[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 69322-69324]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-27442]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

19 CFR Part 351

[Docket No. 130930854-3854-01]
RIN 0625-AA95


Modification of Regulations Regarding Time Limits for Submission 
of Information Pertaining to Requests for Sampling in Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Reviews

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) proposes to modify 
its regulations to establish time limits for the submission of requests 
for sampling, and comments on sampling in antidumping (AD) 
administrative reviews. The modifications to the time limits, if 
adopted, will more clearly prescribe the time for filing requests for 
sampling in AD administrative reviews, and the time for filing comments 
and rebuttal comments with respect to such requests. The modifications 
will provide sufficient opportunity for the Department to determine 
whether it will employ sampling in selecting respondents for individual 
examination when conducting administrative reviews in which a request 
for sampling is timely submitted.

DATES: To be assured of consideration, comments must be received no 
later than December 31, 2013.

ADDRESSES: All comments must be submitted through the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, Docket No. ITA-2013-
0001, unless the commenter does not have access to the internet. 
Commenters who do not have access to the internet may submit the 
original and two copies of each set of comments by mail or hand 
delivery/courier. All comments should be addressed to Paul Piquado, 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, formerly Import 
Administration, Room 1870, Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230. The comments should also 
be identified by Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 0625-AA95.
    The Department will consider all comments received before the close 
of the comment period. The Department will not accept comments 
accompanied by a request that part or all of the material be treated 
confidentially because of its business proprietary nature or for any 
other reason. All comments responding to this notice will be a matter 
of public record and will be available for inspection at Enforcement 
and Compliance's Central Records Unit (Room 7046 of the Herbert C. 
Hoover Building) and online at http://www.regulations.gov and on the 
Department's Web site at http://trade.gov/enforcement/.
    Any questions concerning file formatting, document conversion, 
access on the Internet, or other electronic filing issues should be 
addressed to IA ACCESS Helpdesk, at (202) 482-3150, email address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sapna Sharma at (202) 482-5285 or 
Shauna Biby at (202) 482-4267.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 777A of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended, the Department is directed to determine the 
individual weighted average dumping margin for each known exporter and 
producer of subject merchandise. For administrative reviews, the 
requirement pertains to all exporters and producers that have been 
requested for review. However, when the number of producers/exporters 
(``companies'') involved in an antidumping (AD) review is so large that 
the Department finds it impracticable to examine each company 
individually, section 777A(c)(2) allows the Department to limit its 
examination to: (A) a sample of exporters, producers, or types of 
products that is statistically valid based on the information available 
to the administering authority at the time of selection, or (B) 
exporters and producers accounting for the largest volume of subject 
merchandise from the exporting country that can reasonably be examined. 
The Department has, to date, generally used option (B) in proceedings 
in which limited examination has been necessary. One consequence of 
this is that companies under investigation or review with relatively 
small import volumes have generally been effectively excluded from 
individual examination. Over time, this creates a potential enforcement 
concern in AD administrative reviews because, as exporters accounting 
for smaller volumes of subject merchandise become aware that they are 
effectively excluded from individual examination by the Department's 
respondent selection methodology, they may decide to lower their prices 
as they recognize that their pricing behavior will not impact the AD 
rates assigned to them. Sampling such companies under section 
777A(c)(2)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the ``Act''), is 
one way to address this enforcement concern. Accordingly, the 
Department is refining its practice with respect to the methodology for 
respondent selection in certain AD proceedings, which the Department is 
publishing elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
    To facilitate sampling in administrative reviews generally, the 
Department is proposing to amend section 351.301 of its regulations to 
establish time limits for filing requests for sampling in 
administrative reviews, and time limits for comments and rebuttal 
comments to be filed by interested parties with respect to any such 
requests for sampling. Currently, 19 CFR 351.301 sets forth the time 
limits for submission of factual information, including, more recently, 
specific time limits, time limits for certain submissions such as 
responses to questionnaires, and time limits for certain allegations. 
The Department proposes to modify 19 CFR 351.301 so that it also 
includes a specific time limit for interested parties to submit a 
request that the Department use sampling in selecting exporters or 
producers for individual examination. These time limits should ensure 
that parties may request the Department to sample, while allowing the 
agency to complete its proceedings in accordance with statutory 
deadlines.

