Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip From the Republic of Korea; Notice of Final Court Decision and Amended Final Determination of Antidumping Duty Investigation

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-807]

Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip From the

Republic of Korea; Notice of Final Court Decision and Amended Final

Determination of Antidumping Duty Investigation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: On February 5, 1997, in the case of E.I. DuPont de Nemours &

Co., Inc., v. United States, 954 F. Supp. 263 (CIT 1997), the United

States Court of International Trade affirmed the Department of

Commerce's second redetermination on remand arising out of the final

determination of sales at less than fair value in the antidumping duty

investigation of polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet and strip from

the Republic of Korea. As there is now a final and conclusive court

decision in this action, we are amending the final determination in

this matter and will instruct the U.S. Customs Service to change the

``all others'' cash deposit rate.

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 26, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Magd A. Zalok or Kris Campbell at (202) 482-4162 or (202) 482-3813,

respectively, Import Administration, International Trade

Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On June 5, 1991, the Department of Commerce (`'the Department'')

published the antidumping duty order and amended final determination of

sales at less than fair value for polyethylene terephthalate film,

sheet, and strip from the Republic of Korea. See Final Determination of

Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet,

and Strip from the Republic of Korea (56 FR 16305, April 22, 1991), as

amended (56 FR 25669, June 5, 1991). E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company,

Inc. Hoechst Celanese Corp., and ICI Americas, Inc., (``petitioners''),

filed an action challenging the final determination. On December 6,

1993, the Court of International Trade (CIT) remanded certain of the

challenged issues to the Department. The CIT directed the Department to

re-examine the following issues in light of the Federal Circuit's

decision in IPSCO, Inc. v. United States, 965 F.2d 1056 (Fed. Cir.

1992) (``IPSCO Appeal''): (1) Methodology for calculating costs of

production of off-grade PET film reported by Cheil Synthetics, Inc.

(``Cheil'') and SKC Limited (``SKC''); (2) methodology for calculating

Cheil's costs of recycled scrap film; and (3) SKC's product-specific

cost accounting methodology. The CIT also directed the Department to

reconsider its methodology for adjustments to United States price

(``USP'') for value-added taxes (``VATs''). See E.I. DuPont de Nemours

& Co., Inc. v. United States, 841 F. Supp. 1237 (CIT 1993).

On April 7, 1994, pursuant to the remand order, the Department

announced its remand results. (See Final Remand Determination Pursuant

to Court Order, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., Inc. v. United States,

Court No. 91-07-00487.) For calculating Cheil's cost of production of

off-grade PET film, the Department adjusted Cheil's submitted costs to

reflect actual, product-specific costs. In the case of SKC, the

Department revised its methodology consistent with the IPSCO Appeal

decision and recalculated SKC's costs of production of off-grade PET

film based on quantity rather than value. The Department did not adjust

its cost methodology for Cheil's recycled PET film because it reasoned

that the recycled film was not a co-product, and therefore, the

rationale of the IPSCO Appeal decision was not applicable. The

Department also accepted SKC's submitted costs adjusted to reflect

actual product-specific costs because it determined that SKC's verified

cost

[[Page 50558]]

accounting methodology was reasonable. Finally, the Department revised

the treatment of VATs to comport with its then-existing methodology

used in Certain Stainless Steel Wire rod from France, 58 FR 6885 (Dec.

29, 1993) by adjusting USP for tax by multiplying the home market tax

rate by the USP at the point in the chain of commerce of the U.S.

merchandise that is analogous to the point in the home market chain of

commerce at which the foreign government applies the home market

consumption tax.

With exception of the department's methodology for VAT adjustments,

the CIT upheld all aspects of the Department's remand redetermination.

See E.I Dupont de Nemours & Co., Inc., ICI Americas, Inc., v. United

States, 932 F. Supp. 296 (CIT 1996). The CIT concluded that the

Department's VAT adjustments were not consistent with the Federal

circuit court's ruling in Federal Mogul Corp. v. United States, 66 F.3d

1572 (Fed. Cir. 1995) and remanded this issue to the Department for

recalculation of the VAT adjustments.

On May 17, 1996, the Department filed the results of the second

remand redetermination. In accordance with the VAT methodology adopted

after the Federal Mogul decision, the Department added the tax amount

paid in the home market to USP for the same merchandise.

On February 5, 1997, the CIT upheld the second remand results. E.I.

DuPont de Nemours & Co., Inc. v. United States, 954 F. Supp. 263 (CIT

1997). The period to appeal has expired and no appeal was filed.

Therefore, as there is now a final and conclusive court decision in

this action, we are amending our final determination.

Amendment to Final Determination

Pursuant to section 516A(e) of the Act, we are now amending the

final determination in polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet and strip

from the Republic of Korea. The recalculated weighted-average dumping

margins are as follows:

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

Margin

Manufacturer/producer/exporter (percent)

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

SKC........................................................ 13.92

Cheil...................................................... 36.33

All others................................................. 21.50

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

We will instruct U.S. Customs to change the existing ``all others''

cash deposit requirements accordingly. We note that this order has been

revoked with respect to Cheil (61 FR 35177) and SKC's current cash

deposit rate is based upon an administrative review conducted

subsequent to this segment of the proceeding. Therefore, this amended

redetermination does not affect the cash deposit rates for either SKC

or Cheil.

Dated: September 22, 1997.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 97-25646 Filed 9-25-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M