[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 8, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65465-65466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-18880]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

A-588-833


Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed-Circumstances 
Review and Notice of Intent to Revoke Order in Part: Stainless Steel 
Bar from Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On October 16, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published a notice of initiation of changed-circumstances 
review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Japan, 
as described below. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed-
Circumstances Review: Stainless Steel Bar from Japan, 71 FR 60691 
(October 16, 2006) (Initiation Notice). In our Initiation Notice, we 
invited interested parties to comment on the request to exclude 21-2N 
modified valve/stem stainless steel round bar, as described below, from 
the scope of this order. The Department received no comments.
    Absent any comments, the Department preliminarily concludes that 
producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the 
domestic like product to which this order pertains lack interest in the 
relief provided by this order with respect to 21-2N modified valve/stem 
stainless steel round bar. Therefore, the Department preliminarily 
concludes that it is appropriate to revoke this order, in part, with 
respect to unliquidated entries of 21-2N modified valve/stem stainless 
steel round bar, not subject to the final results of an administrative 
review, that have been entered for consumption on or after February 1, 
2006, based on the fact that the petitioners and domestic interested 
parties have made an affirmative statement of no interest in the 
continuation of the order with respect to that merchandise.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 8, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dmitry Vladimirov or Minoo Hatten, AD/
CVD Operations, Office 5, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0665 or (202) 
482-1690.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Department published the antidumping duty order on stainless 
steel bar from Japan on February 21, 1995. See Notices of Antidumping 
Duty Orders: Stainless Steel Bar from Brazil, India, and Japan, 60 FR 
9661 (February 21, 1995). On August 28, 2006, TRW Fuji Valve, Inc. 
(TRW), a U.S. importer, requested that the Department exclude a product 
to which it referred as 21-2N modified valve/stem stainless steel round 
bar from the scope of the order. See TRW's letter to the Secretary, 
dated August 28, 2006. TRW requested that the Department revoke the 
order in part retroactively to February 1, 2006, the beginning of the 
anniversary month of the order. On September 18, 2006, the petitioners 
and domestic interested parties\1\ provided a letter attesting to their 
expressed lack of interest in having this merchandise continue to be 
subject to the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from 
Japan.
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    \1\ The petitioners and domestic interested parties include 
Carpenter Technology Corp., Crucible Specialty Metals Division of 
Crucible Materials Corp., Electralloy Corp., North American 
Stainless, Universal Stainless and Alloy Products, Inc., and 
Valbruna Slater Stainless, Inc.
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    On October 16, 2006, the Department published a notice of 
initiation of changed- circumstances review of the antidumping duty 
order on stainless steel bar from Japan. See Initiation Notice. In the 
Initiation Notice, the Department indicated that interested parties 
could submit comments for consideration in the Department's preliminary 
results no later than 15 days after publication of the initiation of 
this review and submit responses to those comments no later than 7 days 
following the submission of comments. The Department received no 
comments from interested parties.

Scope of the Order

    The scope of the order covers stainless steel bar (SSB). The term 
SSB with respect to the order means 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. SSB includes 
cold-finished SSBs 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), 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 SSB subject to this order is currently classifiable 
under subheadings 7222.10.0005, 7222.10.0050, 7222.20.0005, 
7222.20.0045, 7222.20.0075, and 7222.30.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheadings 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written 
description of the scope of this order is dispositive.

Scope of Changed-Circumstances Review

    The product subject to this changed-circumstances review meets the 
following description: certain valve/stem stainless steel round bar of 
21-2N modified grade, having a diameter of 5.7 millimeters (with a 
tolerance of 0.025 millimeters), in length no greater than 15 meters, 
having a chemical composition consisting of a minimum of 0.50 percent 
and a maximum of 0.60 percent of carbon, a minimum of 7.50 percent and 
a maximum of 9.50 percent of manganese, a maximum of 0.25 percent of 
silicon, a maximum of 0.04 percent of phosphorus, a maximum of 0.03 
percent of sulfur, a minimum of 20.0 percent and a maximum of 22.00 
percent of chromium, a minimum of 2.00 percent and a maximum of 3.00 
percent of nickel, a minimum of 0.20 percent and a maximum of 0.40 
percent of nitrogen, a minimum of 0.85 percent of the combined content 
of carbon and nitrogen, and a balance minimum of iron, having a maximum 
core hardness of 385 HB and a maximum surface hardness of 425 HB, with 
a minimum hardness of 270 HB for annealed material. See TRW's letter to 
the Secretary, dated August 28, 2006.

