[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 153 (Wednesday, August 9, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45519-45521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-12998]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

A-823-808


Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Ukraine; 
Preliminary Results of Administrative Review of the Suspension 
Agreement

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

ACTION: Notice of Preliminary Results of the Administrative Review of 
the Suspension Agreement on Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate 
from Ukraine

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In response to a request from Mittal Steel USA ISG Inc. 
(Mittal Steel USA), a domestic interested party, the Department of 
Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the 
suspension agreement on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate from 
Ukraine (the Agreement) for the period November 1, 2004 through October 
31, 2005, to review the current status of, and compliance with, the 
Agreement. For the reasons stated in this notice, the Department 
preliminarily determines that the Government of Ukraine (GOU) is in 
compliance with the Agreement. The preliminary results are set forth in 
the section titled ``Preliminary Results of Review,'' infra. Interested 
parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. Parties 
who submit comments are requested to provide: (1) a statement of the 
issues, and (2) a brief summary of the arguments.

[[Page 45520]]


EFFECTIVE DATE: August 9, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith Rudman or Jay Carreiro, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20230, telephone: (202) 482-0192 or (202) 482-3674.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On October 24, 1997, the Department signed an agreement with the 
Government of Ukraine which suspended the antidumping duty 
investigation on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate (CTL plate) 
from Ukraine. See Suspension of Antidumping Duty Investigation: Certain 
Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Ukraine, 62 FR 61766 (November 
19, 1997). In accordance with section 734(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 
(the Tariff Act), on November 19, 1997, the Department also published 
its final determination of sales at less than fair value in this case. 
See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate From Ukraine, 62 FR 61754 
(November 19, 1997).
    On November 30, 2005, Mittal Steel USA submitted a request for an 
administrative review pursuant to Antidumping or Countervailing Duty 
Order, Finding, or Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request 
Administrative Review, 70 FR 65883 (November 1, 2005). The Department 
initiated a review of the Agreement on December 22, 2005. See 
Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Reviews and Request for Revocation in Part (Initiation Notice), 70 FR 
76024 (December 22, 2005).

Scope of Review

    The products covered by the Agreement include hot-rolled iron and 
non-alloy steel universal mill plates (i.e., flat-rolled products 
rolled on four faces or in a closed box pass, of a width exceeding 150 
mm but not exceeding 1250 mm and of a thickness of not less than 4 mm, 
not in coils and without patterns in relief), of rectangular shape, 
neither clad, plated nor coated with metal, whether or not painted, 
varnished, or coated with plastics or other nonmetallic substances; and 
certain iron and non-alloy steel flat-rolled products not in coils, of 
rectangular shape, hot-rolled, neither clad, plated, nor coated with 
metal, whether or not painted, varnished, or coated with plastics or 
other nonmetallic substances, 4.75 mm or more in thickness and of a 
width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness. 
Included as subject merchandise in the Agreement are flat-rolled 
products of nonrectangular cross-section where such cross-section is 
achieved subsequent to the rolling process (i.e., products which have 
been ``worked after rolling'') for example, products which have been 
beveled or rounded at the edges. This merchandise is currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) 
under item numbers 7208.40.3030, 7208.40.3060, 7208.51.0030, 
7208.51.0045, 7208.51.0060, 7208.52.0000, 7208.53.0000, 7208.90.0000, 
7210.70.3000, 7210.90.9000, 7211.13.0000, 7211.14.0030, 7211.14.0045, 
7211.90.0000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, and 7212.50.0000. Although 
the HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, 
the written description of the scope of the Agreement is dispositive. 
Specifically excluded from subject merchandise within the scope of this 
Agreement is grade X-70 steel plate.

Period of Review

    The period of review (POR) is November 1, 2004 through October 31, 
2005.

