[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61397-61399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24803]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-955]


Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks From the People's Republic of 
China: 2010 Countervailing Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: In response to requests from interested parties, the 
Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative 
review of the countervailing duty order on certain magnesia carbon 
bricks (MCBs) from the People's Republic of China (PRC), covering the 
period of review (POR) of August 2, 2010, through December 31, 2010. 
The Department has preliminarily applied adverse facts available (AFA) 
to the two mandatory respondents who both failed to cooperate to the 
best of their ability in this proceeding. The Department also intends 
to rescind the review of seven companies that certified that they had 
no shipments of subject merchandise to the United States during the 
POR.

DATES: Effective Date: October 9, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Toni Page or Elfi Blum, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office 6, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
1398 or (202) 482-0197, respectively.

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise subject to the order includes certain magnesia 
carbon bricks. Certain magnesia carbon bricks that are the subject of 
this order are currently classifiable under subheadings 6902.10.1000, 
6902.10.5000, 6815.91.0000, 6815.99.2000 and 6815.99.4000 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the 
HTSUS numbers are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written product description, available in Certain Magnesia Carbon 
Bricks from the People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order, 
75 FR 57442 (September 21, 2010), remains dispositive.

[[Page 61398]]

Partial Rescission of the Administrative Review

    On September 30, 2011, we received timely requests for an 
administrative review of this countervailing duty order from Fengchi 
Imp. and Exp. Co., Ltd. of Haicheng City and Fengchi Refractories Co., 
of Haicheng City (collectively, Fengchi), and U.S. importer Vesuvius 
USA Corporation for subject merchandise it imported from PRC exporter, 
Yingkou Bayuquan Refractories Co., Ltd. (BRC).\1\ Also, on September 
30, 2011, the Department received a timely request, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.213(b), for an administrative review of 129 companies from 
Resco Products, Inc. (Petitioner).\2\ The Petitioner's request included 
Fengchi and BRC. On October 31, 2011, the Department published a notice 
of initiation of administrative review.\3\ Fengchi and BRC timely 
withdrew their self-request for reviews on January 27, 2012, and 
January 30, 2012, respectively.\4\ On February 21, 2012, we selected 
Fengchi and BRC as mandatory respondents in this review.\5\ Petitioner 
filed a letter on March 28, 2012, untimely withdrawing its request for 
all companies, except the two mandatory respondent companies (Fengchi 
and BRC), for which it requested reviews.\6\
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    \1\ See Letter to the Department from Fengchi ``Certain Magnesia 
Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of China: Request for 
Administrative Review of Countervailing Duty Order (8/2/10-12/31/
10)'' Re: Review Initiation Request, dated September 30, 2011; see 
also Letter to the Department from BRC ``Certain Magnesia Carbon 
Bricks from the People's Republic of China: Request for 
Administrative Review of Countervailing Duty Order (8/2/10-12/31/
10),'' dated September 30, 2011.
    \2\ See Letter to the Department from Petitioner ``Certain 
Magnesia Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of China: 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Review'' Re: Review Initiation 
Request, dated September 30, 2011.
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews and Requests for Revocation in Part, 76 FR 
67133 (October 31, 2011) (Initiation Notice).
    \4\ See Letter to the Department from Fengchi ``Certain Magnesia 
Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of 
Request for CVD Administrative Review (08/02/10-12/31/10),'' dated 
January 27, 2012; see also Letter to the Department from BRC 
``Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of 
China: Withdrawal of Request for CVD Administrative Review (08/02/
10-12/31/10),'' dated January 30, 2012.
    \5\ See Memorandum to Barbara E. Tillman, Director, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office 6, ``Administrative Review of the Countervailing 
Duty Order on Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks (MCBs) from the 
People's Republic of China: Respondent Selection Memorandum,'' dated 
February 21, 2012.
    \6\ See Letter to the Department from Petitioner 
``Administrative Review of Countervailing Duty Orders on Certain 
Magnesia Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of China (8/2/
2010-12/31/2010): Withdrawal of Request for Review,'' dated March 
28, 2012.
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    Pursuant to section 351.213(d)(1) of the Department's regulations, 
a party that has requested a review may withdraw that request within 90 
days of the date of publication of the notice of initiation of the 
requested review.\7\ The regulation provides that the Department may 
extend this time if it is reasonable to do so.\8\ In the Initiation 
