[Federal Register: July 25, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 142)]
[Notices]
[Page 40842-40843]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25jy07-44]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
Surrogate Country Selection in Proceedings Involving Non-Market
Economy Countries; Request for Comment
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is seeking a
second round of public comment on an aspect of its non-market economy
(``NME'') methodology in antidumping proceedings. The Department is
requesting comment on certain aspects of the methodology by which it
selects an economically comparable market economy country to serve as a
surrogate for the NME country under investigation or review.
DATES: Comments must be submitted within thirty days from the
publication of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Written comments (original and six copies) should be sent to
David Spooner, Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Central Records Unit, Room 1870, 14th Street &
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lawrence Norton, Economist, or Anthony
Hill, Economist, Office of Policy, Import Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 2837, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington DC 20230; telephone: 202-482-1579 or 202-482-1843,
respectively.
Background
The Department previously requested in the Federal Register (72 FR
13246, March 21, 2007) comment on its selection of a ``surrogate
country'' in NME antidumping proceedings, particularly on the issue of
economic comparability. This refers to the practice in antidumping
proceedings involving NME countries in which the Department calculates
normal value by valuing the NME producer's factors of production, to
the extent possible, using prices from a market economy that is at a
comparable level of economic development and that is also a significant
producer of comparable merchandise. As is discussed in the Department's
previous request for comment, the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the
Act''), provides broad discretion in the selection of surrogate market
economy countries to value NME factors of production. Section 773(c)(4)
of the Act further directs the Department to base its selection of an
appropriate surrogate country, to the extent possible, on its having
``a level of economic development comparable to that of the nonmarket
economy country.''
Although the Act does not provide a definition of ``comparable
level of economic development,'' the Department's regulations at 19 CFR
351.408(b) direct the Department to ``place primary emphasis on per
capita GDP as the measure of economic comparability.'' In the Import
Administration Policy Bulletin 04.1,\1\ the Department provided
guidance on economic comparability and established a sequential
procedure for selecting a surrogate country, with economic
comparability being the first factor considered.
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\1\ The full text of the policy bulletin can be found at http://ia.ita.doc.gov/policy/bull04-1.html
.
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The Department's most recent notice in the Federal Register on this
issue requested public comment on what range of per capita income
should be considered comparable to a given NME country. The Department
also requested comment on whether and on what basis the Department
should generally disregard certain economically comparable countries as
lacking data suitable for valuing the factors of production. In other
words, the Department was interested in public comment on whether and
how the Department can limit its initial analysis of countries that are
economically comparable to a sub-group of countries more likely to have
the data necessary to conduct an antidumping duty proceeding (72 FR
13246, March 21, 2007). As discussed in the previous Federal Register
notice requesting comment and as described in Policy Bulletin 04.1, the
Department currently formulates a non-exhaustive list in each
proceeding of about five countries economically comparable to the NME
country that, in the Department's experience, are most likely to offer
data necessary to conduct the proceeding. In its subsequent analysis of
potential surrogate countries, the Department then examines the
production of comparable merchandise, whether production is
significant, and the availability of data in the countries on this
initial list. If parties suggest the consideration of another
economically comparable country that did not appear on this initial
list, the Department will also consider the appropriateness of using
that country in its analysis.
The Department received eleven submissions in response to its May
21, 2007 request for comment (all of the comments the Department
received are available at the Import Administration Web site at http://www.trade.gov/ia
). While no commenter addressed directly how the
Department should precisely define ``economically comparable,'' several
commenters suggested that the Department not interpret this requirement
so narrowly as to prevent the Department from using the best available
information in its dumping analysis. Certain commenters also suggested
that the initial, non-exclusive ``list'' of economically comparable
potential surrogate countries contain a balance of countries both above
and below the per capita income level of the NME country.
The Department also received suggestions that it involve interested
parties on the issue of surrogate country selection earlier and more
frequently in the process, including in the formulation of the initial
list, and that it broaden the number of countries in the initial list.
One commenter suggested expanding the initial list to ten economically
comparable countries, and another suggested that the Department put out
a complete list of the world's economies and request comment on what
countries should be considered comparable to the NME in question. Some
commenters argued that the Department consider other factors besides
per capita income, such as the nature of a country's economy, level of
urbanization, integration into world markets, or the ``comparability''
of the industry in the potential surrogate to the industry in the NME.
Request for Comment
The Department would like to receive additional comments to those
it received in response to its March 21, 2007 request for comment. In
particular, the Department would like to receive comments focusing on
the statutory concept of ``economically comparable.'' The Department is
required by its statute and regulations to consider economic
comparability in its selection of a surrogate country and to base
``comparability'' on per capita income, but as stated above, the term
is not defined specifically. Therefore, the Department is particularly
interested in comments and suggestions on specific guidelines the
Department should follow in determining the economic comparability of
countries in a given case. Under the Department's established
sequential process for selecting a surrogate country (as described in
Policy Bulletin 04.1), the Department first determines a list of
countries that are economically comparable and then analyzes each of
[[Page 40843]]
these countries for production of comparable merchandise, whether there
is significant production, and availability of data. The Department
invites comments on this process. In particular, it welcomes
suggestions on how it should construct the initial list of economically
comparable countries, how this set of countries should be balanced, and
how many countries it should contain.
As a second matter, the Department is also interested in inviting
comment on whether certain comparable countries should be excluded, at
least initially, from the Department's analysis of which country is the
best possible surrogate in a given proceeding on the basis of a general
lack of country specific data. With regard to this issue, if the
Department were able to determine that a group of countries does not
generally offer the data necessary to conduct an antidumping
proceeding, both the Department and parties would be relieved of the
burden of examining those countries as potential surrogates in every
proceeding. Please note, however, that parties would retain the ability
to advocate the consideration of a country that would otherwise not be
considered if they determined that there were case-specific arguments
for doing so.
Finally, the Department requests comment on how it should evaluate
and weigh the production experiences and data availability of countries
in cases where there may be more than one potential surrogate country
with reliable data and significant production of comparable
merchandise. See e.g., Wooden Bedroom Furniture from the People's
Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty
Administrative Review, Preliminary Results of New Shipper Reviews and
Notice of Partial Rescission, 72 FR 6201, 6208 (February 9, 2007).
Submission of Comments
Persons wishing to comment should file a signed original and six
copies of each set of comments by the date specified above. The
Department will consider all comments received by the close of the
comment period. Comments received after the end of the comment period
will be considered, if possible, but their consideration cannot be
assured. The Department will not accept comments accompanied by a
request that a part or all of the material be treated confidentially
because of its business proprietary nature or for any other reason. The
Department will return such comments and materials to the persons
submitting the comments and will not consider them in the development
of any changes to its practice. The Department requires that comments
be submitted in written form. The Department recommends submission of
comments in electronic form to accompany the required paper copies.
Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted either by e-mail
to the webmaster below, or on CD-ROM, as comments submitted on
diskettes are likely to be damaged by postal radiation treatment.
Comments received in electronic form will be made available to the
public in Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the Import
Administration Web site at the following address: http://www.trade.gov/ia/
.
Any questions concerning file formatting, document conversion,
access on the Internet, or other electronic filing issues should be
addressed to Andrew Lee Beller, Import Administration Webmaster, at
(202) 482-0866, e-mail address: webmaster-support@ita.doc.gov.
Dated: July 22, 2007.
David Spooner,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-14448 Filed 7-24-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P