DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-821-802]

Amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping

Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of amendments to the agreement suspending the

antidumping investigation on uranium from the Russian Federation.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) and the Ministry

of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MINATOM) have signed two

amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on

Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended (the Suspension

Agreement). One amendment provides for the sale in the United States of

feed associated with imports of low-enriched uranium (LEU) derived from

high-enriched uranium (HEU) which makes the Suspension Agreement

consistent with the USEC Privatization Act. The second amendment

restores previously unused quota for separative work units, and covers

Russian uranium which has been enriched in a third country within the

terms of the Suspension Agreement, for a period of two years from the

effective date of the amendments.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James Doyle, Sally C. Gannon, or Karla Whalen, Office of Antidumping

Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group 3, Office 7, Import

Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

20230; telephone: (202) 482-0172, (202) 482-1391, or (202) 482-0408,

respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 16, 1992, the Department and the GRF signed the

Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on October 30, 1992, the Agreement

was published in the Federal Register (57 FR 49220, 49235). On March

11, 1994, the Department and the GRF signed an amendment to the

Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on April 1, 1994, this amendment

was published in the Federal Register (59 FR 15373). This amendment

provided for entry of Russian uranium into the United States based on a

concept of matched sales between the United States and Russian

producers. Although this amendment has operated to the benefit of all

parties concerned, substantial qualities of uranium products not

subject to the Suspension Agreement which were produced from Russian

ore began to undermine the Suspension Agreement. Thus, pursuant to

Section X.B. of the Suspension Agreement, the Department and the GRF

entered into consultations. A proposed amendment providing for coverage

of Russian ore which has been enriched in a third country was

initialled on August 16, 1996. In addition, on August 16, 1996, the

Department and the GRF initialled an amendment in order to allow HEU

feed 1 to be used in matched sales.2 The Department subsequently

released the proposed amendments to interested parties for comment.

After careful consideration by the Department of the comments submitted

and further consultations between the two parties, the Department and

the GRF signed the final amendments on October 3, 1996.

[[Page 56666]]

The text of these amendments follow in the Annex to this notice.

1 HEU feed refers to the natural uranium feed associated with

the LEU (derived from HEU), which is imported pursuant to the

Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and

the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition

of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons (The HEU

Agreement), signed February 18, 1993.

2 A third amendment dealing with the re-export provision was

initialled on August 16, 1996 as well, but this amendment has not

yet been finalized.

Dated: October 24, 1996.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Annex

(Amendment Regarding HEU Feed)

Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on

Uranium From the Russian Federation

Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(l) of the U.S.

Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, to prevent the suppression or

undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States,

Section IV of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on

Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended on March 11, 1994, (the

Agreement) is amended as set forth below. All other provisions of the

Agreement, particularly Section VII, remain in force and apply to this

Amendment.

1. Section IV.M.2 is replaced with:

2. Exports pursuant to such sales will not be counted against the

export limits established in accordance with this Section IV.

Permitting importation and disposition of the HEU, or LEU derived from

the HEU, is consistent with the purposes of this Agreement, subject to

the following requirements: (1) The HEU or LEU must be disposed of by

DOE or the United States Executive Agent(s) consistent with the

Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and

the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition of

Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons; (2) Uranium

products deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of

P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act, must be sold only in

accordance with section 3112(b) and the relevant provisions of this

Agreement, as amended; (3) Contracts for the purchase of the HEU or LEU

must be provided to the Department; and (4) Annual summaries of

disposition of the HEU and LEU, and uranium products deemed to be of

Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC

Privatization Act, must be provided to the Department.

2. Paragraph two of Section IV of the Agreement is amended as

follows:

Sentence two, beginning ``For purposes of this Section, Russian-

origin means,'' is replaced by:

For purposes of this Section, Russian-origin means natural uranium

(i.e. U<INF>3O<INF>8 or UF<INF>6) or SWU which is produced in Russia

and exported from Russia for the first time after March 11, 1994, or

uranium hexafluoride (and U<INF>3O<INF>8 derived therefrom) deemed to

be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the

USEC Privatization Act.

The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part

of the Agreement.

The English language version of this Amendment shall be

controlling.

Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.

For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:

N. N. Yegorov,

Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.

Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.

For the United States Department of Commerce:

(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

(Amendment Regarding Russian Uranium Enriched in a Third Country Prior

to Entry Into the United States and the Separative Work Unit Quota)

Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on

Uranium From the Russian Federation

Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(1) of the U.S.

Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) to prevent the suppression or

undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States,

Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 of the Agreement Suspending

the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation,

as amended on March 11, 1994 (the Agreement), are amended as set forth

below. All other provisions of the Agreement, particularly Section VII,

remain in force and apply to this Amendment.

1. Section III, ``Product Coverage,'' is amended as follows:

The second paragraph of Section III, beginning ``Uranium ore * *

*,'' is replaced by:

Further, uranium ore from Russia that is milled into U<INF>3O<INF>8

and/or converted into UF<INF>6 and/or enriched in U <SUP>235 in another

country prior to direct and/or indirect importation into the United

States is considered uranium from Russia and is subject to the terms of

this Agreement. When imported as enriched uranium (excluding highly

enriched uranium (HEU) and LEU derived from HEU, imported pursuant to

Section IV.M of this Agreement and subject to the provisions of the

USEC Privatization Act, P.L. 104-134), the full amount of the natural

uranium equivalent required to produce the enriched product will be

counted against the existing quota under this Agreement. For the

purposes of calculating this amount of natural uranium, the terms of

the last bullet of definition II (a) shall apply unless otherwise

reported.

The second sentence in the third paragraph of Section III,

beginning ``Uranium enriched in U <SUP>235 in another country * * *,''

is deleted.

2. Paragraph D of Section VII, ``Anticircumvention,'' is amended as

follows:

D. In addition to the above requirements, the Department shall

direct the U.S. Customs Service to require all importers of uranium

into the United States, regardless of stated country of origin, to

submit at the time of entry written statements certifying the

following:

(A) The country(ies) in which the ore was mined and, if applicable,

converted, enriched, and/or fabricated (unless for use as a fuel

assembly in the United States as fabricated), for all imports; and

(B) That the uranium being imported was not obtained under any

arrangement, swap, or other exchange designed to circumvent the export

limits for uranium of Russian origin established by this agreement.

Where there is reason to believe that such a certification has been

made falsely, the Department will refer the matter to Customs or the

Department of Justice for further action.

The Department and MINATOM reaffirm that an export certificate

endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) is

required as a condition of entry into the United States. Under no

circumstances will uranium from the Russian Federation be allowed entry

into the United States without an authorized export certificate

allowing importation into the United States.

3. Paragraph one of Section IV.A of the Agreement, as amended on

March 11, 1994, is amended as follows:

<bullet> Sentence five, beginning ``Because the annual matching SWU

quota expires,'' is deleted, and replaced with ``The SWU available for

matching under this section which was not matched by March 31, 1996,

1,608,840 SWU, may be sold through matched sales at any time on or

before [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment].

After that date, no further matched SWU sales will be allowed.''

<bullet> Sentence six, beginning ``However,'' is deleted, and

replaced with the following: ``However, the matching

[[Page 56667]]

SWU sold during 1994 and 1995, as well as on or before [the date two

years after the effective date of this Amendment], may be delivered at

any time during the life of the relevant matched sales contract.''

5. Attachment 1 is amended as follows:

Add footnote 2 to the ``2,000,000'' volumes in the ``SWU'' column

for the years 1994 and 1995. Footnote 2 shall read:

Beginning on the effective date of this Amendment, the remaining

SWU quota from 1994 and 1995, 1,608,840 SWU, may be used for matched

sales consistent with Section IV.A of this Agreement.

6. Section X., Consultations, is amended by adding the following:

C. No later than [the date one year after the effective date of

this Amendment], the Department and MINATOM shall enter into

consultations toward the consideration of a possible successor plan for

containing their cooperative efforts on the issues addressed by this

amendment.

These modifications to Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1

will remain in effect until [the date two years after the effective

date of this Amendment].

The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part

of the Agreement.

The English language version of this Amendment shall be

controlling.

Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.

For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:

N.N. Yegorov,

Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.

Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.

For the United States Department of Commerce:

(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-28246 Filed 11-1-96; 8:45 am]