61142 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 200 / Monday, October 16, 2000 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A–428–827]

Notice of Final Determination of Sales

at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless

Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From

Germany

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 16, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Carrie Blozy, Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th

Street and Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202)

482–0165.

The Applicable Statute

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’s regulations are to the

regulations at 19 CFR part 351 (April

1999).

Final Determination

We determine that stainless steel buttweld pipe fittings from Germany are

being, or are likely to be, sold in the

United States at less than fair value

(‘‘LTFV’’), as provided in section 733 of

the Act. The estimated margins of sales

at LTFV are shown in the ‘‘Continuation

of Suspension of Liquidation’’ section of

this notice.

Case History

The preliminary determination in this

investigation was published on August

2, 2000. See Notice of Preliminary

Determination of Sales at Less Than

Fair Value: Stainless Steel Butt-Weld

Pipe Fittings from Germany, 65 FR

47384 (August 2, 2000) (‘‘Preliminary

Determination’’). No interested parties

have provided comments on the

Preliminary Determination and no

request for a hearing has been received

by the Department.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation is October

1, 1998 through September 30, 1999.

Scope of Investigation

For purposes of this investigation, the

product covered is certain stainless steel

butt-weld pipe fittings. Certain stainless

steel butt-weld pipe fittings are under

14 inches in outside diameter (based on

nominal pipe size), whether finished or

unfinished. The product encompasses

all grades of stainless steel and

‘‘commodity’’ and ‘‘specialty’’ fittings.

Specifically excluded from the

definition are threaded, grooved, and

bolted fittings, and fittings made from

any material other than stainless steel.

The fittings subject to this

investigation are generally designated

under specification ASTM A403/

A403M, the standard specification for

Wrought Austenitic Stainless Steel

Piping Fittings, or its foreign

equivalents (e.g., DIN or JIS

specifications). This specification covers

two general classes of fittings, WP and

CR, of wrought austenitic stainless steel

fittings of seamless and welded

construction covered by the latest

revision of ANSI B16.9, ANSI B16.11,

and ANSI B16.28. Pipe fittings

manufactured to specification ASTM

A774, or its foreign equivalents, are also

covered by this investigation.

This investigation does not apply to

cast fittings. Cast austenitic stainless

steel pipe fittings are covered by

specifications A351/A351M, A743/

743M, and A744/A744M.

The stainless steel butt-weld pipe

fittings subject to this investigation are

currently classifiable under subheading

7307.23.0000 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

scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Facts Available

In the Preliminary Determination, the

Department based the margins for Hage

Fittings GmbH (‘‘Hage Fittings’’) and

Nirobo Metalverarbeitungs GmbH

(‘‘Nirobo Metalverarbeitungs’’) on facts

otherwise available under sections

776(a)(2)(A) and (C) of the Act because

Hage Fittings and Nirobo

Metalverarbeitungs failed to respond to

our questionnaires, thus significantly

impeding the investigation, and because

subsection 782(d) of the Act therefore

did not apply. See Preliminary

Determination at 65 FR 47385. Also, in

the Preliminary Determination, the

Department based the margin for Wilh.

Schulz GmbH (‘‘Schulz’’) on facts

otherwise available under sections

776(a)(2)(A) and (C) of the Act because

the Department had no data on the

record for Schulz upon which to base its

margin calculation since the Department

returned all of Schulz’s business

proprietary information at Schulz’s

request. Id.

Section 776(b) of the Act provides

that, in selecting from among the facts

available, the Department may employ

adverse inferences when an interested

party has failed to cooperate by not

acting to the best of its ability to comply

with requests for information. See also

‘‘Statement of Administrative Action’’

accompanying the URAA, H.R. Rep. No.

103–316, 870 (1994) (‘‘SAA’’). Based on

the failure of Hage Fittings and Nirobo

Metalverarbeitungs to respond to the

Department’s antidumping

questionnaire and Schulz’s subsequent

withdrawal of its business proprietary

data, we have determined that Hage

Fittings, Nirobo Metalverarbeitungs, and

Schulz have not acted to the best of

their ability to comply with the

Department’s information requests.

Therefore, pursuant to 776(b) of the

Act, we used an adverse inference in

selecting a margin from the facts

available. As adverse facts available, the

Department has applied a margin of

76.24 percent, the highest margin

alleged in the petition. As discussed in

the Preliminary Determination, the

Department has, to the extent

practicable, corroborated the

information used as adverse facts

available. Id., at 65 FR 47385–86. Since

then, no interested parties have

provided comments on the Preliminary

Determination and no request for a

hearing has been received by the

Department. Therefore, we are

continuing to use as adverse facts

available the highest margin alleged by

petitioners.

Critical Circumstances

No comments were received regarding

the Department’s preliminary critical

circumstances determination, and the

Department has not made any changes

to this determination. For the reasons

given in the Preliminary Determination,

the Department continues to find that

critical circumstances exist with respect

to stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings

imported from Hage Fittings, Nirobo

Metalverarbeitungs, and Schulz, in

accordance with section 733(e)(1) of the

Act. Id., at 65 FR 47386. As set forth in

our Preliminary Determination, because

the massive imports criterion necessary

to find critical circumstances has not

been met with respect to firms other

than Hage Fittings, Nirobo

Metalverarbeitungs, and Schulz, the

Department continues to find, for the

purposes of this final determination,

that critical circumstances do not exist

for imports of stainless steel butt-weld

pipe fittings for the ‘‘all others’’ category

in this case.

