[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 150 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40399-40400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-19728]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-602-803]
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products From
Australia: Amendment to Final Results of Antidumping Duty
Administrative Review
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Amendment to Final Results of Antidumping Duty
Administrative Review.
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SUMMARY: On March 29, 1996, the Department of Commerce published the
final results of its administrative review of the antidumping duty
order on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from
Australia. The review covered one manufacturer/exporter and the period
February 4, 1993, through July 31, 1994. Based on the correction of a
ministerial error, we are amending the final results.
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 2, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Bolling or Jean Kemp, Office of
Agreements Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-3793.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On March 29, 1996, the Department of Commerce (the Department)
published in the Federal Register the final results of its
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain
corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Australia (61 FR
14049). The review covered one manufacturer/exporter, The Broken Hill
Proprietary Company Ltd. (BHP), and the period February 4, 1993,
through July 31, 1994.
After publication of our final results, we received a timely
allegation from respondent that the Department had made ministerial
errors in calculating the final results for corrosion-resistant steel
from Australia. The petitioners (Bethlehem Steel Corporation, U.S.
Steel Company, a Unit of USX Corporation, Inland Steel Industries,
Inc., Geneva Steel, Gulf States Steel Inc. of Alabama, Sharon Steel
Corporation, and Lukens Steel Company) filed a timely rebuttal to
respondent's ministerial error allegation.
BHP alleges that the Department incorrectly applied a BIA credit
rate for certain sales by BHP Steel Building Products USA (Building
Products). BHP agrees that for sales in which respondent did not report
payment dates it was appropriate for the Department to use a BIA rate
for credit expenses. However, BHP states that in applying the BIA rate
to all sales where the credit expense equaled zero, the Department
applied the punitive rate to a certain number of sales for which a
payment date was in fact reported. Petitioners argue that in correcting
its program in response to BHP's allegation, the Department should
ensure that BIA will only be applied to those sales which had missing
payment and shipment dates. We agree with respondents that we
incorrectly applied a BIA credit rate on certain sales by Building
Products in which payment dates had been submitted. We also agree with
petitioners' rebuttal that the Department must continue to apply BIA to
those sales in which payment and shipment dates were not reported.
Therefore, we have recalculated credit costs using BIA only for those
sales where payment and shipment dates were inaccurately reported.
In addition, respondent alleges that the Department incorrectly
used both the average foreign manufacturing cost and average profit as
derived from Coated Steel Corp. (Coated) to calculate a surrogate
further manufacturing cost for BHP Trading, Inc. (Trading). BHP stated
that once Coated's average foreign manufacturing figure was derived in
the Department's calculation of further manufacturing costs for
Trading, an actual profit could have been calculated using Trading's
data, and using a surrogate profit from Coating was unnecessary.
Petitioners argue the Department made a reasonable and correct decision
to apply BIA (i.e., surrogate amounts for average foreign manufacturing
cost and average profit) to certain of Trading's sales because
respondent failed to provide the Department with the necessary
information for calculating further manufacturing cost and profit for
these sales. Petitioners state that the Department was correct to rely
on Coated's further manufacturing cost and profit in calculating the
same for Trading and that this is not a ministerial error as defined in
19 CFR section 353.28(d) as ``an error in addition, subtraction, or
other arithmetic function, clerical error resulting from inaccurate
copying, duplication, or the like, and any other type of unintentional
error which the Secretary considers ministerial.''
The determination to calculate a surrogate profit on Trading's
further manufactured sales of subject merchandise by relying on the
average profit of Coating's sales of the same merchandise was
intentional. The Department determined that since Trading had not
submitted its cost of manufacturing and actual profit for each of these
sales, calculating an average profit, then applied to each sale at
issue, was an appropriate methodology, regardless of whether Trading
made a profit on every sale. Respondent is correct in stating that the
Department could have constructed Trading's actual profit on every sale
in which Trading had a profit because the Department could have derived
Trading's actual profit by using Coating's surrogate foreign
manufacturing costs and Trading's's gross unit price. However, the
Department rejected this methodology as inappropriate under the
circumstances. Therefore, using a surrogate profit was not a
ministerial error and the Department will not amend its final results.
Amended Final Results of Review
As a result of our correction of the ministerial error, we have
determined the following margin exists for the period February 4, 1993,
through July 31, 1994:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margin
Manufacturer/exporter (percent)
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BHP........................................................ 39.05
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The Department shall determine, and the U.S. Customs Service shall
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department
shall issue appraisement instructions directly to the Customs Service.
Furthermore, the
[[Page 40400]]
following deposit requirements shall be effective, upon publication of
this notice of amended final results of administrative review, for all
shipments of the subject merchandise from Australia that are entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the
publication date, as provided for by section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff
Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for BHP will be the rate established
above; (2) for previously investigated companies not listed above, the
cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate
published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm
covered in this review, or the original investigation, but the
manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate 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
continue to be 24.96 percent, the all others rate established in the
final results of the less than fair value investigation (58 FR 44161,
August 19, 1993).
The 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 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 serves as the only reminder to parties subject to
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under
APO in accordance with section 353.34(d) of the Department's
regulations. Timely written notification of return/destruction of APO
materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby
requested. Failure to comply with the regulation and the terms of an
APO is a sanctionable violation.
This notice is published in accordance with section 751 of the
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended and 19 CFR 353.28(c).
Dated: July 29, 1996.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-19728 Filed 8-1-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
