[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 222 (Monday, November 19, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65010-65011]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22554]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-818]


Certain Pasta from Italy: Notice of Initiation of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) has obtained 
information with respect to Pasta Lensi S.r.l. (Lensi), a producer/
exporter of pasta from Italy, and American Italian Pasta Company 
(AIPC), Lensi's corporate parent and importer of subject merchandise 
produced by Lensi, sufficient to warrant the self-initiation of a 
changed circumstances review. Interested parties are invited to submit 
comments, as indicated below.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 19, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis McClure or Eric Greynolds, AD/
CVD Operations, Office 3, Import Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, Room 4012, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 485-5973 or (202) 482-6071, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On July 24, 1996, the Department published in the Federal Register 
the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy (61 FR 38547). Neither 
Lensi nor its predecessor IAPC\1\ was individually investigated during 
the less-than-fair-value investigation. The Department conducted 
administrative reviews of Lensi/IAPC for the following periods: July 1, 
2000 - June 30, 2001, July 1, 2001 - June 30, 2002, and July 1, 2002 - 
June 30, 2003. A de minimis margin was found for IAPC in the 2000-2001 
review

[[Page 65011]]

period.\2\ A de minimis margin was found for Lensi in the 2001-2002 
review period.\3\ In the final results of the 2002-2003 administrative 
review, we again found a de minimis margin for Lensi and also found 
that Lensi had met the requirements for revocation from the order under 
19 CFR 351.222(b)(2) and 351.222(e)(1).\4\ Effective July 1, 2003, the 
antidumping duty order was revoked with respect to Lensi based on the 
three consecutive reviews resulting in de minimis dumping margins (see 
19 CFR 351.222(b)).\5\
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    \1\ See Notice of Final Results of Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Review: Certain Pasta from 
Italy, 68 FR 41553 (July 14, 2003), in which the Department 
determined that Lensi was the successor-in-interest to IAPC.
    \2\ See Notice of Final Results of the Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review and Determination Not to Revoke in Part: 
Certain Pasta from Italy, 68 FR 6882 (February 11, 2003).
    \3\ See Final Results of the Sixth Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Duty Order on Certain Pasta from Italy and Determination 
Not to Revoke in Part, 69 FR 6255 (February 10, 2004).
    \4\ See Notice of Final Results of the Seventh Administrative 
Review of the Antidumping Duty Order on Certain Pasta from Italy and 
Determination to Revoke in Part, 70 FR 6832 (February 9, 2005) 
(Seventh Review Final).
    \5\ See Seventh Review Final.
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    Lensi and AIPC voluntarily disclosed to the Department in letters 
and in meetings with Department officials\6\ that if Lensi had 
correctly reported its U.S. sales data in the seventh review, the data 
would have resulted in the Department calculating an above de minimis 
dumping margin in the Seventh Review Final and the antidumping duty 
order would not have been revoked with respect to Lensi. In their 
submissions, AIPC and Lensi suggest various processes for the 
Department to address this voluntary disclosure including reinstating 
Lensi under the order.\7\
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    \6\ See August 31, September 18, and December 7, 2006, letters 
to the Secretary of Commerce from Lensi and AIPC. See also Memo to 
The File from Gary Taverman re: Ex Parte Meeting with Counsel for 
Lensi, August 31, 2006; Memorandum to The File from Eric B. 
Greynolds re: Ex Parte Meeting with Representatives of Lensi and the 
American Italian Pasta Company, September 7, 2006; and Memorandum to 
The File from Eric B. Greynolds re: Ex Parte Meeting with 
Representatives of Lensi and the American Italian Pasta Company, 
November 14, 2006.
    \7\ See September 18 and December 7, 2006, letters.
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Scope of the Order

    Imports covered by this order are shipments of certain non-egg dry 
pasta in packages of five pounds four ounces or less, whether or not 
enriched or fortified or containing milk or other optional ingredients 
such as chopped vegetables, vegetable purees, milk, gluten, diastasis, 
vitamins, coloring and flavorings, and up to two percent egg white. The 
pasta covered by this scope is typically sold in the retail market, in 
fiberboard or cardboard cartons, or polyethylene or polypropylene bags 
of varying dimensions.
    Excluded from the scope of this order are refrigerated, frozen, or 
canned pastas, as well as all forms of egg pasta, with the exception of 
non-egg dry pasta containing up to two percent egg white. Also excluded 
are imports of organic pasta from Italy that are accompanied by the 
appropriate certificate issued by the Instituto Mediterraneo Di 
Certificazione, by Bioagricoop Scrl, by QC&I International Services, by 
Ecocert Italia, by Consorzio per il Controllo dei Prodotti Biologici, 
by Associazione Italiana per l'Agricoltura Biologica, or by Instituto 
per la Certificazione Etica e Ambientale (ICEA) are also excluded from 
this order.
    The merchandise subject to this order is currently classifiable 
under items 1902.19.20 and 1901.90.9095 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description 
of the merchandise subject to the order is dispositive.

Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review

    As a result of information submitted to the Department by Lensi and 
AIPC, the Department finds, pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff 
Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), that there is sufficient cause to 
warrant initiation of a changed circumstances review of the antidumping 
duty order on certain pasta from Italy with respect to Lensi.
    AIPC informed the Department that certain information was not 
included in the data reported to the Department during the seventh 
review. Lensi and AIPC acknowledge that, contrary to the final results 
of the seventh administrative review, Lensi did, in fact, make sales at 
less than normal value during the 2002 - 2003 review period. As a 
result, Lensi was not entitled to the de minimis rate it received in 
the seventh review. Nor was Lensi entitled to revocation from the order 
because it did not satisfy the criteria of having made sales at not 
less than normal value for a period of at least three consecutive 
years.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on this initiation and to 
address this voluntary disclosure, the possible reinstatement of the 
order with respect to Lensi, and the appropriate rate in the event that 
we reinstate the order. Interested parties may submit comments within 
14 days of publication of this notice, or the first workday thereafter. 
Rebuttal comments may be filed not later than 21 days after the date of 
publication of this notice.
    The Department will publish in the Federal Register a notice of 
preliminary results of changed circumstances review, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(i), which will set forth the factual and legal 
conclusions upon which our preliminary results are based. In the event 
that the Department preliminarily finds that Lensi should be reinstated 
in the existing antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy, we will 
order U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of 
entries for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication 
date of the preliminary results. The Department will also issue its 
final results of review within 270 days of the date on which the 
changed circumstances review is initiated, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.216(e), and will publish these final results in the Federal 
Register.
    This notice is in accordance with section 751(b)(1) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.216 and 351.222.

    Dated: November 9, 2007.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-22554 Filed 11-16-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S