[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 102 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33805-33807]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-13095]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-853]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Bulk Aspirin From the People's Republic of China

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is conducting an antidumping duty 
investigation of Bulk Aspirin from the People's Republic of China. We 
determine that sales have been made at less than fair value. The 
estimated dumping margins are shown in the Continuation of Suspension 
of Liquidation section of this notice.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 25, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rosa Jeong, Ryan Langan or Blanche 
Ziv, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3853, 482-1279, or 482-4207, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective 
date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (``the Act'') by 
the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (``URAA''). In addition, unless 
otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department of Commerce's 
(``the Department's'') regulations refer to the regulations codified at 
19 CFR part 351 (1998).

Case History

    Since the preliminary determination (see 65 FR 116 (January 3, 
2000) (``Preliminary Determination'')), the following events have 
occurred:
    On December 28, 1999, one of the respondents, Shandong Xinhua 
Pharmaceutical Factory (``Shandong''), requested a postponement of the 
final determination and, on January 4, 2000, requested an extension of 
provisional measures. On January 20, 2000, we published in the Federal 
Register a notice of postponement of the final determination and 
extension of provisional measures (65 FR 3204).
    Supplemental information regarding surrogate values was submitted 
on February 14, 2000, by the petitioner and respondents.
    In February and March 2000, we conducted verification of the 
questionnaire responses submitted by Shandong and Jilin Pharmaceutical 
Import and Export Corporation (``Jilin''). We issued reports on our 
findings of these verifications on April 5, 2000.
    The petitioner and respondents filed case briefs and rebuttal 
briefs on April 12 and April 19, 2000, respectively. At the request of 
the petitioner and respondents, the Department held a public hearing on 
April 25, 2000.
    We also received a case brief from Dastech International, Inc. 
(``Dastech''), an interested party in this investigation. After 
reviewing Dastech's comments, we determined that the information 
contained in Dastech's brief constituted factual information that was 
filed on an untimely basis as set forth in section 351.301 of the 
Department's regulations. Therefore, pursuant to section 351.302(d) of 
the Department's regulations, we removed Dastech's submission from the 
record, and did not consider the comments for the final determination. 
See ``Rejection of Interested Party's Brief'' Memorandum to Richard W. 
Moreland, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Import Administration, dated May 
17, 2000.

Scope of the Investigation

    For purposes of this investigation, the product covered is bulk 
acetylsalicylic acid, commonly referred to as bulk aspirin, whether or 
not in pharmaceutical or compound form, not put up in dosage form 
(tablet, capsule, powders or similar form for direct human 
consumption). Bulk aspirin may be imported in two forms, as pure ortho-
acetylsalicylic acid or as mixed ortho-acetylsalicylic acid. Pure 
ortho-acetylsalicylic acid can be either in crystal form or granulated 
into a fine powder (pharmaceutical form). This product has the chemical 
formula C<INF>9</INF>H<INF>8</INF>O<INF>4</INF>. It is defined by the 
official monograph of the United States Pharmacopoeia (``USP'') 23. It 
is classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(``HTSUS'') subheading 2918.22.1000.
    Mixed ortho-acetylsalicylic acid consists of ortho-acetylsalicylic 
acid combined with other inactive substances such as starch, lactose, 
cellulose, or coloring materials and/or other active substances. The 
presence of other active substances must be in concentrations less than 
that specified for particular nonprescription drug combinations of 
aspirin and active substances as published in the Handbook of 
Nonprescription Drugs, eighth edition, American Pharmaceutical 
Association. This product is classified under HTSUS subheading 
3003.90.0000. Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
merchandise under investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

    The period of this investigation (``POI'') is October 1, 1998, 
through March 31, 1999.

Nonmarket Economy Country and Market-Oriented Industry Status

    The Department has treated the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') 
as a nonmarket economy (``NME'') country in all past antidumping 
investigations. See, e.g., Notice of Final Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Certain Preserved Mushrooms from the People's 
Republic of China, 63 FR 72255 (December 31, 1998) (``Mushrooms''). 
Under section 771(18)(C) of the Act, this NME designation remains in 
effect until it is revoked by the Department.
    The respondents in this investigation have not requested a 
revocation of the PRC's NME status and no further information has been 
provided that would lead to such a revocation. Therefore, we have 
continued to treat the PRC as an NME in this investigation.
    Furthermore, no interested party has requested that the bulk 
aspirin industry in the PRC be treated as a market-oriented industry 
and no further information has been provided that would lead to such a 
determination. Therefore, we have not treated the bulk

[[Page 33806]]

aspirin industry in the PRC as a market-oriented industry in this 
investigation.

Separate Rates

    All responding companies have requested separate, company-specific 
antidumping duty rates. In our Preliminary Determination, we 
preliminarily found that all responding companies had met the criteria 
for the application of separate antidumping duty rates. See 65 FR at 
3204. At verification, we found no discrepancies with the information 
provided in the questionnaire responses of responding companies. We 
have not received any other information since the Preliminary 
Determination which would warrant reconsideration of our separate rates 
determinations with respect to these companies. We, therefore, 
determine that the responding companies in this investigation should be 
assigned individual dumping margins.

PRC-Wide Rate

    As stated in the preliminary determination, information on the 
record of this investigation indicates that there are numerous 
producers/exporters of the subject merchandise in the PRC in addition 
to the companies participating in this investigation. U.S. import 
statistics show that the responding companies did not account for all 
imports of bulk aspirin into the United States from the PRC. Given this 
discrepancy, it appears that not all PRC exporters of bulk aspirin 
responded to our questionnaire. Accordingly, we are applying a single 
antidumping deposit rate (``the PRC-wide rate'') to all bulk aspirin 
exporters in the PRC except those specifically identified in the 
``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.

