Notice of Postponement of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Bicycles From the People's Republic of China (PRC)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-843]

Notice of Postponement of Preliminary Determination of Sales at

Less Than Fair Value: Bicycles From the People's Republic of China

(PRC)

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 24, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shawn Thompson or Kate Johnson, Office

of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration, U.S. Department

of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, D.C.

20230; telephone (202) 482-1776 or (202) 482-4929, respectively.

Postponement of Final Determination

On April 25, 1995, the Department initiated an antidumping duty

investigation of bicycles from the PRC. The notice of initiation stated

that we would issue our preliminary determination on or before

September 12, 1995 (60 FR 21065, May 1, 1995). On August 7, 1995, we

received questionnaire responses from nine Chinese exporters of the

merchandise subject to this investigation.

On August 18, 1995, petitioners requested a 20-day postponement of

the preliminary determination, until October 2, 1995, pursuant to

section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).

In addition, petitioners asserted that the Department is legally

precluded from postponing the preliminary determination for the

additional 30 days allowable under Section 733(c)(1)(B) because to do

so would require a finding of cooperation by the respondents.

Petitioners stated that, because only three of the original nine

respondents are participating in this investigation, the Department

cannot reasonably conclude that the respondents are cooperating.

We disagree with petitioners and are postponing the preliminary

determination under section 733(c)(1)(B) of the Act for the full 50-

days allowable. Not only have we received questionnaire responses from

the three largest PRC exporters of subject merchandise but we have also

received responses from six additional firms. All of these

participating exporters are cooperating. Accordingly, we find that the

``parties concerned are cooperating,'' within the meaning of section

733(c)(1)(B).

Moreover, this investigation is rendered extraordinarily

complicated by the large number of foreign producers. Furthermore, the

process of identifying all exporters who sold subject merchandise to

the United States during the period of investigation caused significant

delays in issuing our questionnaire. In addition, it appears that

establishing surrogate values for the factors of production will

require more time than usual due to the complexity of the product.

For these reasons, pursuant to sections 733(c)(1)(B)(i) (II) and

(III) of the Act, we determine that this investigation is

extraordinarily complicated and that additional time is necessary to

make the preliminary determination in accordance with 733(c)(1)(B)(ii)

of the Act. We will make our preliminary determination no later than

November 1, 1995.

This notice is published pursuant to section 733(c)(2) of the Act

and 19 CFR 353.15(d).

Dated: August 18, 1995.

Barbara R. Stafford,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Investigations.

[FR Doc. 95-21070 Filed 8-23-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P