Notice of Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews: Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From Korea; Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products From Korea

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-815, A-580-816]

Notice of Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty

Administrative Reviews: Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products

From Korea; Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products From

Korea

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

[[Page 20573]]

ACTION: Notice of amendment to final results of antidumping duty

administrative reviews.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is amending its

final results of reviews, published on March 18, 1998, of the

antidumping duty orders on cold-rolled and corrosion-resistant carbon

steel flat products from Korea, to reflect the correction of

ministerial errors in those final results. The period covered by these

amended final results is the period August 1, 1995 through July 31,

1996.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 27, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Bezirganian, Thomas Killiam,

Fred Baker, or Alain Letort, AD/CVD Enforcement Group III--Office 8,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

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

Washington, DC 20230, telephone 202/482-0162 (Bezirganian), 202/482-

2924 (Baker), 202/482-2704 (Killiam) or 202/482-4243 (Letort), fax 202/

482-1388.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are

references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective

date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (``the Act'') by

the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (``URAA''). In addition, unless

otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are

references to the provisions codified at 19 CFR Part 353 (April 1997).

Although the Department's new regulations, codified at 19 CFR 351 (62

FR 27296--May 19, 1997) do not govern these proceedings, citations to

those regulations are provided, where appropriate, to explain current

departmental practice.

Background

On March 18, 1998, the Department published the final results of

its administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on certain

cold-rolled and corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from

Korea, for the period August 1, 1995 through July 31, 1996 (63 FR

13170). The reviews covered shipments of the merchandise from Korea by

Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. (Dongbu), Union Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

(Union), and Pohang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (POSCO). (POSCO and the

companies collapsed with POSCO (Pohang Coated Steel Co., Ltd. (POCOS)

and Pohang Steel Industries Co., Ltd. (PSI)), are collectively referred

to below as the POSCO Group.)

On March 23, 1998, the POSCO Group and Dongbu submitted clerical

error allegations. On March 25, 1998, petitioners responded to Dongbu's

allegation. On March 31, 1998, petitioners alleged that the Department

had made a ministerial error with respect to the POSCO Group. On April

3, 1998, the POSCO Group responded to the petitioners' allegation.

Clerical Error Allegations

The POSCO Group alleged that the Department had made three

ministerial errors. We disagree with two of those allegations, both of

which involved expenses which the POSCO Group asserted should not have

been included in the calculation of the U.S. indirect selling expense

variable (INDIRSU). We discuss the basis for our determination with

respect to those two allegations in the analysis memorandum from Steve

Bezirganian to Richard Weible dated April 15, 1998. Dongbu alleged that

the Department had made one clerical error by allegedly using the wrong

date as the U.S. date of sale. We disagree with that allegation, and

discuss our basis in the analysis memorandum from Fred Baker to Richard

Weible dated April 15, 1998. We address herein the remaining

allegations from the POSCO Group and the petitioners. Additional

discussion of the allegations received from POSCO appears in the

aforementioned analysis memorandum from Steve Bezirganian to Richard

Weible.

Comment 1: The POSCO Group argues that the Department erred in its

calculations for corrosion-resistant products by failing to deduct home

market freight expenses from normal value.

Department's Position

We agree, and have corrected this error in these amended final

results.

Comment 2: Petitioners assert that the Department erred in its

calculations for the POSCO Group by not including various POSAM and BUS

expenses in the numerators of its calculations of U.S. indirect selling

expenses (INDIRSU). They note that the Department's analysis memorandum

stated explicitly that the only expenses not to be included in the

calculation were ``freight out.''

The POSCO Group argues that it is not the Department's practice to

include the expenses in question in the calculation of indirect selling

expenses, and to the extent they are relevant for the Department's

analysis they are accounted for in another variable reported by POSCO.

Department's Position

We agree with petitioners. It was not our intent to omit the

expenses at issue from the calculation of total indirect selling

expenses. Therefore, this omission constitutes a ministerial error.

Furthermore, upon review of this issue, we determined that we had also

inadvertently failed to include certain POSAM income in the denominator

of the calculation of INDIRSU for POSAM. See the April 15, 1998,

memorandum from Steve Bezirganian for Richard Weible. Therefore, we

have corrected both the ministerial error noted by petitioners and the

additional ministerial error that we subsequently discovered.

Amended Final Results of Review

As a result of the correction, we have determined that the

following weighted-average margins exists for the period August 1, 1995

through July 31, 1996:

Certain Cold-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products

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

Weighted-

Manufacturer/producer/exporter1 average margin

(percent)

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

The POSCO Group......................................... 5.72

Dongbu.................................................. 1.21

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

\1\ Union had no shipments of cold-rolled products during the period of

review.

Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products

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

Weighted-

Manufacturer/producer/exporter average margin

(percent)

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

The POSCO Group......................................... 1.46

Dongbu.................................................. 0.60

Union................................................... 0.39

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

The Department shall determine, and the United States Customs

Service shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries.

The Department shall issue appraisement instructions directly to the

Customs Service.

Furthermore, the following deposit requirements shall be effective

upon publication of this notice for all shipments of the subject

merchandise from Korea that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,

for consumption, on or after the date of publication of this notice, as

provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit for the

reviewed companies will be the rates stated above, except for Union,

which had a de minimis margin, and whose cash deposit rate is therefore

zero; (2) for merchandise exported by manufacturers or exporters not

covered in these

[[Page 20574]]

reviews, but covered in a previous segment of these proceedings, the

cash deposit rates shall continue to be the company-specific rates

published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm

covered in these reviews, or the original investigations, but the

manufacturer is, the cash deposit rates shall be those established for

the manufacturer of the merchandise in the most recently completed

segment of these proceedings; and (4) if neither the exporter nor the

manufacturer is a firm covered in these or any previous reviews, the

cash deposit rate will continue to be 14.44 percent (for certain cold-

rolled carbon steel flat products) and 17.70 percent (for certain

corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products), which were the ``all

others'' rates in the LTFV investigations.

These deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect

until publication of the final results of the next administrative

review.

This notice also serves as final reminder to importers of their

responsibility to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of

antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during

this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could

result in the Secretary's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping

duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping

duties.

This notice also is the only reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility

concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information

disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 353.34(d). Failure to

comply is a violation of the APO.

These amended final results of administrative review and notice are

in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

Dated: April 17, 1998.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-11001 Filed 4-24-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P