[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 245 (Friday, December 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77612-77614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30277]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

(A-549-822)


Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Thailand: Partial Rescission 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is rescinding the 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen 
warmwater shrimp from Thailand for the period February 1, 2007, through 
January 31, 2008, for 29 companies, based on: 1) timely withdrawals of 
the review requests; and 2) confirmed statements of no shipments during 
the period of review (POR).

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 19, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate Johnson, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office 2, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4929.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 77613]]

Background

    On February 4, 2008, the Department published in the Federal 
Register a notice of opportunity to request an administrative review of 
the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from 
Thailand for the period February 1, 2007, through January 31, 2008. See 
Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or Suspended 
Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative Review, 73 FR 6477 
(February 4, 2008). The Department received timely requests from the 
petitioner,\1\ the Louisiana Shrimp Association (LSA), and certain 
individual companies, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(b), during the 
anniversary month of February 2008, for administrative reviews of the 
antidumping duty order on shrimp from Thailand.
    On April 7, 2008, the Department initiated an administrative review 
for 165 companies. See Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Brazil, 
Ecuador, India, and Thailand: Notice of Initiation of Administrative 
Reviews, 73 FR 18754 (April 7, 2008).
    Between March and May 2008, the Department received submissions 
from certain companies that indicated they had no shipments of subject 
merchandise to the United States during the POR.
    On July 7, 2008, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), the 
petitioner withdrew its request for review for the following eighteen 
companies: Anglo-Siam Seafoods Co., Ltd.; Applied DB Ind; Chonburi LC; 
Gallant Ocean (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Gallant Ocean)\2\; Haitai Seafood 
Co., Ltd.; High Way International Co., Ltd.; Li-Thai Frozen Foods Co., 
Ltd.; Merkur Co., Ltd.; Ming Chao Ind Thailand; Nongmon SMJ Products; 
Queen Marine Food Co., Ltd.; SCT Co., Ltd.; Search & Serve; Smile Heart 
Foods Co., Ltd.; Shianlin Bangkok Co., Ltd.; Star Frozen Foods Co., 
Ltd.; Thai World Imports & Exports; and Wann Fisheries Co., Ltd.
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    \2\ Gallant Ocean has not withdrawn its February 29, 2008, 
request for review.
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    On October 27, 2008, the Department issued a memorandum indicating 
that it intended to rescind the administrative review with respect to 
29 respondent companies, and it invited comments on this action from 
interested parties. See October 27, 2008, Memorandum to The File from 
Kate Johnson titled ``Intent to Rescind in Part the Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review on Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from 
Thailand'' (Intent to Rescind Memorandum). On November 3, 2008, and 
November 13, 2008, the Department received comments from 32 U.S. 
producers opposing the rescission with respect to the companies for 
which the petitioner withdrew its review request. On November 6, 2008, 
the petitioner responded to the comments filed on November 3, 2008.

