[Federal Register: March 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 53)]
[Notices]
[Page 13964-13966]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20mr06-25]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-475-820]
Notice of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed
Circumstances Antidumping Duty Review: Stainless Steel Wire Rod from
Italy
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) has received
information sufficient to warrant initiation of a changed circumstances
review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel wire rod (SSWR)
from Italy. Based on this information, we preliminarily determine that:
1) Acciaierie Valbruna S.p.A. (Valbruna S.p.A.) is the successor-in-
interest to Acciaierie Valbruna S.r.l. (Valbruna S.r.l.) and its
subsidiary Acciaierie Bolzano S.p.A. (Bolzano S.p.A.), a respondent in
the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation; and 2) merchandise from
Acciaierie Valbruna S.p.A. should be excluded from the antidumping duty
order. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary
results.
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 20, 2006.
[[Page 13965]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irina Itkin or Alice Gibbons, AD/CVD
Operations, Office 2, Import Administration, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-0656
and (202) 482-0498, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On September 15, 1998, the Department published in the Federal
Register (63 FR 49327) the antidumping duty order on SSWR from Italy.
Valbruna S.r.l. and its affiliate Bolzano S.p.A. were excluded from the
order because their dumping margin was de minimis. On January 26, 2006,
Valbruna S.p.A. submitted a written request that the Department conduct
a changed circumstances review in order to clarify for U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) that Valbruna S.p.A. is the successor-in-
interest to Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. and that subject merchandise
produced by this entity should not be subject to antidumping duties.
Valbruna S.p.A. requested that the result of the Department's changed
circumstances review be retroactive to December 16, 1998, the effective
date of Valbruna S.r.l.'s name and corporate change to Valbruna S.p.A.
On January 30, 2006, the Department requested that Valbruna S.p.A.
supplement this request for a changed circumstances review by
addressing the four factors normally examined by the Department in
successor-in-interest determinations: changes in (1) Management; (2)
production facilities; (3) supplier relationships; and (4) customer
base. On February 8, 2006, Valbruna submitted this information to the
Department. Further, on March 7, 2006, Valbruna S.p.A. submitted
information to address additional questions raised by the Department on
March 3, 2006.
Scope of Order
For purposes of this order, SSWR comprises products that are hot-
rolled or hot-rolled annealed and/or pickled and/or descaled rounds,
squares, octagons, hexagons or other shapes, in coils, that may also be
coated with a lubricant containing copper, lime or oxalate. SSWR is
made of alloy steels containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of
carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other
elements. These products are manufactured only by hot-rolling or hot-
rolling, annealing, and/or pickling and/or descaling, are normally sold
in coiled form, and are of solid cross-section. The majority of SSWR
sold in the United States is round in cross-sectional shape, annealed
and pickled, and later cold-finished into stainless steel wire or
small-diameter bar.
The most common size for such products is 5.5 millimeters or 0.217
inches in diameter, which represents the smallest size that normally is
produced on a rolling mill and is the size that most wire-drawing
machines are set up to draw. The range of SSWR sizes normally sold in
the United States is between 0.20 inches and 1.312 inches diameter. Two
stainless steel grades, SF20T and K-M35FL, are excluded from the scope
of the order. The chemical makeup for the excluded grades is as
follows:
SF20T
Carbon............................... 0.05 max Chromium 19.00/21.00
Manganese............................ 2.00 max Molybdenum 1.50/2.50
Phosphorous.......................... 0.05 max Lead added (0.10/0.30)
Sulfur............................... 0.15 max Tellurium added (0.03 min)
Silicon.............................. 1.00 max
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K-M35FL
Carbon............................... 0.015 max Nickel 0.30 max
Silicon.............................. 0.70/1.00 Chromium 12.50/14.00
Manganese............................ 0.40 max Lead 0.10/0.30
Phosphorous.......................... 0.04 max Aluminum 0.20/0.35
Sulfur............................... 0.03 max
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The products subject to this order are currently classifiable under
subheadings 7221.00.0005, 7221.00.0015, 7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, and
7221.00.0075 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience
and customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise is
dispositive.
Initiation and Preliminary Results of Review
In its January 26, 2006, February 8, 2006, and March 7, 2006,
submissions to the Department, Valbruna S.p.A. provided information to
the Department to demonstrate that it is the successor-in-interest to
Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. and that subject merchandise produced by
it should not be subject to antidumping duties given that Valbruna
S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A. were excluded from the antidumping duty order.
See 63 FR 49327 (Sept. 15, 1998).
Thus, in accordance with section 751(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930,
as amended (the Act) and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(a), the Department
is initiating a changed circumstances review to determine whether
Valbruna S.p.A. is the successor-in-interest to Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano
S.p.A. and thus entitled to exclusion from the antidumping duty order
on SSWR from Italy.
Valbruna S.p.A. has presented evidence to establish a prima facie
case that neither its change in corporate form and name from Valbruna
S.r.l. to Valbruna S.p.A. nor its subsequent merger with its wholly
owned subsidiary, Bolzano S.p.A., affected the company's operations
(i.e., management, production facilities, supplier relationships, or
customer relationships) so that they are materially dissimilar to those
of its predecessor. As a consequence, we find that it is appropriate to
issue the preliminary results of our review in combination with the
notice of initiation of the changed circumstances review in accordance
with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii). Because the evidence indicates that
Valbruna S.p.A. has the same corporate structure and operations as
Valbruna S.r.l./Bolzano S.p.A., we preliminarily determine that
merchandise from Valbruna S.p.A. should be excluded from the
antidumping duty order. Thus, if these preliminary results are adopted
in our final results of this changed circumstances review, we will
instruct CBP to liquidate, without regard to
[[Page 13966]]
antidumping duties, all entries entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
for consumption on or after December 16, 1998, the date of Valbruna
S.r.l.'s name change to Valbruna S.p.A. This action is in accordance
with the Department's practice of applying the results of changed
circumstances determinations retroactively where the company in
question was never subject to the order. See Certain Hot-Rolled Lead
and Bismuth Carbon Steel Products from the United Kingdom: Final
Results of Changed-Circumstances Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Review, 64 FR 66880, 66881 (Nov. 30, 1999). For further
discussion of this issue, see the memorandum from Irene Darzenta
Tzafolias to Stephen J. Claeys, entitled ``Successor-In-Interest
Determination for Acciaierie Valbruna S.r.l. in the Changed
Circumstances Review of Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Italy,'' dated
concurrently with this notice.
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary
results. Any written comments may be submitted no later than 14 days
after date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to
arguments raised in case briefs, are due five days after the case brief
deadline. Case briefs and rebuttal briefs must be served on interested
parties in accordance with 19 CFR 351.209. The Department will publish
the final results of the changed circumstances review including the
results of its analysis of any issues raised in any such comments.
This initiation of review, preliminary results of review, and
notice are in accordance with sections 751(b) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: March 13, 2006.
David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretaryfor Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-3990 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S