Certain Apparel From Thailand; Scope Amendment

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[C-549-401]

Certain Apparel From Thailand; Scope Amendment

AGENCY: International Trade Administration/Import Administration,

Commerce.

ACTION: Certain Apparel From Thailand: Notice of Amendment to the

Existing Conversion of the Scope of the Order From the Tariff Schedules

of the United States Annotated to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.

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SUMMARY: On January 1, 1989, the United States fully converted to the

international harmonized system of tariff classification. On January

11, 1989, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the

Conversion to Use of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of Classifications

for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings (54 FR 993; January

11, 1989) (1989 Conversion) for all antidumping and countervailing duty

orders in effect or investigations in progress as of January 1, 1989.

On July 26, 1993 (58 FR 39789), the Department published a proposed

amendment to the conversion. Interested parties were invited to comment

on this proposed amended conversion. Based on our analysis of the

comments received, the Department is now publishing an amended

conversion of the scope of the countervailing duty order on certain

apparel from Thailand.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 17, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Givens or Kelly Parkhill, Office

of Countervailing Compliance, Import Administration, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC

20230, telephone (202) 482-2786.

Background

In 1985, the Department issued a countervailing duty order on

Certain Apparel from Thailand (C-549-401) (50 FR 9818; March 12, 1985).

The scope of this order was originally defined solely in terms of the

Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated (TSUSA) item numbers;

no narrative product description was provided. On January 1, 1989, the

United States fully converted from the TSUSA to the Harmonized Tariff

Schedule (HTS). Section 1211 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness

Act of 1988 directed the Department to ``take whatever actions are

necessary to conform, to the fullest extent practicable, with the

tariff classification system of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule [for]

all * * * orders * * *'' in effect at the time of the implementation of

the HTS.

Accordingly, on January 11, 1989, after reviewing comments received

from the public, the Department published the 1989 Conversion for all

antidumping and countervailing duty orders in effect or investigations

in progress as of January 1, 1989 (54 FR 993). That notice also

included the conversion of the scope of the Thai apparel order from

TSUSA to HTS item numbers. The 1989 Conversion was based on a one-to-

one correspondence of the TSUSA and HTS item numbers. In the notice,

the Department stated that it would review the HTS classifications at

any time during a proceeding upon receipt of new information or

additional comments.

Subsequently, as a result of comments submitted to the Department

by the importing public and advice received from the U.S. Customs

Service, the Department determined that the 1989 Conversion did not

accurately reflect the scope of the order on certain apparel from

Thailand and, therefore, that the 1989 Conversion should be amended. On

September 15, 1992, the Department published a proposed amendment to

the 1989 Conversion and invited interested parties to comment (57 FR

42545). The Department did not receive any comments with respect to the

amendment concerning the order on certain apparel from Thailand.

On January 13, 1993, the Department published the amended 1989

Conversion (Amended 1989 Conversion) (58 FR 4151). On March 10, 1993,

the Customs Service began liquidating, without regard to countervailing

duties, all unliquidated entries of the subject merchandise not covered

in the Amended 1989 Conversion that were exported on or after January

1, 1989. Customs also began liquidating at the appropriate rate all

unliquidated entries of the subject merchandise covered in the Amended

1989 Conversion that were exported on or after January 1, 1989.

Thereafter, the Department discovered that the Amended 1989

Conversion was based on an inaccurate HTS list. On April 23, 1993,

after being notified by the Department of the error, Customs resumed

suspending liquidation according to the original 1989 Conversion (54 FR

993).

To rectify the error in the Amended 1989 Conversion, the

Department, with the assistance of the U.S. Customs Service and the

U.S. International Trade Commission, again compared the TSUSA-defined

scope and the HTS-defined scope provided in the 1989 Conversion, and

identified those HTS numbers that reasonably correspond with the TSUSA-

defined scope of the Certain Apparel from Thailand countervailing duty

order. On July 26, 1993, the Department published a new Proposed

Amended Conversion (58 FR 39789) and invited interested parties to

comment on this proposed amendment. Based on our analysis of the

comments received, the Department has again amended the 1989 Conversion

governing the countervailing duty order on certain apparel from

Thailand. The HTS numbers included in this order are listed in the

attached Appendix.

Analysis of Comments Received

Comment 1: Stearns Manufacturing Company points out that the

Proposed Amended Conversion includes female garments fabricated out of

PVC coated polyester and PVC coated nylon (HTS 6210.50.10.10) but does

not include male garments composed of these same fabrics (HTS

6210.40.10.10). Stearns argues that neither female nor male garments

made of this fabric should be included because neither was included in

the original 1985 countervailing duty order.

Department's Position: We agree. Because PVC rainwear was not

included in the 1985 order, it should not be included in the Amended

Conversion. Accordingly, we are deleting from the Amended Conversion

the 8-digit subheading number 6210.50.10 and replacing it with the 10-

digit number 6210.50.10.20, which does not include PVC rainwear.

Comment 2: Southern Trading Company contends that the scope of the

Proposed Amended Conversion is inconsistent because certain female

garments are included while the equivalent male garment is excluded.

Southern argues that similar garments should be treated in the same

manner without regard to gender.

Department's Position: We disagree. The purpose of the new Amended

Conversion is to make the scope of the order, as converted to HTS

classifications, match the scope of the original order using TSUSA

classifications as closely as reasonably possible. Because the original

TSUSA-defined order reflected gender, the HTS order should as well.

