NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-427-810]
Certain Steel Products from France; Notice of Final Court Decision and Amended
Final Determination of Countervailing Duty Investigation
Thursday, December 2, 1999
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AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of final court decision and amended final determination of
countervailing duty investigation.
SUMMARY: On August 24, 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed
the U.S. Court of International Trade's decisions sustaining the Department of Commerce's
final determination in the countervailing duty investigation of certain steel products
from France, as modified by two remand determinations. As there is now a final and
conclusive court decision in this action, we are amending our final determination.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rosa Jeong or Blanche Ziv, Office of
Antidumping/Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group I, Import Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 3099, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-3853 and 482-4207, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On July 9, 1993, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published notice of its
final affirmative countervailing duty determination of certain steel products from
France. The Department's final determination is set forth in Final Affirmative
Countervailing Duty Determinations; Certain Steel Products from France, 58 FR
37304 (July 9, 1993), and in relevant parts of the General Issues Appendix to Final
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination; Certain Steel Products from Austria,
58 FR 37217, 37231-36 (July 9, 1993). Subsequent to the publication of the Department's
countervailing duty order, the petitioners and the respondents challenged the
Department's final determination before the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT).
Thereafter, the CIT issued its decision in British Steel plc v. United States, 879 F. Supp.
1254 (CIT 1995), which addressed general issues common to various countervailing
duty investigations of certain steel products which, including the French investigation,
had been before the Department concurrently. While affirming the Department's final
determination on other general issues, the CIT rejected the Department's reliance on IRS
tables showing industry-specific average useful life of assets in determining an allocation
period of 15 years. In a subsequent remand determination dated June 30, 1995, the
Department calculated a company-specific allocation period for Usinor Sacilor based on
the average useful life of non-renewable physical assets, and the CIT affirmed it. British
Steel plc v. United States, 929 F. Supp. 426 (CIT 1996).
Meanwhile, the CIT addressed issues specific to the French investigation in three
decisions, which affirmed the Department's final determination on all but one issue. With
regard to that issue, in Inland Steel Industries, Inc. v. United States, 967 F. Supp. 1338
(1997), the CIT accepted the Department's request for a voluntary remand. Specifically,
during the verification of Usinor Sacilor's questionnaire responses, the Department had
discovered that six Credit National loans included in the 1991 consolidation of
outstanding Credit National loans were export promotion loans. Although in its final
concurrence memorandum the Department stated that it would determine these loans to
be specific, it inadvertently overlooked these loans in its final determination and
calculations. On July 7, 1997, the Department filed its required remand results with the
CIT, which were affirmed on December 5, 1997. Inland Steel Industries, Inc. v. United
States, 985 F. Supp. 132 (CIT 1997).
Consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's (CAFC) decision in
Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 1990), once the CIT litigation was
concluded, the Department published a "Notice of Court Decision" in the Federal Register
on January 12, 1998 (63 FR 1827). In that notice, we stated that we would continue to
suspend liquidation of any subject merchandise entered, or
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withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption until a final and conclusive decision in the case was reached.
We also announced that we would instruct the Customs Service to change the relevant
cash deposit rates in the event that the CIT's ruling is not appealed or the CAFC issues a
final decision affirming the CIT's ruling.
On August 24, 1999, in Inland Steel Industries, Inc. v. United States, 188 F.3d 1349 (Fed.
Cir. 1999), the CAFC affirmed the CIT's decisions on all issues before it. On November 4,
1999, the CAFC issued its mandate.
Therefore, as there is now a final and conclusive court decision in this case, we are
amending our final determination.
Amendment to Final Determination
Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1516a(e), we are now amending our final determination in certain
steel products from France. The recalculated net subsidy rate for all programs for Usinor
Sacilor and the country-wide rate is 15.13% ad valorem. We will instruct the Customs
Service to change the cash deposit requirements accordingly. In addition, because there
have been no requests for administrative reviews of the countervailing duty order,
the Department will instruct the Customs Service to proceed with liquidation of subject
merchandise entered on or after December 7, 1992, the date of the Department's
preliminary determination, and before April 6, 1993, the date on which the Department's
authority to impose provisional measures lapsed as explained in the final determination,
58 FR at 37314, as well as subject merchandise entered on or after August 17, 1993, the
date on which the countervailing duty order was published, and before December 31,
1998, which is the last day of the most recent period for which no administrative review
was requested.
Dated: November 19, 1999.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-31300 Filed 12-1-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P