[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 207 (Friday, October 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60812-60814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21101]



[[Page 60812]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-890]


Wooden Bedroom Furniture From the People's Republic of China: 
Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On July 30, 2007, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') 
issued its preliminary results in the changed circumstances review of 
the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture (``WBF'') from 
the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). See Wooden Bedroom Furniture 
from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 72 FR 41492 (July 30, 2007) 
(``Preliminary Results''). For these final results, we continue to find 
that Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. is the successor-in-interest to Nanhai 
Jiantai Woodwork Co. (``Nanhai Jiantai''), and that Tradewinds 
International Enterprise Ltd. (``Tradewinds Intl'') is not the 
successor-in-interest to Nanhai Jiantai's affiliated exporter, Fortune 
Glory Industrial Limited (``Fortune Glory'').

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 26, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Juanita H. Chen or Robert A. Bolling, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office 8, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14\th\ Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 202-482-1904 
or 202-482-3434, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 18, 2007, in response to a joint request by Tradewinds 
Furniture Ltd. and Tradewinds Intl (collectively, ``Tradewinds''), the 
Department initiated a changed circumstances review to determine 
whether Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. and Tradewinds Intl are successors-
in-interest to Nanhai Jiantai and Fortune Glory, respectively. See 
Wooden Bedroom Furniture from the People's Republic of China: 
Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 72 FR 2262 
(January 18, 2007). On July 30, 2007, the Department issued its 
Preliminary Results, finding that Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. is the 
successor-in-interest to Nanhai Jiantai, and that Tradewinds Intl is 
not the successor-in-interest to Fortune Glory. See Preliminary 
Results, 72 FR 41492. As part of the Preliminary Results, the 
Department invited interested parties to submit case and rebuttal 
briefs, and provided the opportunity for parties to request a hearing. 
See 72 FR at 41495. On August 6, 2007, Tradewinds submitted a brief 
agreeing with the Department's finding for Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. 
but contesting the finding that Tradewinds Intl is not the successor-
in-interest to Fortune Glory. No other parties submitted briefs. No 
interested parties submitted a rebuttal brief or requested a hearing.

Scope of Order

    The product covered by the order is wooden bedroom furniture. 
Wooden bedroom furniture is generally, but not exclusively, designed, 
manufactured, and offered for sale in coordinated groups, or bedrooms, 
in which all of the individual pieces are of approximately the same 
style and approximately the same material and/or finish. The subject 
merchandise is made substantially of wood products, including both 
solid wood and also engineered wood products made from wood particles, 
fibers, or other wooden materials such as plywood, oriented strand 
board, particle board, and fiberboard, with or without wood veneers, 
wood overlays, or laminates, with or without non-wood components or 
trim such as metal, marble, leather, glass, plastic, or other resins, 
and whether or not assembled, completed, or finished.
    The subject merchandise includes the following items: (1) wooden 
beds such as loft beds, bunk beds, and other beds; (2) wooden 
headboards for beds (whether stand-alone or attached to side rails), 
wooden footboards for beds, wooden side rails for beds, and wooden 
canopies for beds; (3) night tables, night stands, dressers, commodes, 
bureaus, mule chests, gentlemen's chests, bachelor's chests, lingerie 
chests, wardrobes, vanities, chessers, chifforobes, and wardrobe-type 
cabinets; (4) dressers with framed glass mirrors that are attached to, 
incorporated in, sit on, or hang over the dresser; (5) chests-on-
chests\1\, highboys\2\, lowboys\3\, chests of drawers\4\, chests\5\, 
door chests\6\, chiffoniers\7\, hutches\8\, and armoires\9\; (6) desks, 
computer stands, filing cabinets, book cases, or writing tables that 
are attached to or incorporated in the subject merchandise; and (7) 
other bedroom furniture consistent with the above list.
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    \1\ A chest-on-chest is typically a tall chest-of-drawers in two 
or more sections (or appearing to be in two or more sections), with 
one or two sections mounted (or appearing to be mounted) on a 
slightly larger chest; also known as a tallboy.
    \2\ A highboy is typically a tall chest of drawers usually 
composed of a base and a top section with drawers, and supported on 
four legs or a small chest (often 15 inches or more in height).
    \3\ A lowboy is typically a short chest of drawers, not more 
than four feet high, normally set on short legs.
    \4\ A chest of drawers is typically a case containing drawers 
for storing clothing.
    \5\ A chest is typically a case piece taller than it is wide 
featuring a series of drawers and with or without one or more doors 
for storing clothing. The piece can either include drawers or be 
designed as a large box incorporating a lid.
    \6\ A door chest is typically a chest with hinged doors to store 
clothing, whether or not containing drawers. The piece may also 
include shelves for televisions and other entertainment electronics.
    \7\ A chiffonier is typically a tall and narrow chest of drawers 
normally used for storing undergarments and lingerie, often with 
mirror(s) attached.
    \8\ A hutch is typically an open case of furniture with shelves 
that typically sits on another piece of furniture and provides 
storage for clothes.
    \9\ An armoire is typically a tall cabinet or wardrobe 
(typically 50 inches or taller), with doors, and with one or more 
drawers (either exterior below or above the doors or interior behind 
the doors), shelves, and/or garment rods or other apparatus for 
storing clothes. Bedroom armoires may also be used to hold 
television receivers and/or other audio-visual entertainment 
systems.
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    The scope of the order excludes the following items: (1) seats, 
chairs, benches, couches, sofas, sofa beds, stools, and other seating 
furniture; (2) mattresses, mattress supports (including box springs), 
infant cribs, water beds, and futon frames; (3) office furniture, such 
as desks, stand-up desks, computer cabinets, filing cabinets, 
credenzas, and bookcases; (4) dining room or kitchen furniture such as 
dining tables, chairs, servers, sideboards, buffets, corner cabinets, 
china cabinets, and china hutches; (5) other non-bedroom furniture, 
such as television cabinets, cocktail tables, end tables, occasional 
tables, wall systems, book cases, and entertainment systems; (6) 
bedroom furniture made primarily of wicker, cane, osier, bamboo or 
rattan; (7) side rails for beds made of metal if sold separately from 
the headboard and footboard; (8) bedroom furniture in which bentwood 
parts predominate\10\; (9) jewelry armories\11\; (10) cheval

