[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 328-329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9977]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-201-802]


Gray Portland Cement and Clinker From Mexico: Initiation of an 
Antidumping Duty Changed-Circumstances Review

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

SUMMARY: In response to a request for a changed-circumstances review 
from Holcim Apasco, S.A. de C.V. (Apasco) and pursuant to Section 
II.B.6 of the Agreement between the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative, the United States Department of Commerce and Secretaria 
de Economia on Trade in Mexican Cement (the Agreement) dated March 6, 
2006, the Department of Commerce is initiating a changed-circumstances 
review of the antidumping duty order on gray portland cement and 
clinker from Mexico.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 4, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Callen at (202) 482-0180 or 
Minoo Hatten at (202) 482-1690, AD/CVD Operations, Office 5, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On August 30, 1990, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published the antidumping duty order on gray portland cement and 
clinker from Mexico (Mexican cement). See Antidumping Duty Order: Gray 
Portland Cement and Clinker From Mexico, 55 FR 35443. According to the 
Agreement, upon request, the Department ``shall conduct an expedited 
changed-circumstances review to establish a new estimated duty deposit 
rate for any Mexican Cement exporter (and its affiliated parties) 
that'': (a) Had an estimated duty deposit rate under the Mexican Cement 
Order; (b) did not receive the new estimated duty deposit rate of three 
U.S. dollars ($3.00) per metric ton referenced in Section II.A.4.b of 
this Agreement; and (c) exported Mexican Cement to the United States in 
the year preceding the Effective Date or exports Mexican Cement to the 
United States while the Agreement remains in force.
    On December 14, 2006, pursuant to section II.B.6 of the Agreement, 
Apasco requested that the Department conduct a changed-circumstances 
review of certain export sales of the subject merchandise to the United 
States made by Apasco during the period October through December 2006.

Scope of the Order

    The products subject to this order include gray portland cement and 
clinker. Gray portland cement is a hydraulic cement and the primary 
component of concrete. Clinker, an intermediate material product 
produced when manufacturing cement, has no use other than of being 
ground into finished cement. Gray portland cement is currently 
classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) item number 2523.29, and cement clinker is currently 
classifiable

[[Page 329]]

under HTSUS item number 2523.10. Gray portland cement has also been 
entered under HTSUS item number 2523.90 as ``other hydraulic cements.'' 
Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes, the written description of the scope of this proceeding is 
dispositive.

Initiation of Changed-Circumstances Review

    Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), 19 CFR 351.216 (2005), and Section II.B.6 of the Agreement, 
the Department will conduct a changed-circumstances review upon receipt 
of information concerning, or a request from an interested party for a 
review of, an antidumping duty order which shows changed circumstances 
sufficient to warrant a review of the order. Apasco claims that it has 
satisfied the criteria detailed above to warrant such a review. See 19 
CFR 351.216(d) and II.B.6 of the Agreement. We agree. Therefore, in 
accordance with the above-referenced regulation, the Department is 
initiating a changed-circumstances review. The Department will issue 
questionnaires requesting factual information for the review, and will 
publish in the Federal Register a notice of preliminary results of 
antidumping duty changed-circumstances review, in accordance with 19 
CFR 351.221(b)(2) and (4), and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(i). The notice will 
set forth the factual and legal conclusions upon which our preliminary 
results are based. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(ii), interested 
parties will have an opportunity to comment on the preliminary results 
of review. Recognizing that the Agreement specifies an expedited 
review, we will make every effort to issue final results of review in 
an expeditious manner, but no later than the regulatory deadline in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.216(e). During the course of this 
antidumping duty changed circumstances review, we will not change the 
cash deposit requirements for the merchandise subject to review. The 
cash deposit will be altered, if warranted, pursuant only to the final 
results of this review.
    This notice of initiation is in accordance with section 751(b)(1) 
of the Act, 19 CFR 351.216(b) and (d), and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(1).

    Dated: December 27, 2006.
Stephen J. Claeys,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 06-9977 Filed 12-29-06; 4:10 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P