10562 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 1995 / Notices

transactions. Since the parent company

ultimately controls the capital of all

affiliates in which it holds a controlling

interest, and due to the nature of certain

intercompany transactions, we have

used the parent company’s financing

expense rate as a reasonable surrogate

for purposes of our final determination.

We have also adjusted the parent

company’s CV financing expense rate to

allow an offset for credit expenses and

inventory carrying cost as is our normal

practice.

For purposes of our final

determination, we have allocated

financing expense of the further

manufacturing operations based on cost

of sales rather than weight. (See Final

Determinations of Sales at Less than

Fair Value: Antifriction Bearings (Other

Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and

Parts Thereof From the Federal Republic

of Germany, 54 FR 18992, 19076, May

3, 1989.)

Comment 6: Petitioner contends that

BKL understated total cost through the

incorrect reporting of pension costs.

Petitioner argues that BKL excluded

certain pension costs in reporting its

cost for the subject merchandise,

claiming that the pension costs do not

reflect the actual costs that will be

incurred. According to petitioner,

because generally accepted accounting

principles (‘‘GAAP’’) in the U.K.

required BKL to include an additional

amount for pension costs in its audited

financial statements, such costs must be

included in the COP and CV of subject

merchandise in order to accurately

reflect BKL’s fully absorbed cost for

subject merchandise.

Department’s Position: We agree with

petitioner, and have adjusted labor costs

to reflect pension expense in conformity

with U.K. GAAP for purposes of our

final determination. To be in conformity

with U.K. GAAP, an entity is required

to perform an annual recalculation of

pension expense to account for

fluctuations in investment performance.

The purpose of this recalculation is to

more accurately reflect an entity’s yearend pension liability. Not adjusting the

pension liability to conform with U.K.

GAAP would result in an

understatement of per-unit costs of

production. (See Calculation

Memorandum from Theresa L. Caherty

and Peter S. Scholl to Christian B.

Marsh, dated February 9, 1995,

(‘‘Proprietary Document’’).)

Comment 7: Petitioner states that the

Department may not have properly

adjusted FMV to account for VAT for

any calculations where FMV is based on

CV. As a result, petitioner maintains

that USP was overstated and BKL’s

dumping margin was understated.

Respondent cites to Federal-Mogul

Corp. v. U.S., 813 F. Supp 856 (CIT

1993), stating the Department is

authorized to ‘‘add only the amount of

tax actually paid on each home market

sale.’’ Respondent states that CV is not

associated with an amount of VAT

actually paid, because CV is not based

on actual sales. Thus, an imputed

amount for VAT cannot be included in

CV.

Department’s Position: In accordance

with the statute, our practice is to

exclude indirect taxes on component

materials from CV if the taxes are

rebated upon export. Once we have

excluded the VAT on component

materials from the constructed value,

we cannot add the VAT to USP because

section 772(d)(1)(C) of the Act requires

that we add internal taxes to USP only

to the extent that those taxes are

included in the FMV.

Suspension of Liquidation

We are directing the U.S. Customs

Service to continue to suspend

liquidation of all entries of butt-weld

pipe fittings from the U.K., as defined in

the ‘‘Scope of Investigation’’ section of

this notice, that are entered or

withdrawn from warehouse for

consumption on or after July 6, 1994,

the date 90 days prior to the date of

publication of our preliminary

determination, pursuant to section

735(c)(4)(A) of the Act.

The Customs Service shall require a

cash deposit or the posting of a bond

equal to the estimated weighted-average

amount by which the foreign market

value of the subject merchandise

exceeds the U.S. price as shown below.

This suspension of liquidation will

remain in effect until further notice. The

weighted-average dumping margins are

as follows:

Manufacturer/producer/exporter Margin

(percent)

BKL Industries, Ltd ................... 48.85

All other producers/exporters ... 48.85

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 735(d) of

the Act, we have notified the ITC of our

determination.

Notice to Interested Parties

This notice also serves as the only

reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (APO) of

their responsibility concerning the

return or destruction of proprietary

information disclosed under APO in

accordance with 19 CFR 353.34(d).

Failure to comply is a violation of the

APO.

This determination is published

pursuant to section 735(d) of the Act (19

U.S. C. 1671(d)).

Dated: February 16, 1995.

Barbara R. Stafford,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import

Administration.

[FR Doc. 95–4726 Filed 2–24–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[A–307–812]

Notice of Final Determination of Sales

at Less Than Fair Value: Certain

Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings

From Venezuela

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 27, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue

Strumbel, Office of Countervailing

Investigations, Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th

Street and Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC. 20230; telephone (202)

482–1442.

Final Determination

The Department of Commerce (the

Department) determines that certain

carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings

(pipe fittings) are being, or are likely to

be, sold in the United States at less than

fair value, as provided in section 733 of

the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the

Act) (19 U.S.C. 1673b). The estimated

margins are shown in the ‘‘Suspension

of Liquidation’’ section of this notice.

Scope of the Investigation

The products covered by this

investigation are certain carbon steel

butt-weld pipe fittings having an inside

diameter of less than fourteen inches

(355 millimeters), imported in either

finished or unfinished condition. Pipe

fittings are formed or forged steel

products used to join pipe sections in

piping systems where conditions

require permanent welded connections,

as distinguished from fittings based on

other methods of fastening (e.g.,

threaded, grooved, or bolted fittings).