[[Page 60813]]

mirrors\12\; (11) certain metal parts\13\;(12) mirrors that do not 
attach to, incorporate in, sit on, or hang over a dresser if they are 
not designed and marketed to be sold in conjunction with a dresser as 
part of a dresser-mirror set; and (13) upholstered beds\14\.
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    \10\ As used herein, bentwood means solid wood made pliable. 
Bentwood is wood that is brought to a curved shape by bending it 
while made pliable with moist heat or other agency and then set by 
cooling or drying. See Customs' Headquarters' Ruling Letter 043859, 
dated May 17, 1976.
    \11\ Any armoire, cabinet or other accent item for the purpose 
of storing jewelry, not to exceed 24 in width, 
18 in depth, and 49 in height, including a 
minimum of 5 lined drawers lined with felt or felt-like material, at 
least one side door (whether or not the door is lined with felt or 
felt-like material), with necklace hangers, and a flip-top lid with 
inset mirror. See Issues and Decision Memorandum from Laurel 
LaCivita to Laurie Parkhill, Office Director, Concerning Jewelry 
Armoires and Cheval Mirrors in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of 
Wooden Bedroom Furniture from the People's Republic of China, dated 
August 31, 2004. See also Wooden Bedroom Furniture from the People's 
Republic of China: Notice of Final Results of Changed Circumstances 
Review and Revocation in Part, 71 FR 38621 (July 7, 2006).
    \12\ Cheval mirrors are, i.e., any framed, tiltable mirror with 
a height in excess of 50 that is mounted on a floor-
standing, hinged base. Additionally, the scope of the order excludes 
combination cheval mirror/jewelry cabinets. The excluded merchandise 
is an integrated piece consisting of a cheval mirror, i.e., a framed 
tiltable mirror with a height in excess of 50 inches, mounted on a 
floor-standing, hinged base, the cheval mirror serving as a door to 
a cabinet back that is integral to the structure of the mirror and 
which constitutes a jewelry cabinet lined with fabric, having 
necklace and bracelet hooks, mountings for rings and shelves, with 
or without a working lock and key to secure the contents of the 
jewelry cabinet back to the cheval mirror, and no drawers anywhere 
on the integrated piece. The fully assembled piece must be at least 
50 inches in height, 14.5 inches in width, and 3 inches in depth. 
See Wooden Bedroom Furniture From the People's Republic of China: 
Final Results of Changed Circumstances Review and Determination To 
Revoke Order in Part, 72 FR 38621 (January 9, 2007).
    \13\ Metal furniture parts and unfinished furniture parts made 
of wood products (as defined above) that are not otherwise 
specifically named in this scope (i.e., wooden headboards for beds, 
wooden footboards for beds, wooden side rails for beds, and wooden 
canopies for beds) and that do not possess the essential character 
of wooden bedroom furniture in an unassembled, incomplete, or 
unfinished form. Such parts are usually classified under the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS'') 
subheading 9403.90.7000.
    \14\ Upholstered beds that are completely upholstered, i.e., 
containing filling material and completely covered in sewn genuine 
leather, synthetic leather, or natural or synthetic decorative 
fabric. To be excluded, the entire bed (headboards, footboards, and 
side rails) must be upholstered except for bed feet, which may be of 
wood, metal, or any other material and which are no more than nine 
inches in height from the floor. See Wooden Bedroom Furniture from 
the People's Republic of China: Final Results of Changed 
Circumstances Review and Determination to Revoke Order in Part, 72 
FR 7013 (February 14, 2007).
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    Imports of subject merchandise are classified under subheading 
9403.50.9040 of the HTSUS as ``wooden . . . beds'' and under subheading 
9403.50.9080 of the HTSUS as ``other . . . wooden furniture of a kind 
used in the bedroom.'' In addition, wooden headboards for beds, wooden 
footboards for beds, wooden side rails for beds, and wooden canopies 
for beds may also be entered under subheading 9403.50.9040 of the HTSUS 
as ``parts of wood'' and framed glass mirrors may also be entered under 
subheading 7009.92.5000 of the HTSUS as ``glass mirrors . . . framed.'' 
This order covers all wooden bedroom furniture meeting the above 
description, regardless of tariff classification. Although the HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our 
written description of the scope of this proceeding is dispositive.

