Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-821-802]

Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium

From the Russian Federation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is hereby providing interested

parties an opportunity to comment on proposed procedures to administer

and enforce the uranium matched sales annual quotas. All Comments are

due to the

[[Page 24773]]

Department of Commerce within 30 days of publication of this notice.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 5, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Doyle or Letitia Kress, AD/CVD

Enforcement Group III, Office VII, Import Administration, International

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

Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-

0159 or (202) 482-6412, respectively.

Background: Under the matched sale amendment to the Agreement

Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian

Federation (57 FR 15373), the Department has been administering quotas

on a quota year basis, April 1 through March 31. On March 6, 1998, the

Department received a request from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)

on behalf of certain of its members requesting that the Department

revise its practice and administer the matched-sales quota on a

calendar year basis, January 1 through December 31 (see attached annex

for details).

The Department is soliciting comments of parties regarding this

change in administrative practice, and the two subsidiary issues which

would be generated. The first is the effect the change would have on

the existing allocations of quota, and the second would be the

necessity to arrive at a proper accounting for the periods April 1,

1996 through December 31, 1996 and January 2004 through March 2004.

Opportunity to Submit Comments: Prior to reaching a final decision

on this issue, the Department is providing an opportunity for full

participation on the record to all parties wishing to comment.

Accordingly, not later than 30 days from the date of publication of

this notice, parties may submit comments with respect to the matched

sales delivery year issue. Seven copies of the comments should be

submitted to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for AD/CVD Enforcement

Group III, Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

room 1870, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. All

comments provided to the Department in response to this notice will be

subject to release under Administrative Protective Order in accordance

with 19 CFR 353.34. Therefore, all comments must properly identify

information the submitter would like treated as business proprietary,

and be accompanied by a properly bracketed public version. The

Department will meet with affected or interested parties upon request

to fully explain the procedures contained in the Annex to this notice.

Dated: April 29, 1998.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group

III.

Annex--Proposed Procedures for Changing the Matched Sales Delivery

Year From a Quota Year Method to a Calendar Year Basis

Under the current matched sales system, the Department has been

administering quota years running from April 1st to March 31st of the

following year. On March 6, 1998, NEI noted in its submission that a

calendar-year quota would make tracking operational or contractual

flexibilities for both buyers and sellers of uranium more consistent

with their other internal tracking systems. Therefore, NEI proposed

that the current quota year be changed to a calendar-year basis

(January 1st through December 31st year). (See letter from NEI to

Department on March 6, 1998, on record at the Department of Commerce

room B-099.) In implementing such a change, two issues arise. The first

is the change to the existing allocations of used quota. The second is

the proper treatment of two specific periods, April 1, 1996 through

December 31, 1996, and January 1, 2004 through March 31, 2004.

Table 1 illustrates how the Department would reconcile the used

quota limitations under the existing and proposed systems. Though the

amount of used quota allocated to two periods, 1996 and 1997, would

change under the new system, the overall totals do not. NEI notes that

this reconciliation of historical transactions specifying deliveries in

1996 and 1997 does not affect the commercial balance among competing

suppliers as marketing opportunities have long passed. Furthermore, no

quota limitations would be exceeded in the reallocation. Table 1:

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Quota year based Calendar year based

accounting QY volume used accounting CY volume used Quota limitations

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4/1/96-3/31/97....... 1,056,132 4/1/96-12/31/96 448,632 1,930,000

4/1/97-3/31/98....... 645,879 1/1/97-12/31/97 1,253,379 2,710,000

4/1/98-3/31/99....... 1,150,121 1/1/98-12/31/98 1,150,121 3,600,000

4/1/99-3/31/00....... 722,001 1/1/99-12/31/99 722,001 4,040,000

4/1/00-3/31/01....... 685,001 1/1/00-12/31/00 685,001 4,230,000

4/1/01-3/31/02....... 150,000 1/1/01-12/31/01 150,000 4,040,000

4/1/02-3/31/03....... ..................... 1/1/02-12/31/02 ..................... 4,890,000

4/1/03-3/31/04....... ..................... 1/1/03-3/31/04 ..................... 4,300,000

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Total............ 4,409,134 ..................... 4,409,134

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As set forth in the March 11, 1994 amendment to the Suspension

Agreement, matched sales delivery quotas began April 1, 1996, and will

expire March 31, 2004. However, neither the period April 1, 1996,

through December 31, 1996 nor the period January 1, 2004 through March

31, 2004, which are currently seamlessly covered under the Department's

existing quota year methodology, can fit a calendar year methodology

absent modification. To resolve this issue, NEI proposed designating

1996 as a ``short'' quota year, starting April 1, 1996 and ending

December 31, 1996. In addition, NEI proposed that 2003 be designated a

``long'' quota year, beginning January 1st of that year and ending

March 31, 2004. This accounting method is reflected in the CY Volume

Used column in Table 1.

[FR Doc. 98-11918 Filed 5-4-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P