Partial Rescission of Review

    Pursant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), the Secretary will rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party requesting a 
review withdraws the request within 90 days of the date of publication 
of the notice of initiation. Therefore, because all requests for 
administrative reviews were timely withdrawn for the following 
companies, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), we are rescinding 
this review with regard to these companies: 1) Anglo-Siam Seafoods Co., 
Ltd.; 2) Applied DB Ind; 3) Chonburi LC; 4) Haitai Seafood Co., Ltd.; 
5) High Way International Co., Ltd.; 6) Li-Thai Frozen Foods Co., Ltd.; 
7) Merkur Co., Ltd.; 8) Ming Chao Ind Thailand; 9) Nongmon SMJ 
Products; 10) Queen Marine Food Co., Ltd.; 11) SCT Co., Ltd.; 12) 
Search & Serve; 13) Smile Heart Foods Co., Ltd.; 14) Shianlin Bangkok 
Co., Ltd.; 15) Star Frozen Foods Co., Ltd.; 16) Thai World Imports & 
Exports; and 17) Wann Fisheries Co., Ltd. As noted above, the review 
requested by Gallant Ocean has not been withdrawn. Therefore, we are 
not rescinding the review with respect to this company.
    In addition, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), we are 
rescinding the review with respect to the following ten companies which 
submitted letters indicating that they had no shipments of subject 
merchandise during the POR: 1) Dynamic Intertransport Co., Ltd.; 2) 
Lucky Union Foods Co., Ltd.; 3) MKF Interfood (2004) Co., Ltd.; 4) NR. 
Instant Produce Co., Ltd.; 5) Siam Canadian Foods Co., Ltd.; 6) Sky 
Fresh Co., Ltd.; 7) Songkla Canning (PCL); 8) Surat Seafoods Co., Ltd.; 
9) Tep Kinsho Foods Co., Ltd.; and 10) Thai Excel Foods Co., Ltd. We 
reviewed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data and confirmed 
that there were no entries of subject merchandise from any of these 
companies. Consequently, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3) and 
consistent with our practice, we are rescinding our review for the 
companies listed above. See, e.g., Certain Steel Concrete Reinforcing 
Bars From Turkey; Final Results and Rescission of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review in Part, 71 FR 65082, 65083 (November 7, 2006).
    Finally, the Department received no-shipment responses from the 
following companies for which there appeared to be U.S. customs entries 
of subject merchandise: 1) Grobest Frozen Foods Co., Ltd.; and 2) Thai 
Union Manufacturing Co., Ltd. We requested data on the relevant entries 
from CBP and determined that the entries made by Grobest Frozen Foods 
Co., Ltd. and Thai Union Manufacturing Co., Ltd. were not reportable 
transactions because they were either: 1) free samples; or 2) sales 
made by another producer/exporter. Therefore, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.213(d)(3), and consistent with the Department's practice, we are 
rescinding the review with respect to these two companies. See, e.g., 
Certain Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bars from Turkey; Final Results, 
Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review in Part, and 
Determination to Revoke in Part, 70 FR 67665, 67666 (November 8, 2005).
    On November 3, 2008, the Department received comments from 32 U.S. 
producers regarding the Department's Intent to Rescind Memorandum. In 
these comments, the U.S. producers objected to the petitioner's July 7, 
2008, filing withdrawing its request for administrative reviews for 
certain Thai producers/exporters because: 1) these domestic producers, 
three of which were previously part of the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action 
Committee, have retained their own counsel; and 2) as a result, the Ad 
Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee no longer represents the majority of 
the U.S. domestic industry. Thus, the U.S. producers requested that the 
Department not rescind the administrative reviews for the companies for 
which the petitioner withdrew its request. On November 6, 2008, the 
petitioner responded to the U.S. producers' comments by stating that 
all actions in the review were taken on behalf of the Ad Hoc Shrimp 
Trade Action Committee as a corporate entity, not on behalf of the 
individual members, and thus it urged the Department to disregard the 
U.S. producers' request.
    After considering the U.S. producers' November 3, 2008, submission, 
we disagree with the arguments made by these companies. The request for 
administrative review at issue was made by the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade 
Action Committee, which is an interested party to this proceeding under 
section 771(9)(E) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) 
(i.e., the subsection applicable to trade associations). Contrary to 
the U.S. producers' assertions, this section of the Act does not 
require a trade association to

[[Page 77614]]

represent a majority of the industry producing the domestic like 
product, but rather it merely requires a majority of the association's 
members to manufacture, produce, or wholesale a domestic like product 
in the United States. Further, 19 CFR 351.213(b)(1) does not require 
that a domestic interested party represent the majority of the domestic 
industry before it may request a review. In this case, both the 
administrative review requests and the corresponding withdrawal of 
certain of these requests were made on behalf of the Ad Hoc Shrimp 
Trade Action Committee, not the individual members of this group. 
Consequently, because the U.S. producers involved in the November 3, 
2008, filing did not request any administrative reviews in this segment 
of the proceeding, we find that their objection to the petitioner's 
withdrawal of its request for administrative reviews of certain Thai 
producers/exporters does not provide a basis for the Department to 
maintain the review request for these companies.

Assessment

    The Department intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP 15 
days after the date of publication of this partial rescission of 
administrative review. The Department will direct CBP to assess 
antidumping duties at the cash deposit rate in effect on the date of 
entry for POR entries of the subject merchandise produced/exported by 
the companies for which we are rescinding the review based on the 
timely withdrawal of review requests.
    With respect to POR entries of subject merchandise produced by 
companies for which we are rescinding the review based on 
certifications of no-shipments, because these companies certified that 
they made no POR shipments of subject merchandise for which they had 
knowledge of U.S. destination, we will instruct CBP to liquidate these 
entries at the all-others rate established in the less-than-fair-value 
investigation if there is no rate for the intermediary (e.g., a 
reseller, trading company, or exporter) involved in the transaction. 
See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of 
Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).

Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a reminder to importers for whom this review 
is being rescinded, of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to 
file a certificate regarding reimbursement of antidumping duties prior 
to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. 
Failure to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary's 
presumption that reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the 
subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties.
    This notice is published in accordance with section 777(i) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4).

    Dated: December 15, 2008.
Gary Taverman,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations.
[FR Doc. E8-30277 Filed 12-18-09; 8:45 am]
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