Final Results Of Review

    As noted in the Preliminary Results, in a changed circumstances 
review involving a successor-in-interest determination, the Department 
typically examines several factors including, but not limited to, 
changes in: (1) management; (2) production facilities; (3) supplier 
relationships; and (4) customer base. See Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon 
Steel Plate from Romania: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed 
Circumstances Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 70 FR 22847 (May 
3, 2005). While no single factor or combination of factors will 
necessarily be dispositive, the Department generally will consider the 
new company to be the successor to the predecessor if the resulting 
operations are essentially the same as those of the predecessor 
company. See, e.g., Notice of Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed 
Circumstances Review: Certain Forged Stainless Steel Flanges from 
India, 71 FR 327 (January 4, 2006).

Analysis of Comments Received

    Due to their proprietary nature, all issues raised in the post-
preliminary comments by parties in this review (i.e., whether 
Tradewinds Intl is the successor-in-interest to Fortune Glory) are 
addressed in the memorandum to the file, ``Decision Memorandum for the 
Changed Circumstances Review of Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. and 
Tradewinds International Enterprise Ltd. on the Antidumping Duty Order 
on Wooden Bedroom Furniture From the People's Republic of China,'' 
dated October 19, 2007 (``Decision Memorandum''). The Decision 
Memorandum is a proprietary document, for which a public version is 
available on file in the Central Records Unit in room B-099 of the main 
Department building.

Tradewinds Furniture Ltd.

    Tradewinds concurs with the Department's preliminary findings with 
respect to the successorship of Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. Moreover, 
there has been no information submitted to the record that indicates 
the Department should change its finding with regards to Tradewinds 
Furniture Ltd. As a result, for the reasons stated in the Preliminary 
Results, we continue to find that Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. is the 
successor-in-interest to Nanhai Jiantai.
    Therefore, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to 
apply the cash deposit rate established for Nanhai Jiantai to all 
entries of merchandise exported by Tradewinds Furniture Ltd. The cash 
deposit determination from this changed circumstances review will apply 
to all entries of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the 
final results of this changed circumstances review. See Notice of Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review; Certain 
Forged Stainless Steel Flanges From India, 71 FR 31156, 31157 (June 1, 
2006). This cash deposit rate shall remain in effect until further 
notice.

Tradewinds International Enterprise Ltd.

    While Tradewinds asserts that its submitted documentation supports 
a finding that Tradewinds Intl is the successor-in-interest to Fortune 
Glory, and should be legally entitled to the Fortune Glory rate, we 
find that Tradewinds failed to provide sufficient evidence indicating 
that Tradewinds Intl is ``essentially the same'' as Fortune Glory for a 
successor-in-interest finding. Contrary to Tradewinds' argument, while 
we noted in our Preliminary Results that Fortune Glory has not 
transferred its export functions to Tradewinds Intl, it is not the sole 
reason we determined Tradewinds Intl is not essentially the same as 
Fortune Glory. Rather, the Department looks to a totality of the 
factors. While Tradewinds submitted some documentation to demonstrate 
the creation of Tradewinds Intl (including the business certification 
and naming of Tradewinds Intl), upon an examination of all the 
documentation submitted, against the factors required to support a 
finding of successor-in-interest, including proprietary factors that 
cannot be discussed in this public Federal Register notice, Tradewinds 
has failed to establish that such creation is essentially unchanged 
from Fortune Glory. See Decision Memorandum, at 3-6. Significantly, it 
is not possible to compare the factors the Department typically 
examines between the predecessor company Fortune Glory (i.e., 
management, production facilities, supplier relationships, sales 
facilities, and customer base) to those of the

[[Page 60814]]

requesting company Tradewinds Intl because, as Tradewinds itself 
acknowledges, the successor-in-interest has yet to occur. Specifically, 
Tradewinds states that ``{n{time} o structural, management, employee, 
supplier, customer, or other changes are anticipated as a result of the 
transfer'' (emphasis added). Despite Tradewinds' assurances that 
operations will eventually be essentially the same, the Department 
cannot base a ruling on speculation, as it provides the Department with 
no record evidence to analyze. For a more detailed discussion, 
including relevant factors of a proprietary nature, see the Decision 
Memorandum.
    As a result, we continue to find that Tradewinds Intl is not the 
successor-in-interest to Fortune Glory at this time and, therefore, 
should not be given the same antidumping duty treatment as Fortune 
Glory.
    This notice is issued and published in accordance with sections 
751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and 19 
C.F.R. 351.216.

    Dated: October 19, 2007.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-21101 Filed 10-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S