Preliminary Results of Review

    Section 751(a)(1)(C) of the Tariff Act specifies that the 
Department shall ``review the current status of, and compliance with, 
any agreement by reason of which an investigation was suspended.'' In 
this case the Department and the GOU signed the Agreement suspending 
the antidumping duty investigation on CTL Plate from Ukraine on October 
24, 1997. In order to effectively restrict the volume of exports of CTL 
Plate from Ukraine to the United States, Article VI of the Agreement 
provides for the implementation by the GOU of certain legal and 
administrative provisions. Moreover, Article VIII of the Agreement 
(Monitoring) requires the GOU to ``provide to the Department such 
information as is necessary and appropriate to monitor the 
implementation of and compliance with the terms of [lsqb]the[rsqb] 
Agreement.'' The Department primarily relies upon three tools to 
administer the Agreement: i) export licenses issued by the GOU, and 
received by the Department from U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP); ii) reference prices, revised quarterly by the Department; and 
iii) the annual export limits setting a quota on total imports of CTL 
plate from Ukraine. The GOU must restrict the volume of direct and 
indirect exports of CTL plate from Ukraine to the United States by 
means of export licenses. In addition, subject merchandise may not be 
sold below the quarterly reference prices issued by the Department.
    On January 19, 2006 and April 14, 2006, the Department issued 
questionnaires to the GOU. The GOU submitted its responses on February 
27, 2006 and May 12, 2006, respectively. Our review of the information 
submitted by the GOU indicates that the GOU adhered to the major terms 
of the Agreement. The GOU implemented the provisions of the Agreement 
through the passage of Presidential Decrees, Orders of the Ministry of 
Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of Ukraine, and Statute of the 
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. See Exhibits 1 through 6 of the 
February 27, 2006 response.
    These legal enactments by the GOU established an export licensing 
program for all exports of CTL plate to the United States and mandated 
that merchandise would not be sold below the reference price. Pursuant 
to section VIII of the Agreement, the GOU conformed to the Agreement's 
monitoring requirement by timely filing semi-annual reports indicating 
the volume of sales of CTL plate in the home market and to third 
countries. The GOU has also timely filed monthly reports on export 
licenses issued for sales of subject merchandise to the United States. 
The Agreement also stipulates the GOU must ensure compliance ``by any 
official Ukrainian institution, chamber, or other entities authorized 
by the [lsqb]GOU[rsqb], all producers, exporters, brokers, and traders 
of CTL plate, and their affiliated parties, as well as independent 
trading companies/resellers utilized by the Ukrainian producer to make 
sales to the United States.'' The Ukrainian producers conformed to this 
requirement by inserting a clause in their contracts which prohibited 
the re-exportation of subject merchandise to the United States without 
the written permission of the producer and required their customers to 
include re-exportation cautions in contracts of further resales of the 
goods.
    Our review of the information submitted by the GOU indicates that 
each of the export licenses governed by the Agreement were at or above 
the quarterly FOB reference prices stipulated by the Agreement. 
Furthermore, data supplied by the GOU in its monthly reports, as well 
as our independent review of import data compiled by CBP, indicates 
Ukraine did not exceed its annual export limits. Therefore, we 
preliminarily determine

[[Page 45521]]

that the GOU has been in compliance with the Agreement.

Public Comment

    An interested party may request a hearing within 30 days of 
publication of these preliminary results. See 19 CFR 351.310(c). Any 
hearing, if requested, will be held 37 days after the date of 
publication, or the first business day thereafter, unless the 
Department alters the date per 19 CFR 351.310(d). Interested parties 
may submit case briefs no later than 30 days after the date of 
publication of these preliminary results of review. See 19 CFR 351.309 
(c). Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may 
be filed no later than 35 days after the date of publication of this 
notice. See 19 CFR 351.309(d). Parties who submit comments in these 
proceedings are requested to submit provide: (1) a statement of the 
issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities. Further, parties submitting case briefs and/or rebuttal 
briefs are requested to provide the Department with an additional copy 
of the public version of any such briefs on diskette. The Department 
will issue the final results of this administrative review, including 
the results of our analysis of the issues raised in any written 
comments or at a hearing, if requested, within 120 days of publication 
of these preliminary results.
    We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act.

    Dated: August 2, 2006.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary forImport Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-12998 Filed 8-8-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S