Federal Register: December 3, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 231)
DOCID: FR Doc 01-29894
INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
International Trade Commission
DOCUMENT ID: [Investigation No. 731-TA-740 (Review)]
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Import investigations:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Institution of a five-year review concerning the suspended investigation on sodium azide from Japan.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Sodium Azide From Japan
EFFECTIVE DATES: December 3, 2001.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The Commission hereby gives notice that it has instituted a
review pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1675(c)) (the Act) to determine whether termination of the suspended
investigation on sodium azide from Japan would be likely to lead to
continuation or recurrence of material injury. Pursuant to section
751(c)(2) of the Act, interested parties are requested to respond to
this notice by submitting the information specified below to the [[Page 60221]]
Commission; \1\ to be assured of consideration, the deadline for
responses is January 22, 2002. Comments on the adequacy of responses
may be filed with the Commission by February 19, 2002. For further
information concerning the conduct of this review and rules of general
application, consult the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure,
part 201, subparts A through E (19 CFR part 201), and part 207, subparts A, D, E, and F (19 CFR part 207).
\1\ No response to this request for information is required if a
currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) number is not
displayed; the OMB number is 31170016/USITC No. 015066,
expiration date July 31, 2002. Public reporting burden for the
request is estimated to average 7 hours per response. Please send
comments regarding the accuracy of this burden estimate to the
Office of Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20436.
SUMMARY:
Sodium azide from; Japan,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Background
On January 7, 1997, the Department of Commerce suspended an
antidumping duty investigation on imports of sodium azide from Japan
(62 FR 973). The Commission is conducting a review to determine whether
termination of the suspended investigation would be likely to lead to
continuation or recurrence of material injury to the domestic industry
within a reasonably foreseeable time. It will assess the adequacy of
interested party responses to this notice of institution to determine
whether to conduct a full review or an expedited review. The
Commission's determination in any expedited review will be based on the
facts available, which may include information provided in response to this notice.
Definitions
The following definitions apply to this review:
(1) Subject Merchandise is the class or kind of merchandise that is
within the scope of the fiveyear review, as defined by the Department of Commerce.
(2) The Subject Country in this review is Japan.
(3) The Domestic Like Product is the domestically produced product
or products which are like, or in the absence of like, most similar in
characteristics and uses with, the Subject Merchandise. For the purpose
of the preliminary investigation, the Commission defined the Domestic Like Product as all sodium azide.
(4) The Domestic Industry is the U.S. producers as a whole of the
Domestic Like Product, or those producers whose collective output of
the Domestic Like Product constitutes a major proportion of the total
domestic production of the product. For the purpose of the preliminary
investigation, the Commission defined the Domestic Industry as producers of sodium azide.
(5) The Order Date is the date that the investigation was
suspended. In this review, the Order Date is January 7, 1997.
(6) An Importer is any person or firm engaged, either directly or
through a parent company or subsidiary, in importing the Subject
Merchandise into the United States from a foreign manufacturer or through its selling agent.
Participation in the Review and Public Service List
Persons, including industrial users of the Subject Merchandise and, if the merchandise is sold at the retail level, representative consumer organizations, wishing to participate in the review as parties must file an entry of appearance with the Secretary to the Commission, as provided in section 201.11(b)(4) of the Commission's rules, no later than 21 days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The Secretary will maintain a public service list containing the names and addresses of all persons, or their representatives, who are parties to the review.
Former Commission employees who are seeking to appear in Commission
fiveyear reviews are reminded that they are required, pursuant to 19
CFR 201.15, to seek Commission approval if the matter in which they are
seeking to appear was pending in any manner or form during their
Commission employment. The Commission's designated agency ethics
official has advised that a fiveyear review is the ``same particular
matter'' as the underlying original investigation for purposes of 19
CFR 201.15 and 18 U.S.C. 207, the post employment statute for Federal
employees. Former employees may seek informal advice from Commission
ethics officials with respect to this and the related issue of whether
the employee's participation was ``personal and substantial.'' However,
any informal consultation will not relieve former employees of the
obligation to seek approval to appear from the Commission under its
rule 201.15. For ethics advice, contact Carol McCue Verratti, Deputy Agency Ethics Official, at 2022053088.