Notice, interested parties were advised that, with regard to reviews 
requested on the basis of anniversary months on or after August 2011, 
the Department does not intend to extend the 90-day deadline unless the 
requestor demonstrates that an extraordinary circumstance has prevented 
it from submitting a timely withdrawal request.\9\ Determinations by 
the Department to extend the 90-day deadline will be made on a case-by-
case basis. Because Petitioner did not demonstrate that extraordinary 
circumstances prevented it from timely withdrawing its requests for 
review, the Department has rejected Petitioner's untimely request for 
withdrawal.
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    \7\ See also Initiation Notice at 67133.
    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1).
    \9\ See Initiation Notice, 76 FR at 67133.
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), the Department may rescind a 
review where there are no exports, sales, or entries of subject 
merchandise during the respective POR. In the Initiation Notice, the 
Department stated that any company named in the notice of initiation 
that had no exports, sales, or entries during the period of review 
should notify the Department within 60 days of publication of the 
notice in the Federal Register.\10\
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    \10\ See Id.
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    The Department subsequently received timely no shipment 
certifications from the following companies: ANH (Xinyi) Refractories 
(ANH); RHI-Refractories Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., RHI Refractories 
(Dalian) Co. Ltd., RHI Refractories Liaoning Co., Ltd., RHI Trading 
Shanghai Branch, and RHI Trading (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (RHI companies); 
Fengchi; and Yingkou New Century Refractories Ltd.(NCR).\11\ With the 
exception of Fengchi, because there is no evidence on the record to 
indicate that these companies had sales of subject merchandise during 
the POR, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), the Department intends to 
rescind the review with respect to ANH, the five RHI companies, and 
NCR. A final decision regarding whether to rescind the review with 
respect to these companies will be made in the final results of this 
review. Information on the record shows that Fengchi did have sales of 
subject merchandise during the POR.\12\ Therefore, we are not 
rescinding the review with respect to Fengchi.
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    \11\ See Letter to the Department from ANH ``Administrative 
Review of Countervailing Duty Order on Magnesia Carbon Bricks from 
the People's Republic of China: Notification of No Shipments During 
the Period of Review,'' dated November 29, 2011; see also Letter to 
the Department from RHI ``Magnesia Carbon Bricks from China: 
Rebuttal Comments on CBP Data,'' dated December 13, 2011; see also 
Letter to the Department from Fengchi ``Certain Magnesia Carbon 
Bricks from the People's Republic of China, Case No. C-570-955: 
Certification of No Shipments,'' dated December 20, 2011; see also 
Letter to the Department from NCR ``Administrative Review of 
Countervailing Duty Order on Magnesia Carbon Bricks from the 
People's Republic of China: Notification of No Shipments During the 
Period of Review,'' dated December 23, 2011.
    \12\ See Memorandum to the File ``Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks 
from the People's Republic of China: Customs Data of U.S. Imports of 
Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks,'' dated November 22, 2011.
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Methodology

    The Department has conducted this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each 
of the subsidy programs under review, we preliminarily determine that 
there are countervailable subsidies, i.e., there is a government-
provided financial contribution that gives rise to a benefit to the 
recipient, and that the subsidy is specific. See sections 771(5)(B) and 
(D) of the Act regarding financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of 
the Act regarding benefit; and, section 771(5A) of the Act regarding 
specificity. In making these findings, we have relied on adverse facts 
available for the two mandatory respondents because these respondents 
did not act to the best of their ability to respond to the Department's 
requests for information; as such, we have drawn an adverse inference 
in selecting from among the facts otherwise available. See sections 
776(a) and (b) of the Act. With respect to the remaining companies for 
which we initiated reviews and that did not file no-shipment 
certifications, we will assign to entries made by such companies the 
all-others rate from the investigation. Accordingly, and consistent 
with section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii), we have relied upon the all-others rate 
from the investigation because the rates calculated for mandatory 
respondents in the preliminary results of this review are based 
entirely upon facts available. We consider the use of the all-others 
rate from the investigation, which was based upon a calculated rate for 
one of the mandatory respondents in the investigation, to be a 
``reasonable method'' for calculating the all-others rate because it 
represents the only rate in the history of the CVD order on MCBs from 
the PRC that is not zero, de

