Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Review and Notice of Consideration of Revocation of Order

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY:

On December 2, 2005, Allegheny Ludlum Corporation and AK Steel Corporation filed a request for a countervailing duty changed circumstances review. Specifically, they requested that the Department of Commerce revoke the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Italy. In response, the Department of Commerce is initiating a changed circumstances review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Italy. Interested parties are invited to comment on this notice of initiation.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

January 4, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Brandon Farlander or Audrey R. Twyman, AD/CVD Operations, Office 1, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-0182 and (202) 482-3534, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On May 11, 1999, the Department of Commerce (the “Department”) published a countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils (“SSPC”) from Italy. See Notice of Amended Final Determinations: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Belgium and South Africa; and Notice of Countervailing Duty Orders: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Belgium, Italy and South Africa, 64 FR 25288 (May 11, 1999). The order was amended on March 11, 2003. See Notice of Amended Countervailing Duty Orders; Certain Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Belgium, Italy, and South Africa, 68 FR 11524 (March 11, 2003). The amended order was corrected on April 24, 2003. See Certain Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Belgium, Italy, and South Africa; Notice of Correction to the Amended Countervailing Duty Orders, 68 FR 20115 (April 24, 2003).

On December 2, 2005, the Department received a request from Allegheny Ludlum Corporation and AK Steel Corporation, some of the petitioners in the original investigation (“petitioners”), that the Department initiate a changed circumstances review for purposes of revoking the countervailing duty (“CVD”) order. Also, it is the petitioners' understanding that, upon revocation of the CVD order, the Department will fully refund any countervailing duties deposited pursuant to the order on unliquidated entries. The petitioners state that they are no longer interested in maintaining the countervailing duty order or in the imposition of CVD duties on the subject merchandise.

Scope of the Order

The product covered by this order is certain stainless steel plate in coils. Stainless steel is an alloy steel containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other elements. The subject plate products are flat-rolled products, 254 mm or over in width and 4.75 mm or more in thickness, in coils, and annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise descaled. The subject plate may also be further processed (e.g., cold-rolled, polished, etc.) provided that it maintains the specified dimensions of plate following such processing. Excluded from the scope of this order are the following: (1) Plate not in coils, (2) plate that is not annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise descaled, (3) sheet and strip, and (4) flat bars. The merchandise subject to this order is currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) at subheadings: 7219.11.00.30, 7219.11.00.60, 7219.12.00.06, 7219.12.00.21, 7219.12.00.26, 7219.12.00.51, 7219.12.00.56, 7219.12.00.66, 7219.12.00.71, 7219.12.00.81, 7219.31.00.10, 7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60, 7219.90.00.80, 7220.11.00.00, 7220.20.10.10, 7220.20.10.15, 7220.20.10.60, 7220.20.10.80, 7220.20.60.05, 7220.20.60.10, 7220.20.60.15, 7220.20.60.60, 7220.20.60.80, 7220.90.00.10, 7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise subject to this order is dispositive.

Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review

Section 751(d)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the “Act”), and 19 CFR 351.222(g), provide that the Department may revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, in whole or in part, after conducting a changed circumstances review pursuant to section 751(b) of the Act and concluding from the available information that changed circumstances exist sufficient to warrant revocation or termination. The Department may conclude that changed circumstances sufficient to warrant revocation (in whole or in part) exist when producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to which the order pertains have expressed a lack of interest in the order, in whole or in part. See section 782(h)(2) of the Act and section 351.222(g)(1) of the Department's regulations.

The petitioners state that they are producers of SSPC but do not identify the percentage of production of the domestic like product they represent. At present, the Department has no information on the record that the other known domestic producers of SSPC have no interest in maintaining the countervailing duty order with respect to the subject merchandise imported from Italy. Therefore, the Department does not have information on the record of this changed circumstances review that the petitioners account for substantially all, or at least 85 percent, of the production of the domestic like product. See Certain Tin Mill Products From Japan: Final Results of Changed Circumstances Review, 66 FR 52109 (October 12, 2001); see also 19 CFR 351.208(c). Accordingly, we are not combining this initiation with a preliminary determination, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii). This notice of initiation will accord all interested parties an opportunity to address this proposed revocation.

Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Act, the Department will conduct a changed circumstances review upon receipt of information concerning, or a request from an interested party of, a countervailing duty order which shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review of the order. Therefore, in accordance with section 751(b)(1) of the Act, we are initiating a changed circumstances review based upon the request made by the petitioners.

If, as a result of this review, we revoke the order, we intend to instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) to liquidate without regard to applicable countervailing duties, and refund any estimated countervailing duties collected on all unliquidated entries of the merchandise subject to the order, as described above under the “Scope of the Order” section, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after September 4, 1998, i.e., the publication date of the Department's preliminary determination. See Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy, 63 FR 47246 (September 4, 1998). We will also instruct CBP to pay interest on such refunds with respect to the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 11, 1999, the date of publication of the countervailing duty order, in accordance with section 778 of the Act. The current requirement for a cash deposit of estimated countervailing duties on the subject merchandise will continue unless, and until, we publish a final determination to revoke the countervailing duty order on SSPC from Italy.

Public Comment

Interested parties are invited to comment on the initiation of this changed circumstances review. 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. All written comments may be submitted by interested parties not later than 14 days after the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.303, and shall be served on all interested parties on the Department's service list.

The Department will publish in the Federal Register a notice of preliminary results of changed circumstances review, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3), which will set forth the factual and legal conclusions upon which our preliminary results are based, and a description of any action proposed based on those results.

This notice is published in accordance with section 751(b)(1) of the Act and sections 351.216 and 351.222 of the Department's regulations.