Panel Review Requests:

Federal Register: December 30, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 250)

Notices

Page 82376

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr30de10-49

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

North American Free Trade Agreement, Article 1904 NAFTA Panel

Reviews; Request for Panel Review

AGENCY: NAFTA Secretariat, United States Section, International Trade

Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of First Request for Panel Review.

SUMMARY: On December 22, 2010, the Government of Mexico filed a First

Request for Panel Review with the United States Section of the NAFTA

Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade

Agreement. Panel Review was requested of the final determination by the

U.S. Department of Commerce regarding Sales at Less Than Fair Value on

Seamless Refined Copper Pipe and Tube from Mexico and the People's

Republic of China. This determination was published in the Federal

Register (75 Fed. Reg. 71070), on November 22, 2010. The NAFTA

Secretariat has assigned Case Number USA-MEX-2010-1904-03 to this request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Valerie Dees, United States Secretary,

NAFTA Secretariat, Suite 2061, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20230, (202) 482-5438.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade

Agreement (``Agreement'') established a mechanism to replace domestic judicial review of final determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty cases involving imports from a NAFTA country with review by independent binational panels. When a Request for Panel

Review is filed, a panel is established to act in place of national courts to review expeditiously the final determination to determine whether it conforms with the antidumping or countervailing duty law of the country that made the determination.

Under Article 1904 of the Agreement, which came into force on

January 1, 1994, the Government of the United States, the Government of

Canada, and the Government of Mexico established Rules of Procedure for

Article 1904 Binational Panel Reviews (``Rules''). These Rules were published in the Federal Register on February 23, 1994 (59 FR 8686).

A first Request for Panel Review was filed with the United States

Section of the NAFTA Secretariat, pursuant to Article 1904 of the

Agreement, on December 22, 2010, requesting a panel review of the determination and order described above.

The Rules provide that:

(a) A Party or interested person may challenge the final determination in whole or in part by filing a Complaint in accordance with Rule 39 within 30 days after the filing of the first Request for

Panel Review (the deadline for filing a Complaint is January 21, 2011);

(b) a Party, investigating authority or interested person that does not file a Complaint but that intends to appear in support of any reviewable portion of the final determination may participate in the panel review by filing a Notice of Appearance in accordance with Rule 40 within 45 days after the filing of the first Request for Panel

Review (the deadline for filing a Notice of Appearance is February 7, 2011); and

(c) the panel review shall be limited to the allegations of error of fact or law, including the jurisdiction of the investigating authority, that are set out in the Complaints filed in panel review and the procedural and substantive defenses raised in the panel review.

Dated: December 23, 2010.

Valerie Dees,

United States Secretary, NAFTA Secretariat.

FR Doc. 2010-32883 Filed 12-29-10; 8:45 am

BILLING CODE 3510-GT-P