[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 949-951]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-56]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Expected Non-Market Economy Wages: Request for Comments on 2006 
Calculation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') has a longstanding 
practice of calculating expected non-market economy (``NME'') wages for 
use as the surrogate value for direct labor in

[[Page 950]]

antidumping proceedings involving NME countries. These expected NME 
wages are calculated annually in accordance with Sec.  351.408(c)(3) of 
the Department's regulations. This notice presents the Department's 
preliminary 2006 expected NME wages, which were calculated according to 
the Department's revised methodology described in the Federal Register 
notice Antidumping Methodologies: Market Economy Inputs, Expected Non-
Market Economy Wages, Duty Drawback; and Request for Comments, 71 FR 
61716, Oct. 19, 2006 (hereafter, the ``Antidumping Methodologies 
notice''), and provides the public with an opportunity to comment on 
potential clerical errors in the calculation.

DATES: Comments must be submitted no later than 10 days after 
publication of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Written comments (original and six copies) should be sent to 
David Spooner, Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Central Records Unit, Room 1870, 14th Street 
and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shauna Lee-Alaia, Policy Analyst, 
Office of Policy, Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230, (202) 
482-2793.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Department's regulations generally describe the methodology by 
which the Department calculates expected NME wages:

    For labor, the Secretary will use regression-based wage rates 
reflective of the observed relationship between wages and national 
income in market economy countries. The Secretary will calculate the 
wage rate to be applied in non-market economy proceedings each year. 
The calculation will be based on current data, and will be made 
available to the public.19 CFR 351.408 (c)(3).

    Briefly, the Department's expected NME wages are calculated each 
year in two steps. First, the relationship between hourly wage rates 
(obtained from the International Labour Organization's (``ILO'') 
Yearbook of Labour Statistics) and per-capita gross national income 
(``GNI'') (obtained from the World Bank) is estimated using ordinary 
least squares (OLS) regression analysis. Second, the GNI of each of the 
countries designated by the Department to be an NME are applied to the 
regression, which yields an expected hourly wage rate for each NME.
    The Department published a notice in the Federal Register on 
October 19, 2006 which detailed its revised methodology for calculating 
expected NME wages in antidumping proceedings involving NME countries. 
See the Antidumping Methodologies notice. In that notice, the 
Department stated that its annual calculation of expected NME wage 
rates will be subject to public comment approximately one month prior 
to adoption. The Department noted further that comment will be 
requested only with regard to potential clerical errors in the 
Department's calculation.
    Accordingly, this notice presents the Department's preliminary 2006 
calculation of expected NME wages in Attachment 1, which were 
calculated according to the Department's revised methodology described 
in the Antidumping Methodologies notice. The Department is requesting 
public comment only on the potential clerical errors in the 
calculation. Comments with regard to the methodology were addressed in 
the Antidumping Methodologies notice and will not be considered at this 
time.
    In order to facilitate a full opportunity for comment, and because 
the underlying data is voluminous, the preliminary results and 
underlying data for the preliminary 2006 expected NME wages calculation 
have been posted on the Import Administration Web site (http://ia.ita.doc.gov). This preliminary calculation will not be used for 
antidumping purposes until it has been finalized by the Department 
following the public comment period.

Comment

    Persons wishing to comment on potential clerical errors in the 
Department's preliminary 2006 calculation of expected NME wages 
presented in Attachment 1 should file one signed original and six 
copies of each set of comments by the date specified above. The 
Department will consider all comments regarding potential clerical 
errors received before the close of the comment period. Comments 
received after the end of the comment period will be considered, if 
possible, but their consideration cannot be assured. The Department 
will not accept comments accompanied by a request that a part or all of 
the material be treated confidentially because of its business 
proprietary nature or for any other reason. The Department will return 
such comments and materials to the persons submitting the comments and 
will not consider them. All comments responding to this notice will be 
a matter of public record and will be available for inspection and 
copying at Import Administration's Central Records Unit, Room B-099, 
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on business days. The 
Department requires that comments be submitted in written form. The 
Department recommends submission of comments in electronic form to 
accompany the required paper copies.
    Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted either by e-
mail to the Webmaster below, or on CD-ROM, as comments submitted on 
diskettes are likely to be damaged by postal radiation treatment. 
Comments received in electronic form will be made available to the 
public in Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the Import 
Administration Web site at the following address: http://ia.ita.doc.gov.
    Any questions concerning file formatting, document conversion, 
access on the Internet, or other electronic filing issues should be 
addressed to Andrew Lee Beller, Import Administration Webmaster, at 
(202) 482-0866, e-mail address: [email protected].

    Dated: December 29, 2006.
Steven J. Claeys,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Attachment 1

2006 Calculation of Expected NME Wages

    Following the criteria and methodology described in the Antidumping 
Methodologies notice, and using the data available to the Department as 
of November 8, 2006, the Department has calculated preliminary 2006 
expected NME wages.
    2003 and 2004 data in Chapter 5B of the ILO International Labour 
Statistics were available for 79 entities: Albania, Armenia, Australia, 
Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, 
Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, 
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, 
French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, 
Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, 
Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, 
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, 
Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto 
Rico, Romania, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, 
Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, 
Thailand,

[[Page 951]]

Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, West Bank and Gaza strip.
    Within this data set, for 2003 and 2004, there were no ``earnings'' 
data for Italy, Myanmar, Peru and Thailand. Similarly, there were no 
``men and women'' data for French Polynesia. 2003 and 2004 data 
representing all industries (``Total'') were available for the 
remaining 74 entities.
    There were two entries for Poland which met all of the Department's 
criteria for choosing a single wage rate. These two entries were 
averaged to arrive at a single wage rate.
    Of these 74 entities, a consumer price index was unavailable for 
the following 10: Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Gibraltar, Jersey, 
Puerto Rico, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ukraine.
    Of the remaining 64 entities, there was no exchange rate available 
for the Isle of Man, Macau, and West Bank and Gaza Strip.
    Of the remaining 61 entities, the following are currently or were 
NMEs designated by the Department in 2003 or 2004: Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, 
and Moldova. Accordingly, the Department ran its preliminary 2006 
expected NME wage regression on the following 58 countries: Albania, 
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, 
Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican 
Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong 
Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, 
Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mauritius, 
Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, 
Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Seychelles, 
Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, 
United Kingdom, and United States.
    As noted in the ILO database, the wage rates for Korea and Mongolia 
are denominated in units of 1,000 of their respective national 
currency, and have been converted accordingly.
    On July 1, 2005, Romania re-denominated its currency, with one old 
leu equal to 10,000 new leu. Romanian ILO data was adjusted 
accordingly.
    Following the data compilation and regression methodology described 
in the Antidumping Methodologies notice, and using GNI and wage data 
for Base Year 2004, the regression results are: Wage = 0.091436 + 
0.000494* GNI.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Expected NME
              Country               2004 GNI (USD per    wage rate (USD
                                          annum)           per hour)
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Armenia...........................              1,140               0.65
Azerbaijan........................                930               0.55
Belarus...........................              2,150               1.15
China.............................              1,500               0.83
Georgia...........................              1,060               0.62
Kyrgyz Republic...................                400               0.29
Moldova...........................                720               0.45
Tajikistan........................                280               0.23
Uzbekistan........................                450               0.31
Vietnam...........................                540               0.36
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 The World Bank did not publish a GNI for Turkmenistan.

    As stated above, the full preliminary results and underlying data 
for the 2006 expected NME wages calculation have been posted on the 
Import Administration Web site (http://ia.ita.doc.gov).

 [FR Doc. E7-56 Filed 1-8-07; 8:45 am]
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