[[Page 69323]]

    In particular, the proposed rule will require a domestic interested 
party under 19 U.S.C. section 1677(9)(C), (D), (E), or (F), or an 
interested party under 19 U.S.C. section 1677(9)(A) that is subject to 
the administrative review, to file its request for the Department to 
conduct sampling under 19 U.S.C. section 1677f-1(c)(2)(A), along with 
its comments on data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), within 
seven (7) days after the Department releases the CBP data to interested 
parties, unless otherwise specified. The rule proposes that the 
submission include: (1) A request that the Department conduct sampling; 
and (2) factual information and comments on whether this factual 
information provides a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that the 
average export prices and/or dumping margins for the largest exporters 
differ from such information that would be associated with the 
remaining exporters. Under the proposed rule, if an interested party 
were to submit a request for the Department to conduct sampling, all 
other interested parties will then have a ten-day comment period and a 
five-day rebuttal period to comment on the sampling request.
    The proposed rule is intended to establish a time limit for 
sampling requests in administrative reviews which would provide the 
Department with sufficient time to conduct the sampling and complete 
the administrative review under its statutory deadlines. In addition, 
the rule is intended to provide parties with sufficient time to examine 
the information related to sampling and provide comment to the 
Department that would in turn allow the Department to make an informed 
decision on whether to use sampling in any particular administrative 
review.

Classification

Executive Order 12866

    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes Executive Order 12866.

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA)

    Pursuant to Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the 
Department has prepared the following IRFA to analyze the potential 
impact that this proposed rule, if adopted, would have on small 
entities.

Description of the Reasons Why Action Is Being Considered

    The policy reasons for issuing this proposed rule are discussed in 
the preamble of this document, and not repeated here.

Statement of the Objectives of, and Legal Basis for, the Proposed Rule; 
Identification of All Relevant Federal Rules Which May Duplicate, 
Overlap, or Conflict With the Proposed Rule

    This proposed rule is intended to alter the Enforcement and 
Compliance's regulations for AD proceedings; specifically, to set forth 
deadlines for submitting requests for sampling in AD administrative 
reviews pursuant to 19 U.S.C. section 1677f-1(c)(2)(A), and comments 
and rebuttal comments pertaining to such requests for sampling.
    The legal basis for this rule is 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 1202 note; 
19 U.S.C. 1303 note; 19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.; and 19 U.S.C. 3538. No 
other Federal rules duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this proposed 
rule.

Number and Description of Small Entities Regulated by the Proposed 
Action

    The proposed rules will apply to all persons submitting a request 
for sampling to the Department in AD administrative reviews. This could 
include exporters and producers of merchandise subject to AD 
proceedings and their affiliates, importers of such merchandise, and 
domestic producers of like products.
    Exporters and producers of subject merchandise are rarely U.S. 
companies. Some producers and exporters of subject merchandise do have 
U.S. affiliates, some of which may be considered small entities under 
the appropriate Small Business Administration (SBA) small business size 
standard. The Department is not able to estimate the number of 
exporters and producer domestic affiliates that may be considered small 
entities, but anticipates, based on its experience in these 
proceedings, that the number will not be substantial.
    Importers may be U.S. or foreign companies, and some of these 
entities may be considered small entities under the appropriate SBA 
small business size standard. The Department does not anticipate that 
the proposed rules will impact a substantial number of small importers 
because importers of subject merchandise who are not also producers and 
exporters (or their affiliates) rarely submit requests for 
administrative review and rarely submit factual information in the 
course of the Department's AD proceedings, and those that do tend to be 
larger entities.
    Some domestic producers of like products may be considered small 
entities under the appropriate SBA small business size standard. 
Although it is unable to estimate the number of producers that may be 
considered small entities, the Department does not anticipate that the 
number affected by the proposed rule will be substantial. Frequently, 
domestic producers that bring a petition account for a large amount of 
the domestic production within an industry, so it is unlikely that 
these domestic producers will be small entities.
    In sum, while recognizing that exporter and producer affiliates, 
importers, and domestic producers that submit information in AD 
proceedings will likely include some small entities, the Department, 
based on its experience with these proceedings and the participating 
parties, does not anticipate that the proposed rule would impact a 
substantial number of small entities.

