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 France; Notice of Court Decision and Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-427-806, A-427-807, A-427-808, A-427-809]

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

France; Notice of Court Decision and Continuation of Suspension of

Liquidation

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Import Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: On May 28, 1996, in Usinor Sacilor v. United States, Consol,

Court No. 93-09-00592-AD (``Usinor Sacilor''), a lawsuit challenging

the Department of Commerce's (the ``Department'') final determinations

of sales at less than fair value in the captioned investigations, the

U.S. Court of International Trade (``CIT'') affirmed the Department's

second redeterminations on remand. As a result, the final dumping

margins for Usinor Sacilor and for the ``All Others'' rate are as

follows:

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

Percent

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

Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products..................... 25.80

Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.................... 44.52

Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............ 29.41

Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate..................... 52.76

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

Consistent with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the

Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') in Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d

237 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (``Timken''), the Department will direct the U.S.

Customs Service to change the cash deposit rates being used in

connection with the suspension of liquidation of the subject

merchandise once there is a ``conclusive'' decision in Usinor Sacilor.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 7, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Edward Easton or John Brinkmann, Office of Antidumping Investigations,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1777 or (202) 482-5288,

respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On July 9, 1993, the Department published notice of its final

determinations of sales at less than fair value in its investigations

of these carbon steel products from France. 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 France, 58 FR 37125. The Department

subsequently amended these determinations and issued an antidumping

order instructing the Customs Service to collect cash deposit, at the

rates set forth in the amended final determinations, on entries of

merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or

after that publication dated, 58 FR 44169 (August 19, 1993). The

amended final determinations set forth the following dumping margins

for

[[Page 31922]]

respondent Usinor Sacilor and for the ``All Others'' rate:

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

Percent

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

Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products..................... 80.56

Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.................... 78.68

Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............ 39.40

Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate..................... 52.76

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

Following publication of the Department's amended final

determinations and antidumping order, Usinor Sacilor filed lawsuits

with the CIT challenging the Department's final determinations.

Thereafter, the CIT issued Slip Opinion 94-197, dated December 19,

1994, in Usinor Sacilor, remanding the Department's amended final

determinations on certain issues. In that opinion, the CIT found that

the Department had improperly rejected Usinor Sacilor's revised and

corrected product concordance and then restored the ``best information

available'' (``BIA''). The court directed the Department to accept the

concordance. The court also found that the Department had improperly

used BIA to remedy Usinor Sacilor's having improperly coded a

particular grade of hot-rolled carbon steel. The court directed the

Department either to use the relevant sales as coded or to allow Usinor

Sacilor to reclassify them.

In addition, the court rejected the Department's selection of the

highest non-aberrant margin as BIA for the downstream sales of Usinor

Sacilor's majority-owned steel service centers. The court instructed

the Department to use, instead, the ``weighted-average calculated

margin.'' Finally, with regard to the downstream sales of minority-

owned steel service centers, the court instructed the Department to

determine whether Usinor Sacilor controlled these service centers. If

the Department were to find that Usinor Sacilor did control them, we

were to select the highest non-aberrant margin as BIA in a manner

consistent with the CIT's ruling in National Steel Corp. v. United

States, Slip op. 94-194 (December 13, 1994). On the other hand, if the

Department were to determine that Usinor Sacilor did not control the

steel service centers in which it had minority ownership, we were to

apply the ``weighted-average calculated margin'' as BIA.

On remand, after finding that Usinor Sacilor lacked operational

control over the minority-owned service centers, the Department used

the weighted-average calculated margin as BIA for the downstream sales

of both the majority- and minority-owned service centers. This

weighted-average calculated margin BIA consisted of individual price-

to-price margins, price-to-constructed value margins and unchallenged

BIA margins. The Department also accepted Usinor Sacilor's revised and

corrected concordance and permitted the company to correct the coding

of the miscoded grade of steel. On February 17, 1995, the Department

filed its required remand results with the CIT.

On November 9, 1995, the CIT issued a second remand opinion, in

which it explained that it had intended that the Department would use a

weighted-average calculated margin consisting only of price-to-price

and price-to-constructed value margins, not including unchallenged

margins based on BIA. The Department submitted the following

recalculated weighted-average margins to the CIT on December 12, 1995:

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

Percent

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

Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Products..................... 25.80

Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Products.................... 44.52

Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Products............ 29.41

Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate..................... 52.76

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

On May 28, 1996, the CIT affirmed these recalculated margins.

Suspension of Liquidation

In its decision in Timken, the CAFC held that the Department must

publish notice of a decision of the CIT or the CAFC which is not ``in

harmony'' with the Department's final determination. Publication of

this notice fulfills this obligation. Inasmuch as entries of the

subject merchandise already are being suspended pursuant to the

antidumping order in effect, the Department need not order the Customs

Service to suspend liquidation. Consistent with Timken, the Department

will order the Customs Service to change the relevant cash deposit

rates in the event that the CIT's ruling is not appealed or the CAFC

issues a final decision affirming the CIT's ruling.

Dated: June 14, 1996.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-15805 Filed 6-20-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M