[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 235 (Thursday, December 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70959-70960]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-20780]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-588-833]


Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed-Circumstances Review 
and Revocation of Order in Part: Stainless Steel Bar from Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On November 8, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published a notice of preliminary results of changed-
circumstances review with the intent to revoke, in part, the 
antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Japan, as described 
below. See Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed-
Circumstances Review and Notice of Intent to Revoke Order in Part: 
Stainless Steel Bar from Japan, 71 FR 65465 (November 8, 2006) 
(Preliminary Results). In our Preliminary Results, we invited 
interested parties to comment on the preliminary determination to 
exclude 21-2N modified valve/stem stainless steel round bar from Japan 
(product in question), as described below, from the scope of the order. 
The Department received no comments and is, therefore, revoking the 
order in part.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 7, 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 of the subject merchandise, requested a changed-
circumstances review to exclude from the antidumping duty order on 
stainless steel bar from Japan imports meeting 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. 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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    In response to the request made by the interested party, TRW, 
within the meaning of section 771(9) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (the Act), and the expressed lack of interest from the 
petitioners and domestic interested parties, on October 16, 2006, the 
Department published a notice of initiation of a changed-circumstances 
review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from Japan. 
See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed-Circumstances Review: 
Stainless Steel Bar from Japan, 71 FR 60691 (October 16, 2006) 
(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. The Department did not 
receive comments from interested parties.
    Absent any comments, the Department concluded preliminarily that 
producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the 
domestic like product to which this order pertains lacked interest in 
the relief provided by this order with respect to the product in 
question. See Preliminary Results. The Department invited interested 
parties to comment on its preliminary determination to revoke the 
order, in part. The Department did not receive comments from any 
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.

Final Result of Review and Revocation of Antidumping Duty Order, In 
Part

    Pursuant to sections 751(d)(1) and 782(h)(2) of the Act, the 
Department may revoke an antidumping duty order based on a review under 
section 751(b) of the Act (i.e., a changed-

[[Page 70960]]

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.
    In the instant review, based on the information provided by TRW and 
the lack of comments from the petitioners and domestic interested 
parties, the Department found preliminarily that the continued relief 
provided by the order with respect to the product in question from 
Japan is no longer of interest to the domestic industry. See 
Preliminary Results, 71 FR at 65466. We did not receive any comments on 
our Preliminary Results. Therefore, the Department is revoking the 
order on stainless steel bar from Japan with regard to the product that 
meets the following specifications: 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.
    We will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
liquidate without regard to antidumping duties and to refund any 
estimated antidumping duties collected on entries of all shipments of 
the product in question that are not covered by the final results of an 
administrative review or automatic liquidation. 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 to either 
the final results of review or automatic liquidation. Therefore, we 
will instruct CBP to liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, 
shipments of stainless steel bar from Japan meeting the specifications 
of the product in question entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after February 1, 2006. We will also instruct CBP to 
release any cash deposits or bonds and pay interest on such refunds in 
accordance with section 778 of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(4).
    This changed-circumstances review, partial revocation of 
antidumping duty order, and notice are completed and published in 
accordance with sections 751(b) and (d), 782(h), and 777(i)(1) of the 
Act and sections 351.216(e) and 351.222(g)(3)(vii) of the Department's 
regulations.

    Dated: November 30, 2006.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-20780 Filed 12-6-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S