[[Page 61399]]

minimis, or based entirely upon facts available.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, please see ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Results 
for the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review of Certain Magnesia 
Carbon Bricks from the People's Republic of China,'' (Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum) to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Import 
Administration, from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, dated concurrently with 
these results and hereby adopted by this notice. The Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically 
via Import Administration's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Centralized Electronic Service System (IA ACCESS). IA ACCESS is 
available to registered users at http://iaaccess.trade.gov and in the 
Central Records Unit (CRU), room 7046 of the main Department of 
Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Internet at http://www.trade.gov/ia/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the 
electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.

Preliminary Results of Review

    We preliminarily determine that the following margins exist for the 
period August 2, 2010, through December 31, 2010:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Ad valorem  net
                       Company                            subsidy rate
                                                           (percent)
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Fengchi Imp. and Exp. Co., Ltd. of Haicheng City and              262.80
 Fengchi Refractories Co., of Haicheng City
 (collectively, Fengchi).............................
Yingkou Bayuquan Refractories Co. Ltd................             262.80
All Others Rate Applicable to the Remaining Companies              24.24
 Under Review........................................
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department will disclose to parties to this proceeding the 
calculations performed in reaching the preliminary results within five 
days of the date of publication of these preliminary results.\13\ 
Interested parties are invited to comment on the preliminary results 
and may submit case briefs and/or written comments within 30 days of 
the date of publication of this notice, unless otherwise notified by 
the Department.\14\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the 
case briefs, will be due five days later, pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.309(d)(1). Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(d)(2), rebuttal briefs must 
be limited to issues raised in the case briefs. Parties who submit 
arguments are requested to submit with the argument: (1) a statement of 
the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities.\15\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2), (d)(2).
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing or to participate 
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed 
electronically using IA ACCESS. An electronically filed document must 
be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's electronic 
records system, IA ACCESS, by 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time within 30 
days after the date of publication of this notice.\16\ Requests should 
contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of 
participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request 
for a hearing is made, we will inform parties of the scheduled date for 
the hearing which will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and 
location to be determined.\17\ Parties should confirm by telephone the 
date, time, and location of the hearing.
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    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    \17\ See 19 CFR 351.310.
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    Unless the deadline is extended pursuant to section 
751(a)(2)(B)(iv) of the Act, the Department will issue the final 
results of this administrative review, including the results of our 
analysis of the issues raised by the parties in their comments, within 
120 days after issuance of these preliminary results.

Assessment Rates and Cash Deposit Requirements

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), we assigned a subsidy 
rate for each producer/exporter subject to this administrative review. 
Upon issuing the final results of the review, the Department shall 
determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, 
countervailing duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review 
if any individual assessment rate calculated in the final results of 
this review is above de minimis. For the companies that certified no 
shipments, the Department will instruct CBP to assess countervailing 
duties at the rate entered. The Department intends to issue assessment 
instructions to CBP 15 days after the date of publication of the final 
results of review.
    Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, the Department also 
intends to instruct CBP to collect cash deposits of estimated 
countervailing duties at the rate of 262.80 percent ad valorem of the 
entered value on shipments of the subject merchandise produced and 
exported by Fengchi and BRC, and entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the date of publication of the final 
results of this review. Furthermore, for the remaining companies 
subject to this review, the cash deposit rate will be the all others 
rate from the investigation. We intend to instruct CBP to continue to 
collect cash deposits for non-reviewed companies at the applicable 
company-specific countervailing duty rate for the most recent period or 
at the all-others rate established in the investigation, as 
appropriate. These deposit rates, when imposed, shall remain in effect 
until further notice.
    These preliminary results are issued and published in accordance 
with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: October 1, 2012.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix I

List of Topics Discussed in the Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Results
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Scope of the Order
4. Discussion of the Methodology
5. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2012-24803 Filed 10-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P