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[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 31, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68256-68257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33981]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-580-008]

Color Television Receivers From Korea; Preliminary Results of 
Changed Circumstances Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Notice of affirmative preliminary determination of changed 
circumstances antidumping duty administrative review and intent to 
revoke.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 
(Samsung), the Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting a 
changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on color 
television receivers (CTVs) from the Republic of Korea (Korea) (49 FR 
18336, April 30, 1984).
    We have preliminarily determined that it is appropriate to 
partially revoke this AD order with respect to Samsung.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 31, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Terpstra or Holly Kuga, 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group II, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-3965, or 482-4737, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective 
date of amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (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 353 (1997).

Background

    On April 30, 1984, the Department published in the Federal Register 
(49 FR 18336) the antidumping duty order on CTVs from the Republic of 
Korea (the order). On July 20, 1995, the Department received a request 
by Samsung for a changed circumstances administrative review to 
consider revocation of the antidumping duty order, as it applies to 
Samsung. In their request, Samsung cited three reasons why the 
Department should revoke the antidumping duty order. First, the timing 
of certain court decisions on previous administrative reviews of this 
order prevented Samsung from filing in a timely manner for revocation 
under Section 751 (a) of the Act. Second, Samsung was found not to be 
dumping CTVs in the United States during the last six years that 
shipments from Korea had occurred. Third, Samsung has not shipped CTVs 
to the United States since early 1991. Zenith Electronics Corporation, 
a domestic interested party, and other petitioners filed objections to 
Samsung's request on August 4, 1995 and August 11, 1995, respectively.
    Pursuant to Samsung's request, the Department published an 
initiation of changed circumstance review in the Federal Register on 
June 24, 1996 (61 FR 32426). On December 6, 1996, the Department issued 
the changed circumstance questionnaire to Samsung, who filed its 
response on February 24, 1997. Petitioners submitted their comments on 
Samsung's questionnaire response on June 17, 1997. Subsequently, both 
petitioners and Samsung have submitted additional comments.
    On December 19, 1997, Petitioners requested that the 
anticircumvention inquiry on Korean CTVs be terminated. Accordingly, on 
December 19, 1997, we terminated that inquiry.

Scope of Review

    Imports covered by this review include Samsung CTVs, complete and 
incomplete, from the Republic of Korea. This merchandise is 
classifiable under the 1996 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) as item 
8528.12.04, 8528.12.08, 8528.12.12, 8528.12.16, 8528.12.20, 8528.12.24, 
8528.12.28, 8528.12.32, 8528.12.36, 8528.12.40, 8528.12.44, 8528.12.48, 
8528.12.52, 8528.12.56, 8528.12.62, 8528.12.64, 8528.12.68, 8528.12.72, 
8528.12.76, 8528.12.80, 8528.12.84, and 8528.12.88. The order covers 
all CTVs regardless of HTS classification. The HTS subheadings are 
provided for convenience and for customs purposes. The written 
description of the scope of the order remains dispositive.

Analysis

    Based upon our analysis, we preliminarily determine that changed 
circumstances exist sufficient to warrant partial revocation of the 
antidumping duty order on CTVs with respect to Samsung. Therefore, we 
intend to partially revoke the order with respect to Samsung. The 
Department may grant a partial revocation of an antidumping duty order 
under 19 CFR 353.25(b). To do so it must find that producers or 
resellers have sold the subject merchandise at not less than foreign 
market value for a period of not less than three consecutive years and 
that it is not likely that the producers or resellers will in the 
future sell the merchandise at not less than foreign market value. 19 
CFR 353.25(a)(2)(i) and (ii). Further, the producers or resellers must 
agree in writing to immediate reinstatement in the order if the 
Department concludes that the producer or reseller, subsequent to 
revocation, sold the merchandise at less than foreign market value. 19 
CFR 353.25(a)(2)(iii).
    In the present case, Samsung has met the eligibility requirement of 
three consecutive years of de minimis margins, and the Department has 
found that it is not likely that Samsung will sell the merchandise at 
not less than foreign market value in the future. Samsung sold subject 
merchandise at not less than foreign market value for a period of six 
consecutive years.
    Samsung has also argued that because it has not shipped CTVs from 
Korea to the United States, it is not likely that dumping will resume. 
We do not consider this argument relevant because the Department 
explicitly excluded the lack of shipments as a basis for revocation. 
See Antidumping Duties, Final Rule, 54 FR 12742; March 28, 1989.
    Nonetheless, if Samsung were to resume shipping CTVs from Korea, we 
do not find it likely that such imports would be sold in the United 
States at prices less than foreign market value. Samsung has 
established a significant history of selling Korean CTVs in the United 
States at prices that are not less than foreign market value. Absent 
evidence that conditions in the United States or Korean CTV markets 
have changed, or that Samsung's pricing methods have changed after its 
six years of de minimis margins, the Department preliminarily finds 
that Samsung is not likely to resume dumping of CTVs in

[[Page 68257]]

the United States. Accordingly, we find that the antidumping duty order 
as to Samsung is no longer necessary and preliminarily determine to 
revoke the order in part as to Samsung, provided Samsung agrees in 
writing to immediate reinstatement in the order in the event it sells 
the merchandise at less than normal value subsequent to revocation.
    The Unions have argued that Samsung is likely to resume dumping 
based on Samsung's price and cost data. They contend that price 
comparison data submitted by Samsung indicate that Samsung would sell 
CTVs at less than normal value if the company resumed shipments of CTVs 
from Korea. Further, the Unions contend that Samsung will likely resume 
shipments from Korea for newly developed technologies which its 
operations in Mexico cannot produce.
    As stated above, the likelihood of Samsung resuming shipments is 
not relevant to our finding here. Instead, we must address the issue of 
whether dumping would be likely to occur if shipments were to resume. 
Petitioners claim that Samsung's prices in Korea are likely to be 
significantly higher than prices Samsung is charging on shipments of 
CTVs from Mexico sold in the United States. Petitioners' arguments are 
premised on their allegation that Samsung's shipments from Mexico are 
circumventing the order on CTVs from Korea. However, on December 19, 
1997, petitioners requested that the Department terminate the anti-
circumvention inquiry, and the Department has not address the issue of 
potential circumvention.
    Thus, petitioners have not addressed the issue of potential price 
differentials between Samsung's sales in the Korean and U.S. markets if 
Samsung were to resume sales from Korea. With respect to the Unions' 
argument that products resulting from newly developed or developing 
technologies are likely to be dumped, we do not find persuasive 
evidence of record that shows that such products are likely to be 
dumped.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to submit comments on these 
preliminary results. In light of the termination of the 
Anticircumvention Inquiry, interested parties are encouraged to submit 
comments on the likelihood of resumption issue in particular. Case 
briefs and/or written comments from interested parties may be submitted 
no later than 30 days after the date of publication/notification of 
this notice. Rebuttal briefs and rebuttals to comments, limited to 
issues raised in those briefs or comments, may be filed no later than 
37 days after publication/notification of this notice. Any hearing, if 
requested, will be held 44 days after publication/notification of this 
notice.

Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Changed Circumstances

    Based on our analysis discussed above, we preliminarily find that 
it is appropriate to partially revoke the AD order with respect to 
Samsung. This preliminary affirmative changed circumstances 
determination is in accordance with section 751(b) of the Act and 19 
C.F.R. 353.22(f).

    Dated: December 19, 1997.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 97-33981 Filed 12-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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