Color Television Receivers, Except for Video Monitors, From Taiwan; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review Pursuant to Court Remand

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-583-009]

Color Television Receivers, Except for Video Monitors, From

Taiwan; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

Pursuant to Court Remand

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of amendment to final results of antidumping duty

administrative review pursuant to Court remand.

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SUMMARY: On September 19, 1996, in the case of Zenith Electronics

Corporation v. United States, AOC International, Inc. et al.,

Consolidated Court No. 87 F.3d 426 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (Zenith), the

United States Court of International Trade (CIT) affirmed the

Department of Commerce's (the Department) results of redetermination on

remand demand September 3, 1996.

On February 12, 1996, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

(CAFC) upheld the Department's methodology for determining direct and

indirect warranty expenses for purposes of making a circumstance-of-

sale (COS) adjustment in calculating AOC International Inc.'s (AOC)

final margin for the first administrative review of color television

receivers, except for video monitors, from Taiwan, for the period

October 19, 1983 through March 31, 1985 (see Color Television

Receivers, Except for Video Monitors, from Taiwan; Final Results of

Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, (CTVs from Taiwan) 51 FR 46895

(1986). Subsequently, the CAFC remanded the case to the CIT for

recalculation of dumping margins in a manner consistent with the CAFC's

affirmation in Zenith of the Department's definition of ``direct'' as

those expenses that vary with the quantity sold and ``indirect'' as

those expenses that do not vary with the quantity sold. This CAFC

decision reversed the CIT's first remand of September 11, 1989, wherein

it ordered the Department to make reasonable allowances for differences

between warranty expenses in the U.S. and home markets. In accordance

with that order, which was subsequently reversed by the February 12,

1996 CAFC decision, the Department treated all home market warranty

expenses as direct expenses.

On July 18, 1996, the CIT remanded the case to the Department to

recalculate AOC's dumping margin in accordance with the CAFC's February

12, 1996 ruling in Zenith. In response to the CIT's remand, the

Department recalculated AOC's dumping margin in accordance with Zenith

and filed the remand determination with the CIT on September 3, 1996.

The CIT subsequently affirmed the remand determination on September 19,

1996.

These amended final results for AOC and the subsequent liquidation

instructions to the U.S. Customs Service (Customs Service) mark the

conclusion of the first administrative review of CTVs from Taiwain.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 7, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Maureen McPhillips or John Kugelman, AD/CVD Enforcement, Group III,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

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

Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-3019 or (202) 482-0649,

respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On December 29, 1986, the Department published in the Federal

Register the final results of the first administrative review of the

antidumping duty order on CTVs from Taiwan (51 FR 46895) for the period

of review (POR) October 19, 1983 through March 31, 1985, and announced

its intent to instruct the Customs Service to assess antidumping duties

on all appropriate entries.

Subsequent to the Department's final results, four of the reviewed

companies and a domestic producer, Zenith, filed lawsuits with the CIT

challenging these results. Thereafter, on September 11, 1989, the CIT

issued an order and opinion remanding the Department's determination so

that the Department could, among other issues, make reasonable

allowances for ``bona fide differences in warranty expenses between the

United States and the home market.'' On January 31, 1991, the

Department filed its first remand results

[[Page 57629]]

with the CIT (see Zenith Electronics Corporation v. United States, 770

F.Supp. 648 (CIT 1991)).

On January 17, 1995, the Department, consistent with the decision

of the CAFC in Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir.

1990), published a notice in the Federal Register stating that it would

not order the liquidation of the subject merchandise entered or

withdrawn from warehouse for consumption prior to a ``final and

conclusive'' decision in this case. On June 20, 1996, the Department

published amended final results of the first administrative review for

those respondents not affected by the direct/indirect warranty issue

(61 FR 31507).

On February 12, 1996, in Zenith, the CAFC upheld the Department's

methodology for determining direct and indirect warranty expenses for

purposes of making a COS adjustment in calculating AOC's final margin.

The CAFC upheld the Department's practice of limiting adjustments to

expenses that were reasonable identifiable, quantifiable, and directly

related to the sales under consideration. It affirmed the Department's

definition of ``direct'' as those expenses that vary with the quantity

sold and ``indirect'' as those expenses that do not vary with the

quantity sold. Id. (Citing Koyo Seiko Co. v. United States, 36 F.3d

1565, 1569 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 1994); Torrington Co. v. United States, 44

F.3d 1572, 1579 (Fed. Cir. 1995); Consumer Prods. Div., SCM Corp. v.

Silver Reed America, Inc., 753 F.2d 1033, 1035 (Fed. Cir. 1995)). In

this instance, the CAFC concluded that evidence in the record failed to

demonstrate that AOC's in-house warranty labor expenses varied with the

quantity of CTVs sold. On July 18, 1996, the CIT remanded the case to

the Department to recalculate AOC's dumping margin in accordance with

the CAFC's February 12, 1996 opinion. The Department recalculated AOC's

warranty expenses in response to the CIT's remand and in accordance

with the CAFC's February 12, 1996 ruling, and filed the redetermination

with the CIT on September 3, 1996.

As a result of the Department's recalculation of AOC's warranty

expenses, designating in-house labor expenses incurred in the home

market as indirect and the cost of parts as direct, the Department has

determined the weighted-average dumping margin for CTVs from Taiwan,

manufactured/exported by AOC, during the period October 19, 1983

through March 31, 1995, to be 0.17%. The CIT affirmed the Department's

remand determination on September 19, 1996.

Accordingly, the Department will determine, and the Customs Service

will assess, appropriate antidumping duties on entries of the subject

merchandise made by AOC during the period October 19, 1983 through

March 31, 1985. The Department will issue appraisement instructions

directly to the Customs Service.

This amendment of final results of review and notice are in

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

(19 U.S.C. 1675 (f)) and 19 CFR Sec. 353.28(c).

Dated: October 31, 1996.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-28678 Filed 11-6-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M