Certain Textile Mill Products From Argentina; Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances Countervailing Duty Review, Consideration of Revocation of Order, and Intent to Revoke Order

On April 2, 1996, the Department of Commerce initiated changed circumstances reviews of the countervailing duty orders on Leather from Argentina (55 FR 40212), Wool from Argentina (48 FR 14423), Oil Country Tubular Goods from Argentina (49 FR 46564), and Carbon Steel Cold- Rolled Flat Products from Argentina (49 FR 18006). The Department of Commerce initiated these reviews in order to determine whether, in light of the decision in Ceramica Regiomontana v. United States, 64 F.3d 1579, 1582 (Fed. Cir. 1995), the agency had the authority to assess countervailing duties on entries of merchandise covered by these orders occurring after September 20, 1991--the date on which Argentina became a ``country under the Agreement'' within the meaning of former section 303(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) (19 U.S.C. 1303(a)(1) (1988; repealed 1994)). In the final results of these reviews, the Department of Commerce determined that, based upon the ruling in the Ceramica case, it lacked the authority to assess countervailing duties on unliquidated entries of merchandise covered by the four Argentine orders occurring on or after September 20, 1991. Final Results of Changed Circumstances Countervailing Duty Reviews and Revocation and Amended Revocation of Countervailing Duty Orders, (62 FR 41361). As a result of the Ceramica Regiomontana v. United States decision and the changed circumstances reviews, the Department of Commerce is initiating a changed circumstances review of the countervailing duty order on Certain Textile Mill Products from Argentina (50 FR 9846) and preliminarily determining that it does not have the authority to assess countervailing duties on unliquidated entries of merchandise covered by the order occurring on or after September 20, 1991. Therefore, we intend to revoke this order with respect to all unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption during the period May 18, 1992 through December 31, 1994. (The order has been revoked on two previous occasions. For a further discussion of these revocations and the resulting period affected by this preliminary determination, see the Supplementary Information section below). We invite interested parties to comment on this notice of initiation and preliminary results.