[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13964-13966]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3990]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-820]


Notice of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed 
Circumstances Antidumping Duty Review: Stainless Steel Wire Rod from 
Italy

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) has received 
information sufficient to warrant initiation of a changed circumstances 
review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel wire rod (SSWR) 
from Italy. Based on this information, we preliminarily determine that: 
1) Acciaierie Valbruna S.p.A. (Valbruna S.p.A.) is the successor-in-
interest to Acciaierie Valbruna S.r.l. (Valbruna S.r.l.) and its 
subsidiary Acciaierie Bolzano S.p.A. (Bolzano S.p.A.), a respondent in 
the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation; and 2) merchandise from 
Acciaierie Valbruna S.p.A. should be excluded from the antidumping duty 
order. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 20, 2006.

[[Page 13965]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irina Itkin or Alice Gibbons, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office 2, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-0656 
and (202) 482-0498, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 15, 1998, the Department published in the Federal 
Register (63 FR 49327) the antidumping duty order on SSWR from Italy. 
Valbruna S.r.l. and its affiliate Bolzano S.p.A. were excluded from the 
order because their dumping margin was de minimis. On January 26, 2006, 
Valbruna S.p.A. submitted a written request that the Department conduct 
a changed circumstances review in order to clarify for U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) that Valbruna S.p.A. is the successor-in-
interest to Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. and that subject merchandise 
produced by this entity should not be subject to antidumping duties. 
Valbruna S.p.A. requested that the result of the Department's changed 
circumstances review be retroactive to December 16, 1998, the effective 
date of Valbruna S.r.l.'s name and corporate change to Valbruna S.p.A. 
On January 30, 2006, the Department requested that Valbruna S.p.A. 
supplement this request for a changed circumstances review by 
addressing the four factors normally examined by the Department in 
successor-in-interest determinations: changes in (1) Management; (2) 
production facilities; (3) supplier relationships; and (4) customer 
base. On February 8, 2006, Valbruna submitted this information to the 
Department. Further, on March 7, 2006, Valbruna S.p.A. submitted 
information to address additional questions raised by the Department on 
March 3, 2006.

Scope of Order

    For purposes of this order, SSWR comprises products that are hot-
rolled or hot-rolled annealed and/or pickled and/or descaled rounds, 
squares, octagons, hexagons or other shapes, in coils, that may also be 
coated with a lubricant containing copper, lime or oxalate. SSWR is 
made of alloy steels containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of 
carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other 
elements. These products are manufactured only by hot-rolling or hot-
rolling, annealing, and/or pickling and/or descaling, are normally sold 
in coiled form, and are of solid cross-section. The majority of SSWR 
sold in the United States is round in cross-sectional shape, annealed 
and pickled, and later cold-finished into stainless steel wire or 
small-diameter bar.
    The most common size for such products is 5.5 millimeters or 0.217 
inches in diameter, which represents the smallest size that normally is 
produced on a rolling mill and is the size that most wire-drawing 
machines are set up to draw. The range of SSWR sizes normally sold in 
the United States is between 0.20 inches and 1.312 inches diameter. Two 
stainless steel grades, SF20T and K-M35FL, are excluded from the scope 
of the order. The chemical makeup for the excluded grades is as 
follows:

                                                      SF20T
Carbon...............................                 0.05 max                 Chromium              19.00/21.00
Manganese............................                 2.00 max               Molybdenum                1.50/2.50
Phosphorous..........................                 0.05 max                     Lead        added (0.10/0.30)
Sulfur...............................                 0.15 max                Tellurium         added (0.03 min)
Silicon..............................                 1.00 max
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                     K-M35FL
Carbon...............................                0.015 max                   Nickel                 0.30 max
Silicon..............................                0.70/1.00                 Chromium              12.50/14.00
Manganese............................                 0.40 max                     Lead                0.10/0.30
Phosphorous..........................                 0.04 max                 Aluminum                0.20/0.35
Sulfur...............................                 0.03 max
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The products subject to this order are currently classifiable under 
subheadings 7221.00.0005, 7221.00.0015, 7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, and 
7221.00.0075 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 merchandise is 
dispositive.

Initiation and Preliminary Results of Review

    In its January 26, 2006, February 8, 2006, and March 7, 2006, 
submissions to the Department, Valbruna S.p.A. provided information to 
the Department to demonstrate that it is the successor-in-interest to 
Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. and that subject merchandise produced by 
it should not be subject to antidumping duties given that Valbruna 
S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. were excluded from the antidumping duty order. 
See 63 FR 49327 (Sept. 15, 1998).
    Thus, in accordance with section 751(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the Act) and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(a), the Department 
is initiating a changed circumstances review to determine whether 
Valbruna S.p.A. is the successor-in-interest to Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano 
S.p.A. and thus entitled to exclusion from the antidumping duty order 
on SSWR from Italy.
    Valbruna S.p.A. has presented evidence to establish a prima facie 
case that neither its change in corporate form and name from Valbruna 
S.r.l. to Valbruna S.p.A. nor its subsequent merger with its wholly 
owned subsidiary, Bolzano S.p.A., affected the company's operations 
(i.e., management, production facilities, supplier relationships, or 
customer relationships) so that they are materially dissimilar to those 
of its predecessor. As a consequence, we find that it is appropriate to 
issue the preliminary results of our review in combination with the 
notice of initiation of the changed circumstances review in accordance 
with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii). Because the evidence indicates that 
Valbruna S.p.A. has the same corporate structure and operations as 
Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A., we preliminarily determine that 
merchandise from Valbruna S.p.A. should be excluded from the 
antidumping duty order. Thus, if these preliminary results are adopted 
in our final results of this changed circumstances review, we will 
instruct CBP to liquidate, without regard to

[[Page 13966]]

antidumping duties, all entries entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after December 16, 1998, the date of Valbruna 
S.r.l.'s name change to Valbruna S.p.A. This action is in accordance 
with the Department's practice of applying the results of changed 
circumstances determinations retroactively where the company in 
question was never subject to the order. See Certain Hot-Rolled Lead 
and Bismuth Carbon Steel Products from the United Kingdom: Final 
Results of Changed-Circumstances Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review, 64 FR 66880, 66881 (Nov. 30, 1999). For further 
discussion of this issue, see the memorandum from Irene Darzenta 
Tzafolias to Stephen J. Claeys, entitled ``Successor-In-Interest 
Determination for Acciaierie Valbruna S.r.l. in the Changed 
Circumstances Review of Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Italy,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results. Any written comments may be submitted no later than 14 days 
after date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to 
arguments raised in case briefs, are due five days after the case brief 
deadline. Case briefs and rebuttal briefs must be served on interested 
parties in accordance with 19 CFR 351.209. The Department will publish 
the final results of the changed circumstances review including the 
results of its analysis of any issues raised in any such comments.
    This initiation of review, preliminary results of review, and 
notice are in accordance with sections 751(b) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: March 13, 2006.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretaryfor Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-3990 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S