Certain Cased Pencils from the People's Republic of China: Extension of Time Limit for Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

May 7, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Paul Stolz or Crystal Crittenden, AD/CVD Enforcement, Office 4, Group II, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-4474 or (202) 482-0989, respectively.

Time Limits

Statutory Time Limits

Section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), requires the Department of Commerce (the Department) to make a preliminary determination within 245 days after the last day of the anniversary month of an order or finding for which a review is requested and a final determination within 120 days after the date on which the preliminary determination is published. However, if it is not practicable to complete the review within these time periods, section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act allows the Department to extend the 245-day time limit for the preliminary determination to a maximum of 365 days and the time limit for the final determination to 180 days (or 300 days if the Department does not extend the time limit for the preliminary determination) from the date of publication of the preliminary determination.

Background

On January 29, 2002, the Department published a notice of initiation of administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain cased pencils from the People's Republic of China, covering the period December 1, 2000, through November 30, 2001. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 67 FR 4236. On January 13, 2003, we published the preliminary results of review (68 FR 1591). In our notice of preliminary results, we stated our intention to issue the final results of this review no later than 120 days from the date of publication of the preliminary results.

Extension of Time Limit for Final Results of Review

We determine that it is not practicable to complete the final results of this review within the original time limit. Therefore, the Department is extending the time limit for completion of the final results until no later than July 12, 2003. See Decision Memorandum from Thomas Futtner to Holly A. Kuga, dated concurrently with this notice, which is on file in the Central Records Unit, Room B-099 of the Department's main building. This extension is in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.