The All-Others Rate

No interested parties have filed case

briefs or rebuttal briefs on this issue.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 200 / Monday, October 16, 2000 / Notices 61143

Accordingly, the Department is

continuing to base the all-others rate on

a weighted-average of all the margins

alleged in the petition. As a result, the

all-others rate is 51.34 percent.

Continuation of Suspension of

Liquidation

In accordance with section

735(c)(1)(B) of the Act for Hage Fittings,

Nirobo Metalverarbeitungs and Schulz

we are directing the Customs Service to

continue to suspend liquidation of all

entries of subject merchandise from

Germany that are entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, for consumption on or

after the date 90 days prior date of

publication of the Preliminary

Determination in the Federal Register.

For all other companies, we are

directing the Customs Service to

continue suspend liquidation of entries

of subject merchandise from Germany

that are entered, or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption on or after

August 2, 2000 (the date of publication

of the Preliminary Determination in the

Federal Register). We will instruct the

Customs Service to require a cash

deposit or the posting of a bond equal

to the weighted-average amount by

which the normal value exceeds the

U.S. price, 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:

Exporter/manufacturer

Weightedaverage

margin

(percent)

Hage Fittings ............................ 76.24

Nirobo Metalverarbeitungs ....... 76.24

Schulz ....................................... 76.24

All Others .................................. 51.34

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 735(d) of

the Act, we have notified the

International Trade Commission (‘‘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: October 10, 2000.

Troy H. Cribb,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import

Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–26520 Filed 10–13–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A–580–810, A–583–815]

Continuation of Antidumping Duty

Orders: Certain Welded Stainless Steel

Pipe from South Korea and Taiwan

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Continuation of

Antidumping Duty Orders: Certain

Welded Stainless Steel Pipe from South

Korea and Taiwan.

SUMMARY: On February 4, 2000, the

Department of Commerce (‘‘the

Department’’), pursuant to sections

751(c) and 752 of the Tariff Act of 1930,

as amended (‘‘the Act’’), determined

that revocation of the antidumping duty

orders on certain welded stainless steel

pipe from South Korea and Taiwan is

likely to lead to continuation or

recurrence of dumping. See 65 FR 5607

(February 4, 2000).

On October 2, 2000, the International

Trade Commission (‘‘the Commission’’),

pursuant to section 751(c) of the Act,

determined that revocation of the

antidumping duty orders on certain

welded stainless steel pipe from South

Korea and Taiwan would be likely to

lead to continuation or recurrence of

material injury to an industry in the

United States within a reasonably

foreseeable time. See 65 FR 58806

(October 2, 2000). Therefore, pursuant

to 19 CFR 351.218(f)(4), the Department

is publishing notice of continuation of

the antidumping duty orders on certain

welded stainless steel pipe from South

Korea and Taiwan.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective Date of

Continuation: October 16, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Martha V. Douthit or James P. Maeder,

Office of Policy for Import

Administration, International Trade

Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution

Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230;

telephone: (202) 482–5050 or (202) 482–

3330, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On July 1, 1999, the Department

initiated, and the Commission

instituted, sunset reviews (64 FR 35588

and 64 FR 35694) of the antidumping

duty orders on certain welded stainless

steel pipe from South Korea and Taiwan

pursuant to section 751(c) of the Act. As

a result of its reviews, the Department

found on February 4, 2000, that

revocation of the antidumping duty

orders on certain welded stainless steel

pipe from South Korea and Taiwan

would likely lead to continuation or

recurrence of dumping and notified the

Commission of the magnitude of the

margins likely to prevail were the orders

revoked. See 65 FR 5607 (February 4,

2000).

On October 2, 2000, the Commission

determined, pursuant to section 751(c)

of the Act, that revocation of the

antidumping duty orders on certain

welded stainless steel pipe from South

Korea and Taiwan would be likely to

lead to continuation or recurrence of

material injury to an industry in the

United States within a reasonably

foreseeable time. See Certain Welded

Stainless Steel Pipe from Korea and

Taiwan, 65 FR 58806 (October 2, 2000)

and USITC Publication 3351,

Investigation Nos. 731–TA–540 and 541

(Review) (October 2000).

Scope of the Orders

The merchandise subject to these

orders are certain welded austenitic

stainless steel pipe that meets the

standards and specifications set forth by

the American Society for Testing and

Materials (‘‘ASTM’’) for the welded

form of chromium-nickel pipe

designated ASTM A–312. The

merchandise covered by the scope of

these orders also includes austenitic

welded stainless steel made according

to the standards of other nations which

are comparable to ASTM A–312. Pipes

are produced by forming stainless steel

flat-rolled products into a tubular

configuration and welding along the

seam. Pipes are a commodity product

generally used as a conduit to transmit

liquids or gases. Major applications for

pipes include, but are not limited to,

digester lines, blow lines,

pharmaceutical lines, petrochemical

stock lines, brewery process and

transport lines, general food processing

lines, automotive paint lines, and paper

process machines. Imports are currently

classifiable under the following

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

United States (‘‘HTSUS’’) subheadings: