Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Belgium

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-423-805]

Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:

Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Belgium

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of final court decision and amended final determination

of sales at less than fair value.

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

SUMMARY: On March 12, 1998, the Court of International Trade vacated

the amended final rate for respondent Fabrique de Fer de Charleroi S.A.

and

[[Page 40699]]

affirmed the margin calculated for this company in the final

determination of sales at less than fair value in certain cut-to-length

carbon steel plate from Belgium. As there is now a final and conclusive

court decision in this action, we are amending our final determination

of sales at less than fair value and we will instruct the Customs

Service to change cash deposit rates, where appropriate.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 30, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sanjay Mullick or Kris Campbell,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0588 or 482-3813,

respectively.

Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (the Act), are references to the provisions in effect

as of December 31, 1994. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, all

citations to the Department of Commerce's (the Department's)

regulations are to the regulations as codified at 19 CFR part 353

(April 1, 1997).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On July 9, 1993, the Department published the final determination

of sales at less than fair value (LTFV) in the investigation of certain

cut-to-length carbon steel plate from Belgium.1 The

antidumping duty rate calculated for respondent Fabrique de Fer de

Charleroi S.A. (FFC) was 3.65 percent.

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

\1\ Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:

Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Belgium, 58 FR 37083

(July 9, 1993).

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

On August 19, 1993, the Department published an amended final

determination, in which we corrected a ministerial error by

recalculating the profit rate used in determining FFC's constructed

value (CV).2 The recalculation included profit on home

market sales of `Z-type' steel, which is within the general class or

kind of merchandise, but which was not sold in the United States during

the period of investigation and was not used for matching purposes. The

amended final determination rate for FFC was 13.31 percent.

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

\2\ Antidumping Duty Order and Amendment to Final Determination

of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel

Plate from Belgium, 58 FR 44164 (August 19, 1993).

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

On January 16, 1998, the Court of International Trade (CIT) issued

a remand concerning this segment of the proceeding, in which the CIT

found the Department's calculation of the CV profit rate for FFC in the

amended final determination to be erroneous. 3 The CIT

agreed with the Department that section 773(e)(1) of the Act requires

the calculation of CV profit based on sales of the ``general class or

kind'' of merchandise, which includes Z-type steel. 4

However, the Court held that, in the Department's amended

determination, the profits on Z-type sales were ``extrapolated out of

realistic and rational proportion.'' 5 Accordingly, the CIT

issued the following instructions:

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

\3\ Fabrique de Fer de Charleroi S.A. v. United States, Slip Op.

98-4 (CIT January 16, 1998) (``Fabrique'').

\4\ Fabrique at 8-9.

\5\ Id. at 12.

The ITA may have 45 days from the date hereof to consider and

report whether, in the exercise of its sound discretion, factoring

plaintiff's (FFC) profit on home-market sales of Z-type product in a

manner more reflective of the record leads to a weighted-average

margin percentage greater than the 3.65 reported at 58 Fed. Reg.

37,091 for FFC. If the court does not receive an affirmative report

to this effect by the end of this period, that original margin will

be affirmed. 6

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

\6\ Id. at 13.

The Department did not issue an affirmative report to the Court. On

March 12, 1998, the Court vacated the amended final rate for FFC (13.31

percent) and affirmed the margin calculated for this company in the

final determination (3.65 percent). 7 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 of sales at LTFV.

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

\7\ Fabrique de Fer de Charleroi S.A. v. United States, Slip Op.

98-26 (CIT March 12, 1998).

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

Amendment to Final Determination

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

final determination of sales at LTFV of certain cut-to-length carbon

steel plate from Belgium with respect to exports by FFC. In addition,

as a result of the change in FFC's margin, we are recalculating the

``All-Others'' rate. The revised weighted-average percentage dumping

margins are as follows:

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

Manufacturer/exporter Percentage

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

Fabrique de Fer de Charleroi S.A........................... 3.65

All Others................................................. 6.75

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

The above rate listed for FFC will not affect that company's

deposit or assessment rates for any segment of this proceeding. Since

publication of the first amended LTFV final determination and order,

the Department has completed, pursuant to section 751 of the Act, an

administrative review of the antidumping order covering FFC's entries

for the period August 1, 1995 through July 31, 1996. 8 That

review established FFC's assessment rates for that period, and also

established its current weighted-average deposit rate. Any entries made

prior to that review period were subject to automatic liquidation

pursuant to 19 C.F.R. 353.22 (e). However, the Department will instruct

the Customs Service to change the cash deposit requirements for

producers/exporters subject to the ``All-Others'' rate to 6.75 percent.

9

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

\8\ Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from Belgium: Final

Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 63 FR 2959

(January 20, 1998).

\9\ The current ``All-Others'' rate is 6.84 percent.

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

This notice is published in accordance with section 735(d) of the

Act and 19 CFR 353.21.

Dated: July 23, 1998.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-20416 Filed 7-29-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P