Certain Iron Construction Castings From Canada; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-122-503]

Certain Iron Construction Castings From Canada; Preliminary

Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty

Administrative Review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request by the Municipal Castings Fair Trade

Council and its individually-named members (petitioner), the Department

of Commerce (the Department) has conducted an administrative review of

the antidumping duty order on iron construction castings from Canada.

The review covers four manufacturers/exporters of the subject

merchandise to the United States during the period March 1, 1991,

through February 29, 1992. For these preliminary results, we applied

best information available (BIA) for all four of the manufacturers/

exporters. The review indicates the existence of dumping margins during

the period.

Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary

results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 10, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arthur N. DuBois or Thomas F. Futtner,

Office of Antidumping Compliance, International Trade Administration,

U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230, telephone: (202)

482-6312/3814.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 5, 1989, the Department published in the Federal Register

an antidumping duty order on iron construction castings from Canada (51

FR 7890). In accordance with 19 CFR 353.22(a) the petitioner requested

an administrative review of four manufacturers/exporters. We published

the notice of initiation on April 13, 1992 (57 FR 12797). The

Department is now conducting that administrative review in accordance

with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Tariff

Act).

Scope of the Review

Imports covered by this review are shipments of certain heavy and

light iron construction castings. Heavy castings, are limited to

manhole covers, rings, and frames, catch basin grates and frames,

cleanout covers and frames used for drainage or access purposes for

public utility, water, and sanitary systems, from Canada, classifiable

under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) item numbers 7325.10.0010 and

7325.10.0050. Light castings are limited to valve, service, and meter

boxes which are placed below ground to encase water, gas, or other

valves, or water and gas meters, classifiable as light castings under

HTS item numbers 8306.29.0000 and 8310.00.0000. The HTS item numbers

are provided for convenience and Customs purposes only. The written

description remains dispositive.

This review covers sales of certain Canadian iron construction

castings by Associated Foundry (Associated), Fonderie LaPerle/LaPerle

Foundry Division (LaPerle), Penticton Foundry Ltd. (Penticton), and

Titan Foundry Ltd. (Titan), during the period March 1, 1991, through

February 29, 1992.

Analysis

We received only one questionnaire response, and that was from

LaPerle. Based on our analysis of LaPerle's response, we have

determined that LaPerle is related to other manufacturers/exporters for

which it did not provide information. LaPerle and its related entities

meet all five criteria, in addition to ownership, that the Department

considers in determining whether to collapse related parties, as laid

out in Certain Granite Products from Spain, 53 FR 24335, 1988; Certain

Granite Products from Italy 53 FR 27187, 1988; Steel Wheels from

Brazil, 54 FR 8780, 1989; Cellular Mobile Telephones and Subassemblies

from Japan, 54 FR 48011, 1989; and Final Determinations of Sales at

Less Than Fair Value: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products,

Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products, Certain Corrosion-

Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products, and Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon

Steel Plate from Canada, 58 FR 37099 (July 9, 1993). The five criteria,

in addition to ownership, are as follows:

Whether companies have interlocking boards of directors

Whether companies have similar production processes,

facilities or equipment so as to facilitate shifting of production

between facilities

Whether companies operate as separate and distinct

entities

Whether companies share marketing and sales information or

offices

Whether companies are involved in the pricing or

production decisions of the other entity

Based on our analysis of these criteria, the information on the

record indicates that 13 other companies, in addition to those included

in the notice of initiation of administrative review, are sufficiently

related to be collapsed. It is our preliminary determination LaPerle

and all its related companies should be treated as a single entity.

(For more information see the analysis memorandum for the preliminary

results.) Therefore, in effect, we are now conducting a review of one

single company, comprised of various individual components, including

LaPerle.

Best Information Available

In conducting our analysis of related parties in this review, we

issued three supplemental questionnaires and granted extensions for

several of the responses. In spite of this, LaPerle did not provide us

with enough information to adequately support its position as an

independent entity. Because none of the individual components of this

entity responded to our questionnaire, other than LaPerle, and because

LaPerle, as the responding party, failed to submit a consolidated

response, only a small fraction of the required information was

provided.

Although LaPerle has provided a partial response to our

questionnaire, LaPerle has not submitted a response consolidating all

information for all parties related to it, and we are not able to use

LaPerle's responses for purposes of this review. Therefore, we have

considered LaPerle uncooperative. The application of first-tier BIA is

appropriate because LaPerle has impeded the proceeding by failing to

give the Department the information necessary to conduct the review and

by failing to provide sufficient support that it was independent.

Therefore, in accordance with section 776(c) of the Tariff Act, and

the Department's practice (see Antifriction Bearing (Other than Tapered

Roller Bearings) and Parts from France, et al., 58 FR 39729, July 26,

1993, we have applied first-tier BIA to the entity as a whole. The

first-tier BIA rate in this case is 9.8 percent, which is the highest

of the rates for any firm in the original investigation (see Iron

Construction Castings from Canada; Amendment to Final Determination of

Sales at Less than Fair Value and Amendment to Antidumping Duty Order,

51 FR 34110, September 25, 1986).

For more information on these BIA applications to each component of

the entity, see the analysis memorandum.

Preliminary Results of the Review

As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine that the

following weighted-average margins exist, and have been applied based

on relationship and/or failure to respond, for the period March 1, 1991

through February 29, 1992:

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

Percent

Manufacturer/exporter margin

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

Associated.................................................... 9.8

LaPerle....................................................... 9.8

Penticton 9.8

Titan 9.8

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Interested parties may request disclosure within 5 days of the date

of publication of this notice and may request a hearing within 10 days

of publication. Any hearing, if requested, will be held 44 days after

the date of publication or the first business day thereafter. Case

briefs and/or written comments from interested parties may be submitted

no later than 30 days after the date of publication. Rebuttal briefs

and rebuttals to written comments, limited to issues raised in those

comments, may be filed not later than 37 days after the date of

publication of this notice. The Department will publish the final

results of this administrative review, including the results of its

analysis of issues raised when submitted in written form, or mentioned

at a hearing.

The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall

assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department

will issue appraisement instructions on each exporter directly to the

Customs Service.

Because we have completed to review for the period, March 1, 1992,

through February 28, 1993, the cash deposit requirement for merchandise

subject to the order will not be changed by the final results of this

administrative review, except in the case of two of the entity's

components. Moreover, since there were no requests for reviews of other

companies which were related to LaPerle, entries of all the additional

firms' merchandise have been liquidated in accordance with 19 CFR

353.22(e). Therefore, only two of the companies not included in the

notice of initiation will have cash deposit rates established by this

administrative review. Accordingly, for these two firms we will

instruct Customs to require cash deposits of 9.8 percent, the rate

assigned to the entire entity.

This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of

their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 to file a certificate

regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation

of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply

with this requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that

reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent

assessment of double antidumping duties.

These administrative review and this notice are in accordance with

section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and 19 CFR

353.22(c).

Dated: July 30, 1994.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 94-19539 Filed 8-9-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P