Description of the Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other 
Compliance Requirements of the Proposed Rule

    The proposed rule will establish a time limit for interested 
parties to request that the Department conduct sampling in AD 
administrative reviews pursuant to 19 U.S.C. section 1677f-1(c)(2)(A). 
In particular, the proposed rule will require a domestic interested 
party under 19 U.S.C. section 1677(9)(C), (D), (E), or (F), or an 
interested party under 19 U.S.C. section 1677(9)(A) that is subject to 
the administrative review, to file its request for the Department to 
conduct sampling under 19 U.S.C. section 1677f-1(c)(2)(A), along with 
its comments on data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), within 
seven (7) days after the Department releases the CBP data to interested 
parties. This will not amount to a significant burden as the submitter 
will have to make a submission requesting that the Department conduct a 
review based upon sampling whenever it wishes that the Department 
conduct sampling in the context of its AD administrative reviews.

Description of Any Significant Alternatives to the Proposed Rule That 
Accomplish the Stated Objectives of Applicable Statutes and That 
Minimize Any Significant Economic Impact of the Proposed Rule on Small 
Entities

    The Department analyzed two alternatives to this proposed action. 
The first alternative, the preferred alternative, would establish time 
limits for the submission of requests for sampling. Under this 
preferred alternative, parties would incur no economic impact because 
the proposed provisions are purely administrative in

[[Page 69324]]

nature. This proposed rule provides parties with guidance on the timing 
and process by which to request sampling in the agency's proceedings.
    The second alternative, the ``no action'' alternative, would set 
forth a proposed methodology for sampling in AD and CVD proceedings, 
without providing regulated parties with any guidance on the timing and 
process by which to request sampling in the agency's proceedings. This 
alternative would either create no economic impact, or slightly 
negative impacts to the regulated community due to the increased 
confusion generated as a result of the lack of guidance and process for 
requesting sampling. Although this alternative was considered, it was 
not selected because it does not serve the Department's objectives of 
creating certainty and clarity for participants in AD and CVD 
proceedings.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule does not require a collection of information for purposes 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as amended (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.).

List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 351

    Administrative practice and procedure, Antidumping, Business and 
industry, Cheese, Confidential business information, Countervailing 
duties, Freedom of information, Investigations, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: November 6, 2013.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

    For the reasons stated, 19 CFR part 351 is proposed to be amended 
as follows:

PART 351--ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTIES

0
1. The authority citation for 19 CFR part 351 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 1202 note; 19 U.S.C. 1303 
note; 19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.; and 19 U.S.C. 3538.

0
2. In Sec.  351.301, add new paragraph (d) to read as follows:


Sec.  351.301  Time limits for submission of factual information.

* * * * *
    (d) Time limits for filing request for sampling in antidumping duty 
administrative reviews.
    (1) For antidumping duty administrative reviews, all submissions 
from parties to the proceeding wishing to request that the Department 
conduct sampling in selecting respondents for individual examination 
under section 777A(c)(2)(A) of the Act are normally due no later than 7 
days after the Department releases to interested parties data from 
Customs and Border Protection pertaining to entries of merchandise 
subject to the review. The request for the Department to use sampling 
in the review must include the following information:
    (i) A request that the Department conduct sampling with respect to 
the exporters subject to the review; and
    (ii) Factual information and comment upon whether the factual 
information presented provides a reasonable basis to believe or suspect 
that the average export prices and/or dumping margins for the largest 
exporters differ from such information that would be associated with 
the remaining exporters subject to the review.
    (2) Interested parties wishing to comment on the request for 
sampling must submit comments within 10 days from the date of receipt 
of the request for sampling.
    (3) Interested parties wishing to submit rebuttal comments 
addressing comments submitted under paragraph (d)(2) of this section 
must submit such comments within 5 days from the due date for 
submitting comments in paragraph (d)(2).

[FR Doc. 2013-27442 Filed 11-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P