Countervailing Duties

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

19 CFR Part 351

Countervailing Duties

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public hearing on proposed countervailing duty

regulations and announcement of opportunity to file post-hearing

comments.

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department''), having

received written comments on the proposed countervailing duty

regulations, now announces that a public hearing on the regulations

will be held on September 9, 1997. Requests to participate in the

hearing must be filed by July 31, 1997. The Department is also

announcing that it will accept public comments on issues raised at the

hearing. The deadline for filing post-hearing comments is September 19,

1997.

DATES: A public hearing will be held at 10:00 on September 9, 1997.

Requests to participate in the hearing must be filed by August 7, 1997.

The deadline for filing post-hearing comments is September 19, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Address requests to participate in the hearing and post-

hearing comments to the following: Robert S. LaRussa, Acting Assistant

Secretary for Import Administration, Central Records Unit, Room 1870,

U.S. Department of Commerce, Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20230. Requests to participate in the hearing should

also include the following subject line: ``Request to participate in

hearing on proposed CVD regulations.'' Each person submitting a request

is asked to include his or her name, address, and phone number and to

identify the party(ies) on whose behalf the request is

[[Page 38949]]

filed. Written comments should include the following subject line:

``Post-hearing comments regarding proposed CVD regulations.'' Each

person submitting a comment is asked to include his or her name,

address, and give reasons for any recommendation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer A. Yeske at (202) 482-0189.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 26, 1997, the Department

published proposed countervailing duty regulations containing changes

resulting from the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (62 FR 8818). We

requested written comments from the public to be submitted by April 28,

1997. On April 23, 1997, we published a notification of extension of

the deadline for filing comments to May 12, 1997 (62 FR 19719). The

deadline was further extended to May 27, 1997 (62 FR 25874). We have

received written comments and scheduled a public hearing for September

9, 1997.

The proposed regulations and the public comments received are

available on the Internet at the following address: ``http://

www.ita.doc.gov/import__admin/records/.'' In addition, the proposed

regulations are available to the public on 3.5'' diskettes, with

specific instructions for accessing compressed data, at cost, and paper

copies are available for reading and photocopying in Room B-099 of the

Central Records Unit. Any questions concerning file formatting,

document conversion, access on Internet, or other file requirements

should be addressed to Andrew Lee Beller, Director of Central Records,

(202) 482-0866.

Hearing

A public hearing on the proposed regulations will be held at 10:00

on September 9, 1997, in Room 1414 of the Herbert C. Hoover Building at

Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. In order to

participate in the hearing, parties must submit a written request to

the Department no later than August 7, 1997. Written requests should

detail the topics parties wish to discuss at the hearing. The

Department will accommodate as many requesting parties as time permits.

The hearing will include panel discussions on topics in which parties

have shown a significant interest. At this time, we have identified

``Privatization'' and ``Equity'' as panel topics. We invite interested

parties to suggest additional topics and individuals to participate in

the panel discussions.

Comments (Format and Number of Copies)

The Department will accept post-hearing comments regarding any

issues raised at the hearing or in any written comments previously

submitted to the Department. The deadline for the submission of post-

hearing comments is September 19, 1997. Each person submitting a

comment should include his or her name and address, and give reasons

for any recommendation. To facilitate their consideration by the

Department, comments regarding the proposed regulations should be

submitted in the following format: (1) Identify each comment by

reference to the section and/or paragraph of these proposed regulations

to which the comment pertains; 1 (2) begin each comment on a

separate page; (3) concisely state the issue identified and discussed

in the comment; and (4) provide a brief summary of the comment (a

maximum of 3 sentences) and label this section ``summary of the

comment.''

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

\1\ If a comment does not pertain to a particular proposed

regulation, please clearly identify the comment as ``Other,''

followed by a brief description of the issue to which the comment

pertains; e.g., ``Other--Infrastructure.''

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

To simplify the processing and distribution of the public comments

pertaining to the Department's proposed regulations, parties are

encouraged to submit documents in electronic form accompanied by an

original and three paper copies. All documents filed in electronic form

must be on DOS formatted 3.5'' diskettes, and must be prepared in

either WordPerfect format or a format that the WordPerfect program can

convert and import into WordPerfect. If possible, the Department would

appreciate the documents being filed in either ASCII format or

WordPerfect, and containing generic codes. The Department would also

appreciate the use of descriptive filenames.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Dated: July 14, 1997.

[FR Doc. 97-19119 Filed 7-18-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P