Limited Disclosure of Business Proprietary Information (BPI) Under
an Administrative Protective Order (APO) and APO Service List
Pursuant to section 207.7(a) of the Commission's rules, the Secretary will make BPI submitted in this review available to authorized applicants under the APO issued in the review, provided that the application is made no later than 21 days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Authorized applicants must represent interested parties, as defined in 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1677(9), who are parties to the review. A separate service list will be maintained by the Secretary for those parties authorized to receive BPI under the APO.
Certification
Pursuant to section 207.3 of the Commission's rules, any person submitting information to the Commission in connection with this review must certify that the information is accurate and complete to the best of the submitter's knowledge. In making the certification, the submitter will be deemed to consent, unless otherwise specified, for the Commission, its employees, and contract personnel to use the information provided in any other reviews or investigations of the same or comparable products which the Commission conducts under Title VII of the Act, or in internal audits and investigations relating to the programs and operations of the Commission pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3.
Written Submissions
Pursuant to section 207.61 of the Commission's rules, each
interested party response to this notice must provide the information
specified below. The deadline for filing such responses is January 22,
2002. Pursuant to section 207.62(b) of the Commission's rules, eligible
parties (as specified in Commission rule 207.62(b)(1)) may also [[Page 60222]]
file comments concerning the adequacy of responses to the notice of
institution and whether the Commission should conduct an expedited or
full review. The deadline for filing such comments is February 19,
2002. All written submissions must conform with the provisions of
sections 201.8 and 207.3 of the Commission's rules and any submissions
that contain BPI must also conform with the requirements of sections
201.6 and 207.7 of the Commission's rules. The Commission's rules do
not authorize filing of submissions with the Secretary by facsimile or
electronic means. Also, in accordance with sections 201.16(c) and 207.3
of the Commission's rules, each document filed by a party to the review
must be served on all other parties to the review (as identified by
either the public or APO service list as appropriate), and a
certificate of service must accompany the document (if you are not a
party to the review you do not need to serve your response). Inability To Provide Requested Information
Pursuant to section 207.61(c) of the Commission's rules, any
interested party that cannot furnish the information requested by this
notice in the requested form and manner shall notify the Commission at
the earliest possible time, provide a full explanation of why it cannot
provide the requested information, and indicate alternative forms in
which it can provide equivalent information. If an interested party
does not provide this notification (or the Commission finds the
explanation provided in the notification inadequate) and fails to
provide a complete response to this notice, the Commission may take an
adverse inference against the party pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act in making its determination in the review.
Information To Be Provided in Response to This Notice of
Institution
As used below, the term ``firm'' includes any related firms.
(1) The name and address of your firm or entity (including World
Wide Web address if available) and name, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the certifying official.
(2) A statement indicating whether your firm/entity is a U.S.
producer of the Domestic Like Product, a U.S. union or worker group, a
U.S. importer of the Subject Merchandise, a foreign producer or
exporter of the Subject Merchandise, a U.S. or foreign trade or
business association, or another interested party (including an
explanation). If you are a union/worker group or trade/business
association, identify the firms in which your workers are employed or which are members of your association.
(3) A statement indicating whether your firm/entity is willing to
participate in this review by providing information requested by the Commission.
(4) A statement of the likely effects of the termination of the
suspended investigation on the Domestic Industry in general and/or your
firm/entity specifically. In your response, please discuss the various
factors specified in section 752(a) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675a(a))
including the likely volume of subject imports, likely price effects of
subject imports, and likely impact of imports of Subject Merchandise on the Domestic Industry.
(5) A list of all known and currently operating U.S. producers of
the Domestic Like Product. Identify any known related parties and the
nature of the relationship as defined in section 771(4)(B) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1677(4)(B)).
(6) A list of all known and currently operating U.S. importers of
the Subject Merchandise and producers of the Subject Merchandise in the
Subject Country that currently export or have exported Subject
Merchandise to the United States or other countries since 1996.
