61 FR 56665, November 4, 1996 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE [A-821-802] Amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of amendments to the agreement suspending the antidumping investigation on uranium from the Russian Federation. SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) and the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MINATOM) have signed two amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended (the Suspension Agreement). One amendment provides for the sale in the United States of feed associated with imports of low-enriched uranium (LEU) derived from high-enriched uranium (HEU) which makes the Suspension Agreement consistent with the USEC Privatization Act. The second amendment restores previously unused quota for separative work units, and covers Russian uranium which has been enriched in a third country within the terms of the Suspension Agreement, for a period of two years from the effective date of the amendments. EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 1996. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Doyle, Sally C. Gannon, or Karla Whalen, Office of Antidumping Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group 3, Office 7, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0172, (202) 482-1391, or (202) 482-0408, respectively. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background On October 16, 1992, the Department and the GRF signed the Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on October 30, 1992, the Agreement was published in the Federal Register (57 FR 49220, 49235). On March 11, 1994, the Department and the GRF signed an amendment to the Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on April 1, 1994, this amendment was published in the Federal Register (59 FR 15373). This amendment provided for entry of Russian uranium into the United States based on a concept of matched sales between the United States and Russian producers. Although this amendment has operated to the benefit of all parties concerned, substantial qualities of uranium products not subject to the Suspension Agreement which were produced from Russian ore began to undermine the Suspension Agreement. Thus, pursuant to Section X.B. of the Suspension Agreement, the Department and the GRF entered into consultations. A proposed amendment providing for coverage of Russian ore which has been enriched in a third country was initialled on August 16, 1996. In addition, on August 16, 1996, the Department and the GRF initialled an amendment in order to allow HEU feed [FN1] to be used in matched sales. [FN2] The Department subsequently released the proposed amendments to interested parties for comment. After careful consideration by the Department of the comments submitted and further consultations between the two parties, the Department and the GRF signed the final amendments on October 3, 1996. *56666 The text of these amendments follow in the Annex to this notice. FN1 HEU feed refers to the natural uranium feed associated with the LEU (derived from HEU), which is imported pursuant to the Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons (The HEU Agreement), signed February 18, 1993. FN2 A third amendment dealing with the re-export provision was initialled on August 16, 1996 as well, but this amendment has not yet been finalized. Dated: October 24, 1996. Robert S. LaRussa, Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. Annex (Amendment Regarding HEU Feed) Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(l) of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, to prevent the suppression or undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States, Section IV of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended on March 11, 1994, (the Agreement) is amended as set forth below. All other provisions of the Agreement, particularly Section VII, remain in force and apply to this Amendment. 1. Section IV.M.2 is replaced with: 2. Exports pursuant to such sales will not be counted against the export limits established in accordance with this Section IV. Permitting importation and disposition of the HEU, or LEU derived from the HEU, is consistent with the purposes of this Agreement, subject to the following requirements: (1) The HEU or LEU must be disposed of by DOE or the United States Executive Agent(s) consistent with the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons; (2) Uranium products deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act, must be sold only in accordance with section 3112(b) and the relevant provisions of this Agreement, as amended; (3) Contracts for the purchase of the HEU or LEU must be provided to the Department; and (4) Annual summaries of disposition of the HEU and LEU, and uranium products deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act, must be provided to the Department. 2. Paragraph two of Section IV of the Agreement is amended as follows: Sentence two, beginning "For purposes of this Section, Russian-origin means," is replaced by: For purposes of this Section, Russian-origin means natural uranium (i.e. U sub3 O sub8 or UF sub6 ) or SWU which is produced in Russia and exported from Russia for the first time after March 11, 1994, or uranium hexafluoride (and U sub3 O sub8 derived therefrom) deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act. The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part of the Agreement. The English language version of this Amendment shall be controlling. Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996. For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation: N. N. Yegorov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation. Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996. For the United States Department of Commerce: (Joseph A. Spetrini, for) Robert S. LaRussa, Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. (Amendment Regarding Russian Uranium Enriched in a Third Country Prior to Entry Into the United States and the Separative Work Unit Quota) Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(1) of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) to prevent the suppression or undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States, Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended on March 11, 1994 (the Agreement), are amended as set forth below. All other provisions of the Agreement, particularly Section VII, remain in force and apply to this Amendment. 1. Section III, "Product Coverage," is amended as follows: The second paragraph of Section III, beginning "Uranium ore * * *," is replaced by: Further, uranium ore from Russia that is milled into U sub3 O sub8 and/or converted into UF sub6 and/or enriched in U super235 in another country prior to direct and/or indirect importation into the United States is considered uranium from Russia and is subject to the terms of this Agreement. When imported as enriched uranium (excluding highly enriched uranium (HEU) and LEU derived from HEU, imported pursuant to Section IV.M of this Agreement and subject to the provisions of the USEC Privatization Act, P.L. 104-134), the full amount of the natural uranium equivalent required to produce the enriched product will be counted against the existing quota under this Agreement. For the purposes of calculating this amount of natural uranium, the terms of the last bullet of definition II (a) shall apply unless otherwise reported. The second sentence in the third paragraph of Section III, beginning "Uranium enriched in U super235 in another country * * *," is deleted. 2. Paragraph D of Section VII, "Anticircumvention," is amended as follows: D. In addition to the above requirements, the Department shall direct the U.S. Customs Service to require all importers of uranium into the United States, regardless of stated country of origin, to submit at the time of entry written statements certifying the following: (A) The country(ies) in which the ore was mined and, if applicable, converted, enriched, and/or fabricated (unless for use as a fuel assembly in the United States as fabricated), for all imports; and (B) That the uranium being imported was not obtained under any arrangement, swap, or other exchange designed to circumvent the export limits for uranium of Russian origin established by this agreement. Where there is reason to believe that such a certification has been made falsely, the Department will refer the matter to Customs or the Department of Justice for further action. The Department and MINATOM reaffirm that an export certificate endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) is required as a condition of entry into the United States. Under no circumstances will uranium from the Russian Federation be allowed entry into the United States without an authorized export certificate allowing importation into the United States. 3. Paragraph one of Section IV.A of the Agreement, as amended on March 11, 1994, is amended as follows: - Sentence five, beginning "Because the annual matching SWU quota expires," is deleted, and replaced with "The SWU available for matching under this section which was not matched by March 31, 1996, 1,608,840 SWU, may be sold through matched sales at any time on or before [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment]. After that date, no further matched SWU sales will be allowed." - Sentence six, beginning "However," is deleted, and replaced with the following: "However, the matching *56667 SWU sold during 1994 and 1995, as well as on or before [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment], may be delivered at any time during the life of the relevant matched sales contract." 5. Attachment 1 is amended as follows: Add footnote 2 to the "2,000,000" volumes in the "SWU" column for the years 1994 and 1995. Footnote 2 shall read: Beginning on the effective date of this Amendment, the remaining SWU quota from 1994 and 1995, 1,608,840 SWU, may be used for matched sales consistent with Section IV.A of this Agreement. 6. Section X., Consultations, is amended by adding the following: C. No later than [the date one year after the effective date of this Amendment], the Department and MINATOM shall enter into consultations toward the consideration of a possible successor plan for containing their cooperative efforts on the issues addressed by this amendment. These modifications to Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 will remain in effect until [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment]. The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part of the Agreement. The English language version of this Amendment shall be controlling. Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996. For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation: N.N. Yegorov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation. Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996. For the United States Department of Commerce: (Joseph A. Spetrini, for) Robert S. LaRussa, Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. [FR Doc. 96-28246 Filed 11-1-96; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M END OF DOCUMENT