[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 25, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16293-16295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06588]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-997]


Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 
Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, and 
Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, formerly Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers/exporters of non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) from the 
People's Republic of China (PRC). The Department also preliminarily 
determines critical circumstances exist for imports of the subject 
merchandise from the PRC. The period of investigation is January 1, 
2012, through December 31, 2012. Interested parties are invited to 
comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES:  Effective Date: March 25, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Morris or Thomas Schauer, AD/
CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
1779 and (202) 482-0410, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty (CVD) Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty (AD) Determination

    On the same day the Department initiated this CVD investigation, 
the Department also initiated AD investigations of NOES from the PRC 
and several other countries.\1\ The CVD investigation and the AD 
investigations cover the same merchandise. On March 11, 2014, in 
accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), alignment of the final CVD determination with the final AD 
determination of NOES from the PRC was requested by AK Steel 
Corporation (Petitioner). Therefore, in accordance with section 
705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), we are aligning the 
final CVD determination with the final AD determination. Consequently, 
the final CVD determination will be issued on the same date as the 
final AD determination, which is currently scheduled to be issued no 
later than July 29, 2014, unless postponed.
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    \1\ See Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic 
of China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan: 
Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigations, 78 FR 69041 (November 
18, 2013).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation consists of NOES, 
which includes cold-rolled, flat-rolled, alloy steel products, whether 
or not in coils, regardless of width, having an actual thickness of 
0.20 mm or more, in which the core loss is substantially equal in any 
direction of magnetization in the plane of the material. For a complete 
description of the scope of the investigation, see Appendix 1 to this 
notice.

Critical Circumstances

    On February 25, 2014, Petitioner alleged that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of NOES from the PRC. In 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), because Petitioner submitted a 
critical circumstances allegation more than 20 days before the 
scheduled date of the preliminary determination, the Department must 
issue a preliminary critical circumstances determination not later than 
the date of the preliminary determination.\2\
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    \2\ See, e.g., Change in Policy Regarding Timing of Issuance of 
Critical Circumstances Determinations, 63 FR 55364 (October 15, 
1998).
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    In accordance with section 703(e)(1) of the Act, we preliminarily 
find critical circumstances exist with respect to Baoshan Iron & Steel 
Co., Ltd. (Baoshan) and all other producers/exporters. For a full 
discussion of our preliminary critical circumstances determination, see 
the ``Critical Circumstances'' section of the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\3\ The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document 
and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service 
System (IA ACCESS). IA ACCESS is available to registered users at 
http://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the 
Central Records Unit, 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/enforcement/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
and the electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.
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    \3\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
regarding ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in 
the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Non-Oriented Electrical 
Steel from the People's Republic of China'' dated concurrently with 
this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this countervailing duty investigation 
in accordance with section 701 of the Act. For a full description of 
the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    For this preliminary determination, we have relied on facts 
available for the

[[Page 16294]]

