Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof From Romania: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-485-602]

Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof From Romania: Final

Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of final results of antidumping duty administrative

review.

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SUMMARY: On March 6, 1998, the Department of Commerce (``the

Department'') published the preliminary results of its administrative

review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings and

parts thereof, finished or unfinished (``TRBs''), from Romania. This

review covers one manufacturer/exporter of the subject merchandise to

the United States during the period June 1, 1996, through May 31, 1997.

We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on our preliminary

results. Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have not

changed the results from those presented in the preliminary results of

review.

We received no comments from interested parties with regard to the

Department's preliminary determination to grant Tehnoimportexport, S.A.

(``TIE'') a separate rate for this review. Therefore, for the final

results of review, we reaffirm our determination that TIE is entitled

to a separate rate.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 6, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Blozy or Rick Johnson, Office

of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Import

Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20230; telephone: (202) 482-0374 or (202) 482-3818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (``the Act''), are to the provisions effective January

1, 1995, the effective date of the amendments made to the Act by the

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

indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are to 19 CFR

Part 353 (April 1997).

Background

On March 6, 1998, the Department published in the Federal Register

(63 FR 11217) the preliminary results of its administrative review of

the antidumping duty order on TRBs from Romania (``Preliminary

Results''). We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on our

preliminary results. We received written comments from respondent, TIE,

and from Universal Automotive Trading Company Ltd. (``Universal''), an

interested party. Comments submitted consisted of respondent's case

brief of April 6, 1998 and Universal's rebuttal brief of April 13,

1998.

Scope of Review

Imports covered by this review are shipments of TRBs from Romania.

These products include flange, take-up cartridge, and hanger units

incorporating tapered roller bearings, and tapered roller housings

(except pillow blocks) incorporating tapered rollers, with or without

spindles, whether or not for automotive use. This merchandise is

currently classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) item

numbers 8482.20.00, 8482.91.00, 8482.99.30, 8483.20.40, 8483.30.40, and

8483.90.20. Although the HTS item numbers are provided for convenience

and Customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this

order remains dispositive.

The period of review (``POR'') is June 1, 1996, through May 31,

1997.

Analysis of Comment Received

Comment 1: Respondent and Universal assert that the Department

erred in its calculation of freight for certain steel supplies imported

from Russia. Respondent states that, based on the Department's language

in its analysis memorandum, the longest possible distance used in this

review to calculate freight for steel supplies should be either the

distance from the Romanian steel mill to the Alexandria factory (280

km) or from Constanza, the port, to the Alexandria factory (350 km).

Petitioner did not comment on this issue.

Department's Position: We disagree with respondent and Universal.

As stated in the analysis memorandum for the preliminary results, the

Department ``added to CIF surrogate values from Indonesia a surrogate

freight cost using the shorter of the reported distances from either

the closest port to the manufacturer's factory, or from the actual

supplier to the manufacturer's factory.'' See TIE Analysis Memorandum

for the Preliminary Results of Review (``Analysis Memorandum'') at page

5 (March 2, 1998). The Department established this methodology for

accounting for the freight component of surrogate values in Collated

Roofing Nails from the People's Republic of China, 62 FR 25895 (May 12,

1997) (``Nails''). Thus, if the material was domestically produced or

imported from a non-market economy (``NME'') supplier, we used the

shorter of (a) the distance between the closest Romanian port and the

factory, or (b) the distance between the actual supplier and the

factory to calculate a freight cost.

As noted on page 5 of the Analysis Memorandum, some of the

distances between Alexandria and NME suppliers were not reported. For

those missing distances, the Department assigned a distance of 3000 km,

the longest distance reported in the submission. See Analysis

Memorandum at page 5. However, despite respondent's assertion, the

Department correctly calculated a freight cost for those inputs using

350 km, which is the shorter of the distance between Constanza and

Alexandria (350 km) and the distance between Alexandria and the Russian

NME supplier (3000 km). Therefore, the Department calculated freight in

a manner consistent with the methodology established in Nails.

Final Results of Review

As a result of our review, we determine the dumping margin (in

percent) for the period June 1, 1996, through May 30, 1997, to be as

follows:

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Margin

Exporter (percent)

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TIE....................................................... 0.86

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The Department will determine, and the U.S. Customs Service shall

assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. For assessment

purposes, we have calculated an importer-specific ad valorem duty

assessment rate for the merchandise based on the ratio of the total

amount of antidumping duties calculated for the examined sales during

the POR to the total quantity of sales examined during the POR. The

[[Page 36391]]

Department will issue appraisement instructions directly to the Customs

Service. Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be

effective upon publication of the final results of this administrative

review for all shipments of TRBs from Romania entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as

provided for by section 751(a)(2)(c) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit

rate for TIE will be the rate we determine in the final results of

review; (2) for all other Romanian exporters, the cash deposit rate

will be the Romania-wide rate made effective by the amended final

results of the 1994-95 administrative review (see Tapered Roller

Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished or Unfinished, from Romania;

Amendment of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,

61 FR 59416 (November 22, 1996)); (3) for non-Romanian exporters of

subject merchandise from Romania, the cash deposit rate will be the

rate applicable to the Romanian supplier of that exporter. These

deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until

publication of the final results of the next administrative review.

This notice serves as a final reminder to importers of their

responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 of the Department's regulations 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 serves as a reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (``APO'') of their responsibility

concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under

APO in accordance with 19 CFR 353.34(d)(1). Timely written notification

of the return/destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial

protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the

regulations and terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

This notice is issued and published in accordance with sections

751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

Dated: June 11, 1998.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-17788 Filed 7-2-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P