Butt-weld fittings come in a variety of

shapes which include ‘‘elbows,’’ ‘‘tees,’’

‘‘caps,’’ and ‘‘reducers.’’ The edges of

finished pipe fittings are beveled, so

that when a fitting is placed against the

end of a pipe (the ends of which have

also been beveled), a shallow channel is

created to accommodate the ‘‘bead’’ of

the weld which joins the fitting to the

pipe. These pipe fittings are currently

classifiable under subheading

7307.93.3000 of the Harmonized Tariff
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 1995 / Notices 10563

Schedule of the United States

(‘‘HTSUS’’). Although the HTSUS

subheading is provided for convenience

and Customs purposes, our written

description of the scope of this

investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (‘‘POI’’) is

September 1, 1993, through February

28, 1994.

Case History

Since our preliminary determination

(50 FR 50561, October 4, 1994) the

following events have occurred. On

October 14, 1994 the respondents

requested a postponement of the final

determination. This request was granted

(59 FR 56461, November 14, 1994), and

the final was postponed by the

Department until no later than February

16, 1995. On January 23, 1995, both

parties submitted case briefs. On

January 23, 1995 petitioner submitted

its rebuttal brief.

Best Information Available

In accordance with section 776(c) of

the Act, we have determined that the

use of best information available (BIA)

is appropriate for all companies. Given

that neither of the two named

companies responded to the

Department’s questionnaire, we find

that no respondents have cooperated in

this investigation.

The Department’s usual practice

under these circumstances would be to

assign respondents the highest margin

alleged in the petition as BIA. See Final

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Antifriction Bearings (Other

Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts

Thereof From the Federal Republic of

Germany (54 FR 19033, May 3, 1989). In

this case, however, a fundamental flaw

in the petition calculation methodology

has led the Department to reject the use

of the highest margin alleged in the

petition as BIA. Unlike the other Certain

Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings

investigations, petitioner was unable to

obtain U.S. price quotes for purposes of

the initiation. Rather, U.S. price was

based upon an average of U.S. Customs

import statistics which did not take into

account the relationship between the

size of the fitting and its value per

pound. Moreover, there is no record

information which would allow us to

make this adjustment to USP. Therefore,

we have weight averaged the FMVs of

all size fittings in the petition, and

compared that average FMV to the

average customs U.S. import value in

the petition. This yields a single margin

for use as BIA of 203.63%. This margin

will be assigned to each of the

respondents. (See, Memorandum on File

Dated: February 16, 1995).

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(1)

(19 U.S.C. 1673b(d)(1)) of the Act, we

are directing the U.S. Customs Service

to continue to suspend liquidation of all

entries of certain carbon butt-weld pipe

fittings from Venezuela, as defined in

the ‘‘Scope of Investigation’’ section of

this notice, that are entered, or

withdrawn from warehouse, for

consumption on or after the date of

publication of this notice in the Federal

Register. The Customs Service shall

require a cash deposit or posting of a

bond equal to the estimated margin

amount by which the foreign market

value of the subject merchandise

exceeds the United States price as

shown below. The suspension of

liquidation will remain in effect until

further notice.

Manufacturer/producer/exporter

Weighted

average

margin

percent

All Companies .............................. 203.63

International Trade Commission (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 determine whether imports of the

subject merchandise are materially

injuring, or threaten material injury to,

the U.S. industry within 45 days.

If the ITC determines that material

injury or threat of material injury does

not exist, the proceedings will be

terminated and all securities posted as

a result of the suspension of liquidation

will be refunded or cancelled. However,

if the ITC determines that such injury

does exist, we will issue an

antidumping duty order directing

Customs officers to assess an

antidumping duty on certain carbon

steel butt-weld pipe fittings from

Venezuela entered or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption on or after

the date of suspension of liquidation.

Notification to Interested Parties

This notice serves as the only

reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (APO) in

this investigation of their responsibility

covering the return or destruction of

proprietary information disclosed under

APO in accordance with 19 CFR

353.34(d). Failure to comply is a

violation of the APO.

This determination is published

pursuant to section 735(d) of the Act (19

U.S.C. 1673d(d)) and 19 CFR

353.20(a)(4).

Dated: February 16, 1995.

Barbara R. Stafford,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import

Administration.

[FR Doc. 95–4722 Filed 2–24–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[A–821–807]

Notice of Amended Preliminary

Determination of Sales at Less Than

Fair Value: Antidumping Duty

Investigation of Ferrovanadium and

Nitrided Vanadium From the Russian

Federation

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 27, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Louis Apple or David J. Goldberger,

Office of Antidumping Investigations,

Import Administration, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department

of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C., 20230; telephone

(202) 482–1769 or (202) 482–4136.

Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all

citations to the statute and to the

Department’s regulations are references

to the provisions as they existed on

December 31, 1994. References to

Antidumping and Countervailing

Duties: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

and Request for Public Comments, 57

FR 1131 (January 10, 1992) (Proposed

Regulations), are provided solely for

further explanation of the Department’s

AD practice with respect to amended

preliminary determinations. Although,

the Department has withdrawn the

particular rulemaking proceeding

pursuant to which the Proposed

Regulations were issued, the subject

matter of these regulations is being

considered in connection with an

ongoing rulemaking proceeding which,

among other things, is intended to

conform the Department’s regulations to

the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

See 60 FR 80 (January 3, 1995).

Scope of Investigation

This investigation covers

ferrovanadium and nitrided vanadium.

The scope is fully described in the

preliminary determination.

Case History

On December 27, 1994, the

Department of Commerce (the

Department) made its affirmative