Sorbitol From France: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-427-001]

Sorbitol From France: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty

Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of antidumping duty

administrative review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from the petitioner, the Department

of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of

the antidumping duty order on sorbitol from France. This review covers

one manufacturer/exporter of the subject merchandise. The period of

review (POR) is April 1, 1998 through March 31, 1999. The respondent

failed to respond to our supplemental questionnaires. As a result, we

are basing our preliminary results on adverse facts available. If these

preliminary results are adopted in our final results of administrative

review, we will instruct the U.S. Customs Service to assess antidumping

duties on entries during the POR.

We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary

results. Parties who submit argument in this proceeding are requested

to submit with the argument: (1) A statement of the issue; and (2) a

brief summary of the argument.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 22, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred Baker or Robert James, 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-

2924 (Baker), (202) 482-0649 (James).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (the Act), are references 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 references to the Department's regulations are

to 19 CFR part 351 (1998).

Background

The Department published an antidumping duty order on sorbitol from

France on April 9, 1982 (47 FR 15391). The Department published a

notice of ``Opportunity to Request an Administrative Review'' of the

antidumping duty order for the 1998/99 review period on April 15, 1999

(64 FR 18600). On April 30, 1999, SPI Polyols, Inc. (petitioner)

requested that the Department conduct an administrative review of

Roquette Freres (Roquette). We published a notice of initiation of the

review on May 28, 1999 (64 FR 28973).

The Department is conducting this administrative review in

accordance with section 751(a) of the Act.

Scope of the Review

The merchandise under review is crystalline sorbitol. Crystalline

sorbitol is a polyol produced by the catalytic hydrogenation of sugars

(glucose). It is used in the production of sugarless gum, candy,

groceries, and pharmaceuticals.

Crystalline sorbitol is currently classifiable under item

2905.440.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

(HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and

Customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise under

review is dispositive of whether or not the merchandise is covered by

the review.

Use of Facts Available

Section 776(a)(2) of the Act provides that ``if an interested party

or any other person (A) withholds information that has been requested

by the administering authority; (B) fails to provide such information

by the deadlines for the submission of the information or in the form

and manner requested, subject to subsections (c)(1) and (e) of section

782; (C) significantly impedes a proceeding under this title; or (D)

provides such information but the information cannot be verified as

provided in section 782(i), the administering authority and the

Commission shall, subject to section 782(d), use the facts otherwise

available in reaching the applicable determination under this title.''

On May 28, 1999 the Department issued its standard antidumping

questionnaire to Roquette. Roquette submitted its response to section A

of the questionnaire on July 7, 1999, and its response to sections B

and C of the questionnaire on July 30, 1999. On September 23, 1999 and

September 29, 1999 the Department issued supplemental questionnaires to

Roquette. In an October 6, 1999, submission, Roquette informed the

Department that it would not provide the Department with the

information requested in the two supplemental questionnaires. The

information in these questionnaires related to fundamental problems in

Roquette's initial section B and C responses; absent this supplemental

information the initial section B and C responses are unusable for

purposes of our analysis. Therefore, we determine that the use of facts

available is warranted pursuant to section 776(a)(2)(A) of the Act

because Roquette withheld information requested by the Department.

Section 776(b) of the Act provides that, if the Department finds

that an interested party ``has failed to cooperate by not acting to the

best of its ability to comply with a request for information,'' the

Department may use information that is adverse to the interests of the

party as facts otherwise available. Adverse inferences are appropriate

``to ensure that the party does not obtain a more favorable result by

failing to cooperate than if it had cooperated fully.'' See Statement

of Administrative Action (SAA) accompanying the URAA, H.R. Doc. No.

316, 103d Cong., 2d Session at 870 (1994). Furthermore, ``an

affirmative finding of bad faith on the part of the respondent is not

required before the Department may make an adverse inference.''

Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule, 62 FR 27296,

27340 (May 19, 1997), (Final Rule).

The Department finds that in not responding to the supplemental

questionnaires, Roquette failed to cooperate by not acting to the best

of its ability to comply with requests for information. Therefore,

pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act, we may, in making our

determination, use an adverse inference in selecting from the facts

otherwise available. This adverse inference may include reliance on

data derived from the petition, a previous determination in an

investigation or review, or any other information placed on the record.