Preliminary Results of Review and Intent to Revoke in Part the 
Antidumping Duty Order

    Pursuant to section 751(d)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act),

[[Page 65466]]

the Department may revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, 
in whole or in part, based on a review under section 751(b) of the Act 
(i.e., a changed-circumstances review). Section 751(b)(1) of the Act 
requires a changed-circumstances review to be conducted upon receipt of 
a request which shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a 
review. Section 782(h)(2) of the Act gives the Department the authority 
to revoke if producers accounting for substantially all of the 
production of the domestic like product have expressed a lack of 
interest in the continuation of relief. Section 351.222(g) of the 
Department's regulations provides that the Department will conduct a 
changed-circumstances review and may revoke an order (in whole or in 
part), if it concludes that (i) producers accounting for substantially 
all of the production of the domestic like product to which the order 
pertains have expressed a lack of interest in the relief provided by 
the order, in whole or in part, or (ii) other changed circumstances 
sufficient to warrant revocation exist.
    As stated in the Initiation Notice, the petitioners and domestic 
interested parties attested to their lack of interest in having the 
merchandise to which TRW refers as 21-2N modified valve/stem stainless 
steel round bar, as fully described above in the ``Scope of the 
Changed- Circumstances Review'' section, continue to be subject to the 
antidumping duty order on SSB from Japan. The Department received no 
comments during the comment period opposing the partial revocation of 
the order with respect to 21-2N modified valve/stem stainless steel 
round bar. Therefore, the Department preliminarily concludes that 
producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the 
domestic like product to which this order pertains lack interest in the 
relief provided by this order with respect to 21-2N modified valve/stem 
stainless steel round bar.
    If these results become final, the Department will revoke the 
order, in part, for all unliquidated entries of the product in question 
not covered by the final results of an administrative review. The most 
recent period for which the Department has completed an administrative 
review or ordered automatic liquidation under 19 CFR 351.212(c) is 
February 1, 2005, through January 31, 2006. Any prior entries are 
subject either to final results of review or automatic liquidation. 
Therefore, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, shipments of 21-2N 
modified valve/stem stainless steel round bar from Japan entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after February 1, 2006. 
The Department will also instruct CBP to end suspension of liquidation 
for the product in question and to release any cash deposits or bonds 
pursuant to 19 CFR 351.222(g)(4). Moreover, the Department will 
instruct CBP to pay interest on such refunds in accordance with section 
778 of the Act.

Public Comment

    Interested parties wishing to comment on these preliminary results 
may submit briefs to the Department no later than 15 days after the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Parties will have 7 
days subsequent to this due date to submit rebuttal comments, limited 
to the issues raised in those briefs. Parties who submit briefs or 
rebuttal comments in this proceeding are requested to submit with each 
argument (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a brief summary of the 
argument (no longer than five pages, including footnotes). Any requests 
for hearing must be filed within 30 days of the publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register.
    All written comments must be submitted in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.303. Any comments must also be served on all interested parties on 
the service list for this proceeding, which is available on our Web 
site (http://ia.ita.doc.gov/apo/index.html). We will issue our final 
results in this changed-circumstances review as soon as practicable 
following the above comment period but not later than 270 days after 
the date on which we initiated the changed-circumstances review, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.216(e), and we will publish the results in 
the Federal Register. While the changed-circumstances review is 
underway, the current requirement for a cash deposit of estimated 
antidumping duties on all subject merchandise, including the 
merchandise that is the subject of this changed--circumstances review, 
will continue unless and until this order is revoked, in part, pursuant 
to the final results of this changed-circumstances review or an 
administrative review.
    This notice is published in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 
777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.222.

    Dated: November 2, 2006.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-18880 Filed 11-7-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S