Use of Facts Available

    As explained in the preliminary determination, the PRC-wide 
antidumping rate is based on adverse facts available, in accordance 
with section 776 of the Act. 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 or 
the Commission under this title, (B) fails to provide such information 
by the deadlines for 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.'' 
Use of facts available is warranted in this case because the producers/
exporters other than those under investigation have failed to respond 
to the Department's questionnaire.
    Section 776(b) of the Act provides that adverse inferences may be 
used when a party has failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of 
its ability to comply with a request for information. The producers/
exporters that decided not to respond in any form to the Department's 
questionnaire, failed to act to the best of their ability in this 
investigation. Further, absent a verifiable response from these firms, 
we must presume government control of these PRC companies. Thus, the 
Department has determined that, in selecting from among the facts 
otherwise available, an adverse inference is warranted and has assigned 
them a common, PRC-wide rate based on adverse inferences.
    In accordance with our standard practice, as adverse facts 
available, we are assigning to the PRC-wide entity (i.e., those 
companies not receiving a separate rate), which did not cooperate in 
the investigation, the higher of: (1) the highest margin stated in the 
notice of initiation; or (2) the highest margin calculated for any 
respondent in this investigation. See, e.g., Notice of Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel Wire 
Rod From Japan, 63 FR 40434 (July 29, 1998). In this case, the adverse 
facts available margin is 144.02 percent, the margin from the petition, 
which is higher than the margin calculated for any respondent in this 
investigation.
    Section 776(c) of the Act provides that where the Department 
selects from among the facts otherwise available and relies on 
``secondary information,'' such as the petition, the Department shall, 
to the extent practicable, corroborate that information from 
independent sources reasonably at the Department's disposal. The 
Statement of Administrative Action accompanying the URAA, H.R. Doc. No. 
103-316 (1994) (``SAA''), states that ``corroborate'' means to 
determine that the information used has probative value. See SAA at 
870. As discussed in the Preliminary Determination, we determine that 
the calculations set forth in the petition have probative value.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this investigation are addressed in the May 17, 2000, Decision 
Memorandum which is hereby adopted by this notice. Attached to this 
notice as an appendix is a list of the issues which parties have raised 
and to which we have responded in the Decision Memorandum. Parties can 
find a complete discussion of all issues raised in this investigation 
and the corresponding recommendations in this public memorandum which 
is on file in the Central Records Unit, Room B-099 of the Department. 
In addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be 
accessed directly on the internet at www.ita.doc.gov/import__admin/
records/frn. The paper copy and electronic version of the Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of comments received, we have made certain 
changes in the margin calculations. We have also corrected certain 
programming and clerical errors in our Preliminary Determination, where 
applicable. Any programming or clerical errors are discussed in the 
relevant sections of the Decision Memorandum or in the company-specific 
final determination calculation memoranda dated May 17, 2000.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we verified the 
information submitted by respondents for use in our final 
determination. We used standard verification procedures including 
examination of relevant accounting and production records, and original 
source documents provided by respondents.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c) of the Act, we are directing the 
U.S. Customs Service (``Customs'') to continue to suspend liquidation 
of all imports of the subject merchandise from the PRC, except for 
merchandise both produced and exported by Jilin (which had a zero 
margin at the Preliminary Determination), that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after January 3, 2000, 
the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal 
Register. With respect to Jilin, Customs shall suspend liquidation of 
all imports of the subject merchandise from the PRC, produced and 
exported by Jilin that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.
    Customs shall continue to require a cash deposit or the posting of 
a bond equal to the weighted-average amount

[[Page 33807]]

by which the NV exceeds the EP or CEP, as appropriate, as indicated in 
the chart below. These suspension of liquidation instructions will 
remain in effect until further notice.
    The weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
                   Exporter/manufacturer                       margin
                                                             percentage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical Factory....................         42.77
Jilin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd./...........................
Jilin Pharmaceutical Import and Export Corporation........          4.72
PRC-wide Rate.............................................        144.02
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The PRC-wide rate applies to all entries of the subject merchandise 
except for entries from exporters that are identified individually 
above.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our determination. As our final determination is affirmative, 
the ITC will, within 45 days, determine whether these imports are 
materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry. 
If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat of material 
injury does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and all 
securities posted will be refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines 
that such injury does exist, the Department will issue an antidumping 
duty order directing Customs officials to assess antidumping duties on 
all imports of the subject merchandise entered for consumption on or 
after the effective date of the suspension of liquidation.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: May 17, 2000.
Troy H. Cribb,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Adminstration.

Appendix

List of Comments in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

Comment 1: Valuation of Phenol
Comment 2: Valuation of Caustic Soda
Comment 3: Valuation of Carbon Dioxide
Comment 4: Valuation of Overhead, Selling, General, Administrative 
Expenses and Profit
Comment 5: Adjustments to Surrogate Ratios
Comment 6: Valuation of Electricity
Comment 7: Valuation of Water
Comment 8: Valuation of Ocean Freight
Comment 9: Returned Merchandise
Comment 10: Separate Rates
Comment 11: Shandong's Use of Technical-Grade Salicylic Acid
Comment 12: Jilin's Raw Material Consumption
Comment 13: Jilin's By-Product Offset
Comment 14: Jilin's Inland Freight Costs for Materials
Comment 15: Jilin's Multiple Shipments

[FR Doc. 00-13095 Filed 5-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P