In addition to the changes we are making in response to interested

party comments, we are also making the following changes. First, we are

adding HTS item number 6113.00.00.30 to the Amended Conversion to make

it more closely match the scope of the original order. This HTS item

number covers certain women's and girls' knitted, coated coats and

jackets. Second, the Proposed Amended Conversion includes various

ornamented garments that were not included in the original 1985 TSUSA

order. Therefore, we are limiting the application of the following HTS

headings in the Amended Conversion as follows:

6101.20.00, 6103.42.10, 6104.51.00, 6104.52.00, 6104.62.20, 6109.90.10,

6111.30.40

Coverage excludes garments having embroidery or permanently affixed

applique work on the outer surface.

6103.43.15, 6103.49.10

Coverage excludes shorts having embroidery or permanently affixed

applique work on the outer surface.

6104.53.20, 6104.59.10

Coverage excludes girls' skirts and divided skirts not having

embroidery or permanently affixed applique work on the outer surface.

6110.20.20

Coverage excludes mens' or boys' garments having embroidery or

permanently affixed applique work on the outer surface.

6204.43.40

Coverage excludes women's dresses of fabrics of multicolored yarns.

6212.10.10

Coverage is limited to brassieres of man-made fibers.

All of these changes are reflected in the new Amended Conversion.

The attached Appendix incorporates all of these amendments.

Instructions to Customs

The Department will instruct the Customs Service to liquidate

without regard to countervailing duties all unliquidated entries of

merchandise not covered by the attached Appendix that were exported on

or after January 1, 1989. The Department will also instruct the Customs

Service to liquidate at the appropriate rate all unliquidated entries

of the subject merchandise covered in the attached appendix that were

exported on or after January 1, 1989, but not after December 31, 1993,

except for entries made between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 1991.

Entries made between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 1991 will be

liquidated following the completion of the administrative review that

has been requested for that time period.

In addition, we are instructing the Customs Service to terminate

the suspension of liquidation for all entries of merchandise not

covered in the attached Appendix, that are entered or withdrawn from

the warehouse on or after the date of publication of this notice. The

Department will also instruct the Customs Service to continue to

suspend liquidation and collect the appropriate cash deposit of

estimated countervailing duties for the subject merchandise listed in

the attached Appendix, entered or withdrawn from the warehouse, on or

after the date of publication of this notice.

Dated: May 9, 1994.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix: Amended HTS List for Certain Apparel From Thailand (C-549-

401)

4202.1240, 4202.2270, 4202.3295, 4202.9260, 6102.1000, 6103.2200\1\,

6103.4315\4\, 6104.1915, 6104.2910\1\, 6104.3910, 6104.5100\3\,

6104.5910\5\, 6105.1000, 6109.1000, 6111.3010, 6111.3050, 6111.9040,

6112.2010, 6114.3030, 6202.1220, 6202.9350, 6203.2920\1\,

6204.1200\1\, 6204.3220, 6204.4340\7\, 6204.5930, 6205.2020,

6208.9200, 6209.2050, 6212.1020, 4202.1280, 4202.1260, 4202.9215,

4202.9290, 6102.3010, 6103.2300\1\, 6103.4910\4\, 6104.2100\1\,

6104.3100, 6104.4200, 6104.5200\3\, 6104.6220\3\, 6105.2020,

6109.9010\3\, 6111.3020, 6111.9010, 6111.9050, 6113.00.00.30,

6201.1220, 6202.1340, 6203.1910\1\, 6203.4240, 6204.2230\1\,

6204.3350, 6204.4440, 6204.6240, 6206.3030, 6209.2010, 6210.3010,

4202.2245, 4202.2280, 4202.9220, 6101.2000\3\, 6102.3020,

6103.2910\1\, 6104.1200\1\, 6104.2200\1\, 6104.3310, 6104.4320,

6104.5310, 6104.6320, 6106.1000, 6110.2020\6\, 6111.3030, 6111.9020,

6112.1200, 6114.2000, 6201.1340, 6202.9220, 6203.2230\1\, 6203.4340,

6204.2300\1\, 6204.3930, 6204.5220\2\, 6204.6335, 6206.4030,

6209.2020, 6210.50.10.20, 4202.2260, 4202.3240, 4202.9230,

6101.3020, 6103.1920\1\, 6103.4210\3\, 6104.1320, 6104.2300\1\,

6104.3320, 6104.4420, 6104.5320\5\, 6104.6920, 6106.2020, 6110.3030,

6111.3040\3\, 6111.9030, 6112.1910, 6114.3010, 6201.9220, 6202.9345,

6203.2300\1\, 6203.4920, 6204.2920\1\, 6204.4230, 6204.5330,

6204.6925, 6208.2200, 6209.2030, 6212.1010\8\.

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\1\Coverage limited to garments that would be covered by this

order if separately entered.

\2\Coverage excludes garments of denim or of pile fabrics.

\3\Coverage excludes garments having embroidery or permanently

affixed applique work on the outer surface.

\4\Coverage excludes shorts having embroidery or permanently

affixed applique work on the outer surface.

\5\Coverage excludes girls' skirts and divided skirts not having

embroidery or permanently affixed applique work on the outer

surface.

\6\Coverage excludes men's or boys' garments having embroidery

or permanently affixed applique work on the outer surface.

\7\Coverage excludes women's dresses of fabrics of multicolored

yarns.

\8\Coverage is limited to brassieres of man-made fibers.

[FR Doc. 94-11972 Filed 5-16-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P