[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 71 (Friday, April 11, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19812-19814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7805]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Expected Non-Market Economy Wages: Request for Comments on 2007 
Calculation

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

ACTION: Request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 antidumping proceedings 
involving NME countries. These expected NME wages are calculated 
annually in accordance with the Department's regulations, See 19 CFR 
351.408 (c)(3). This notice constitutes the Department's 2007 expected 
NME wages, which were calculated from 2005 data made available in 2007 
according to the Department's revised methodology described in the 
Federal Register notice entitled Antidumping Methodologies: Market 
Economy Inputs, Expected Non-Market Economy Wages, Duty Drawback; and 
Request for Comments, 71 FR 61716, Oct. 19, 2006 (hereafter,

[[Page 19813]]

the ``Antidumping Methodologies notice''), and provides the public with 
an opportunity to comment on potential clerical errors in the 
calculation.

DATES: Any 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: Anthony Hill, Economist, Office of 
Policy, or Juanita Chen, Special Assistant to the Senior Enforcement 
Coordinator, China/ NME Group, Import Administration, U.S. Department 
of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20230, (202) 482-1843 and (202) 482-1904, respectively.

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, See 19 CFR 351.408 (c)(3).
    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 `` [e]ach year, the Department's annual 
calculation will be subject to public notice prior to the adoption of 
the resulting expected NME wage rates for use in antidumping 
proceedings. Comment will be requested only with regard to potential 
clerical errors in the Department's calculation.'' Antidumping 
Methodology Notice, 71 FR 61722.
    This notice constitutes the Department's 2007 calculation of 
expected NME wages in Attachment 1, which were calculated from 2005 
data made available in 2007 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.
    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 2007 expected NME wages calculation 
have been posted on the Import Administration Web site (http://www.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.

Submission of Comments

    Persons wishing to comment on clerical errors in the Department's 
2007 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 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 1117. 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://www.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: April 1, 2008.
Stephen J. Claeys,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Attachment 1-2007 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 December 27, 2007, the Department has calculated preliminary 2007 
expected NME wages. 2004 and 2005 data in Chapter 5B of the ILO 
International Labour Statistics were available for 87 entities: 
Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, 
Belgium, Bermuda, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, 
Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican 
Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, 
Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, 
Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, 
Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, the former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, 
Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, 
Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, 
Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, 
Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin 
Islands, West Bank and Gaza strip.
    Within this data set, for 2004 and 2005, there were no ``earnings'' 
data for Italy, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, and Qatar.
    There were no further entities eliminated as 2004 and 2005 data was 
present for ``men and women'' and represented all industries 
(``Total'') for the remaining 82 entities.

[[Page 19814]]

    Of these 82 entities, a consumer price index was unavailable for 
the following 13: Azerbaijan, Bermuda, China, Cuba, Gibraltar, Guam, 
Isle of Man, Jersey, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Taiwan, Ukraine, and the 
Virgin Islands.
    Of the remaining 69 entities, there was no exchange rate available 
for Serbia and Montenegro.
    Of the remaining 68 entities, there was no GNI data available for: 
Bahrain, Cyprus, and Macau.
    Of the remaining 65 entities, the following four are currently or 
were NMEs designated by the Department in 2004 or 2005: Armenia, 
Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova.
    Accordingly, the Department ran its preliminary 2007 expected NME 
wage regression on the following 61 countries: Albania, Argentina, 
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, 
Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican 
Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, 
Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, 
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia the 
former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, 
Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, 
Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United 
States, and West Bank and Gaza Strip.
    Following the data compilation and regression methodology described 
in the Antidumping Methodologies notice, and using GNI and wage data 
for Base Year 2005, the regression results are: Wage = 0.284456 + 
0.000447* GNI.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                   Expected NME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           2005 GNI (USD  Wage rate (USD
                 Country                    per annum)       per hour)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armenia.................................           1,470            0.94
Azerbaijan..............................           1,270            0.85
Belarus.................................           2,760            1.52
China...................................           1,740            1.06
Georgia.................................           1,300            0.87
Kyrgyz Republic.........................             450            0.49
Moldova.................................             960            0.71
Tajikistan..............................             330            0.43
Uzbekistan..............................             530            0.52
Vietnam.................................             620            0.56
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The World Bank did not publish a GNI for Turkmenistan.
    As stated above, the full preliminary results and underlying data 
for the 2007 expected NME wages calculation have been posted on the 
Import Administration Web site (http://ia.ita.doc.gov).

 [FR Doc. E8-7805 Filed 4-10-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P