(7) If you are a U.S. producer of the Domestic Like Product,
provide the following information on your firm's operations on that
product during calendar year 2000 (report quantity data in thousands of
pounds and value data in thousands of U.S. dollars, f.o.b. plant). If
you are a union/worker group or trade/business association, provide the
information, on an aggregate basis, for the firms in which your workers are employed/which are members of your association.
(a) Production (quantity) and, if known, an estimate of the
percentage of total U.S. production of the Domestic Like Product accounted for by your firm's(s') production;
(b) the quantity and value of U.S. commercial shipments of the Domestic Like Product produced in your U.S. plant(s); and
(c) the quantity and value of U.S. internal consumption/company
transfers of the Domestic Like Product produced in your U.S. plant(s).
(8) If you are a U.S. importer or a trade/business association of
U.S. importers of the Subject Merchandise from the Subject Country,
provide the following information on your firm's(s') operations on that
product during calendar year 2000 (report quantity data in thousands of
pounds and value data in thousands of U.S. dollars). If you are a
trade/business association, provide the information, on an aggregate
basis, for the firms which are members of your association.
(a) The quantity and value (landed, dutypaid but not including
antidumping or countervailing duties) of U.S. imports and, if known, an
estimate of the percentage of total U.S. imports of Subject Merchandise
from the Subject Country accounted for by your firm's(s') imports;
(b) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. port, including antidumping
and/or countervailing duties) of U.S. commercial shipments of Subject Merchandise imported from the Subject Country; and
(c) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. port, including antidumping
and/or countervailing duties) of U.S. internal consumption/company
transfers of Subject Merchandise imported from the Subject Country.
(9) If you are a producer, an exporter, or a trade/business
association of producers or exporters of the Subject Merchandise in the
Subject Country, provide the following information on your firm's(s')
operations on that product during calendar year 2000 (report quantity
data in thousands of pounds and value data in thousands of U.S.
dollars, landed and dutypaid at the U.S. port but not including
antidumping or countervailing duties). If you are a trade/business
association, provide the information, on an aggregate basis, for the firms which are members of your association.
(a) Production (quantity) and, if known, an estimate of the
percentage of total production of Subject Merchandise in the Subject Country accounted for by your firm's(s') production; and
(b) the quantity and value of your firm's(s') exports to the United
States of Subject Merchandise and, if known, an estimate of the
percentage of total exports to the United States of Subject Merchandise
from the Subject Country accounted for by your firm's(s') exports.
(10) Identify significant changes, if any, in the supply and demand
conditions or business cycle for the Domestic Like Product that have
occurred in the United States or in the market for the Subject
Merchandise in the Subject Country since the Order Date, and
significant changes, if any, that are likely to occur within a
reasonably foreseeable time. Supply conditions to consider include
technology; production methods; development efforts; ability to
increase production (including the shift of production facilities used
for other products and the use, cost, or availability of major inputs into
[[Page 60223]]
production); and factors related to the ability to shift supply among
different national markets (including barriers to importation in
foreign markets or changes in market demand abroad). Demand conditions
to consider include end uses and applications; the existence and
availability of substitute products; and the level of competition among
the Domestic Like Product produced in the United States, Subject
Merchandise produced in the Subject Country, and such merchandise from other countries.
(11) (Optional) A statement of whether you agree with the above
definitions of the Domestic Like Product and Domestic Industry; if you
disagree with either or both of these definitions, please explain why and provide alternative definitions.
Authority: This review is being conducted under authority of
title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is published pursuant to section 207.61 of the Commission's rules.
Issued: November 27, 2001.
By order of the Commission.
Donna R. Koehnke,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 0129894 Filed 113001; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 702002P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Mary Messer (202-205-3193), Office of Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20436. Hearingimpaired persons can obtain information on this matter by contacting the Commission's TDD terminal on 202205 1810. Persons with mobility impairments who will need special assistance in gaining access to the Commission should contact the Office of the Secretary at 2022052000. General information concerning the Commission may also be obtained by accessing its Internet server (http://www.usitc.gov). The public record for this investigation may be viewed on the Commission's electronic docket (EDISONLINE) at http:// dockets.usitc.gov/eol/public.