU.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determination. As our 
final determination is affirmative, the ITC will, within 45 days, 
determine whether these imports are materially injuring, or threatening 
material injury to, the U.S. industry. If the ITC determines that 
material injury, or threat of material injury, does not exist, the 
proceeding will be terminated and all securities posted will be 
refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines that such injury does 
exist, the Department will issue an antidumping duty order.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with section 351.305 of the Department's regulations. 
Timely notification of return or destruction of APO materials, or 
conversion to judicial protective order, is hereby requested. Failure 
to comply with the regulations and the terms of an APO is a 
sanctionable violation.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: May 10, 2005.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

APPENDIX

List of Issues

Noviant

    1. Request for Scope Modification to Exclude Certain CMC Products
    2. Treatment of Noviant Pte. Ltd.'s Indirect Selling Expenses
    3. Ministerial Error Allegation Relating to Noviant's Net U.S. 
Price Calculations

ANSC

    4. ANSC's Reporting Methodology for Certain U.S. Sales
[FR Doc. E5-2466 Filed 5-16-05; 8:45 am]
[Billing Code: 3510-DS-S]