For this review we have determined to assign 12.07 percent as the facts

available rate to Roquette. This rate represents the highest rate for

any respondent in any prior segment of this proceeding. See Sorbitol

from France; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,

52 FR 20444 (June 1, 1987).

[[Page 71728]]

Information from prior segments of the proceeding constitutes

secondary information, and section 776(c) of the Act provides that the

Department shall, to the extent practicable, corroborate secondary

information from independent sources reasonably at its disposal. The

Statement of Administrative Action (SAA) provides that ``corroborate''

means simply that the Department will satisfy itself that the secondary

information to be used has probative value (see H.R. Doc. 316, Vol. 1

103d Cong., 2d Sess. 870(1994)).

To corroborate secondary information, the Department will, to the

extent practicable, examine the reliability and relevance of the

information to be used. However, unlike other types of information,

such as input costs or selling expenses, there are no independent

sources for calculated dumping margins. Thus, in an administrative

review, if the Department chooses as adverse facts available a

calculated dumping margin from a prior segment of the proceeding, it is

not necessary to question the reliability of the margin for that time

period. With respect to the relevance aspect of corroboration, however,

the Department will consider information reasonably at its disposal as

to whether there are circumstances that would render a margin

inappropriate. Where circumstances indicate that the selected margin is

not appropriate as adverse facts available, the Department will

disregard the margin and determine an appropriate margin (see, e.g.,

Fresh Cut Flowers from Mexico; Final Results of Antidumping Duty

Administrative Review, 61 FR 6812, 6814 (Feb. 22, 1996) (where the

Department disregarded the highest margin as adverse facts available

because the margin was based on another company's uncharacteristic

business expense resulting in an unusually high margin)).

As discussed above, it is not necessary to question the reliability

of a calculated margin from a prior segment of the proceeding. Further,

there are no circumstances indicating that this margin is inappropriate

as facts available. Therefore, we preliminarily find that the 12.07

percent rate is corroborated.

Preliminary Results of the Review

As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine that a

weighted-average dumping margin of 12.07 percent exists for Roquette

for the period April 1, 1998 through March 31, 1999.

Interested parties may submit written comments (case briefs) no

later than 30 days after the date of publication. See 19 CFR

351.309(c)(1)(ii). Rebuttal comments (rebuttal briefs), which must be

limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed no later than

37 days after the date of publication of this notice. See 19 CFR

351.309(d)(1). Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in

this proceeding are requested to submit with each argument (1) a

statement of the issue and (2) a brief summary of the argument, not to

exceed five pages in length. Any interested party may request a hearing

within 30 days of publication. See 19 CFR 351.310(c). Any hearing, if

requested, will be held two days after the submission of rebuttal

briefs, if any, or the first working day thereafter. See 19 CFR

351.310(d). The Department will publish a notice of the final results

of the administrative review, which will include the results of its

analysis of issues raised by the parties, within 120 days of

publication of these preliminary results. See 19 CFR 351.213(h).

Cash Deposit

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

assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. Upon completion

of this review, the Department will issue appraisement instructions

directly to the U.S. Customs Service.

Furthermore, the following cash deposit requirements will be

effective upon publication of the final results of this administrative

review for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or

withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication

date, as provided for by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash

deposit rate for Roquette will be the rate established in the final

results of this administrative review; (2) for exporters not covered in

this review, but covered in previous reviews or the original less-than-

fair-value (LTFV) investigation, the cash deposit rate will continue to

be the company-specific published for the most recent period; (3) if

the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, previous reviews, or

the original LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash

deposit rate will be that established for the most recent period for

the manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for

all other manufacturers or exporters will be 2.90 percent, the ``all

others'' rate established in the final determination of sales at LTFV

(47 FR 7459, February 12, 1982).

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 a preliminary reminder to importers of

their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) 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 administrative review and notice are in accordance with

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

Dated: December 15, 1999.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 99-33223 Filed 12-21-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P