Government of the PRC and for Baoshan, the only mandatory company-
respondent, because they did not act to the best of their abilities and 
respond to the Department's requests for information. Further, we have 
drawn an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise 
available to calculate the ad valorem rate for Baoshan.\4\ For further 
information, see ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse 
Inferences'' in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \4\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated a countervailing duty rate for the individually investigated 
producer/exporter of the subject merchandise, Baoshan.
    With respect to the all-others rate, section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of 
the Act provides that if the countervailable subsidy rates established 
for all exporters and producers individually investigated are 
determined entirely in accordance with section 776 of the Act, the 
Department may use any reasonable method to establish an all-others 
rate for exporters and producers not individually investigated. In this 
case, the rate calculated for the investigated company is based 
entirely on facts available under section 776 of the Act. There is no 
other information on the record upon which to determine an all-others 
rate. As a result, we have used the adverse facts available rate 
assigned for Baoshan as the all-others rate. This method is consistent 
with the Department's past practice.\5\
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    \5\ See, e.g., Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From 
Argentina, 66 FR 37007, 37008 (July 16, 2001); see also Final 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination: Prestressed Concrete 
Steel Wire Strand From India, 68 FR 68356 (December 8, 2003).
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    We preliminarily determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                           Company                                rate
                                                               (percent)
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Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd................................     125.83
All Others...................................................     125.83
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    As noted above, the Department found that critical circumstances 
exist with respect to all companies. Therefore, in accordance with 
sections 703(e)(2) of the Act, we are directing U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of NOES from the 
PRC that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on 
or after the date 90 days prior to the date of publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register, and to require a cash deposit for such 
entries.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    Because the Department has reached its conclusions on the basis of 
adverse facts available, the calculations performed in connection with 
this preliminary determination are not proprietary in nature, and are 
described in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. Case briefs or other 
written comments for all non-scope issues may be submitted to IA ACCESS 
no later than 30 days after the publication of this preliminary 
determination in the Federal Register, and rebuttal briefs, limited to 
issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days 
after the deadline date for case briefs.\6\ Case briefs or other 
written comments on scope issues may be submitted no later than 30 days 
after the publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal 
Register, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case 
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline for 
the case briefs. For any briefs filed on scope issues, parties must 
file separate and identical documents on each of the records for all of 
the concurrent antidumping and countervailing duty investigations.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate 
if one is requested, must do so in writing within 30 days after the 
publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal 
Register.\7\ 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, the Department 
intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a date, 
time and location to be determined. Parties will be notified of the 
date, time and location of any hearing.
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    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification
    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. In addition, we are making available to the 
ITC all non-privileged and non-proprietary information relating to this 
investigation. We will allow the ITC access to all privileged and 
business proprietary information in our files, provided the ITC 
confirms that it will not disclose such information, either publicly or 
under an administrative protective order, without the written consent 
of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
    In accordance with section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will make its final determination 
within 45 days after the Department makes its final determination.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act.

     Dated: March 18, 2014
Paul Piqued,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix 1

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation consists of non-
oriented electrical steel (NOES), which includes cold-rolled, flat-
rolled, alloy steel products, whether or not in coils, regardless of 
width, having an actual thickness of 0.20 mm or more, in which the 
core loss is substantially equal in any direction of magnetization 
in the plane of the material. The term ``substantially equal'' in 
the prior sentence means that the cross grain direction of core loss 
is no more than 1.5 times the straight grain direction (i.e., the 
rolling direction) of core loss. NOES has a magnetic permeability 
that does not exceed 1.65 Tesla when tested at a field of 800 A/m 
(equivalent to 10 Oesteds) along (i.e., parallel to) the rolling 
direction of the sheet (i.e., B800 value). NOES contains by weight 
at least 1.25 percent of silicon but less than 3.5 percent of 
silicon, not more than 0.08 percent of carbon, and not more than 1.5 
percent of aluminum.
    NOES is subject to this investigation whether it is fully 
processed (fully annealed to develop final magnetic properties) or 
semi-processed (finished to final thickness and physical form but 
not fully annealed to develop final magnetic properties); whether or 
not it is coated (e.g., with enamel, varnish, natural oxide surface, 
chemically treated or phosphate surface, or other non-metallic 
materials). Fully processed NOES is typically made to the 
requirements of ASTM specification A 677, Japanese Industrial 
Standards (JIS) specification C 2552, and/or International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specification 60404-8-4. Semi-
processed NOES is typically made to the requirements of ASTM 
specification A 683. However, the scope of this investigation is not 
limited to merchandise meeting the specifications noted above.
    NOES is sometimes referred to as cold-rolled non-oriented 
electrical steel (CRNO), non-grain oriented (NGO), non-oriented 
(NO), or cold-rolled non-grain oriented (CRNGO). These terms are 
interchangeable.
    The subject merchandise is provided for in subheadings 
7225.19.0000, 7226.19.1000, and 7226.19.9000 of the Harmonized 
Tariff

[[Page 16295]]

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Subject merchandise may also 
be entered under subheadings 7225.50.8085, 7225.99.0090, 
7226.92.5000, 7226.92.7050, 7226.92.8050, 7226.99.0180 of the HTSUS. 
Although HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes, the written description of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix 2

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

1. Summary
2. Background
3. Critical Circumstances
4. Scope Comments
5. Scope of the Investigation
6. Injury Test
7. Respondent Selection
8. Application of the Countervailing Duty Law to Imports from the 
PRC
9. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
10. ITC Notification
11. Disclosure and Public Comment
12. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2014-06588 Filed 3-24-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P