[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26941-26943]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10747]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-428-842, A-588-871, A-455-804, A-821-821]


Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Germany, Japan, Poland, and 
the Russian Federation: Preliminary Determinations of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value, Certain Affirmative Preliminary Determinations of 
Critical Circumstances, and Postponement of Russian Final Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) from Germany, 
Japan, Poland, and the Russian Federation (Russia) is being, or is 
likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), 
as provided in section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act). The period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 2012, through 
June 30, 2013. The estimated dumping margins of sales at LTFV are 
listed in the ``Preliminary Determinations'' section of this notice. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
determinations.

DATES: Effective Date: May 12, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Banea at (202) 482-0656 
(Germany); Steve Bezirganian at (202) 482-1131 (Japan); Alan Ray at 
(202) 482-5403 (Poland); or Elizabeth Eastwood at (202) 482-3874 
(Russia); AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department initiated these investigations on October 24, 
2013.\1\ For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of these investigations, see the country-specific memoranda 
that are dated concurrently with and hereby adopted by this notice 
(collectively, Preliminary Decision Memoranda).\2\ The Preliminary 
Decision Memoranda are public documents and are 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, complete versions of 
the Preliminary Decision Memoranda can be accessed directly on the 
Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary 
Decision Memoranda and the electronic versions of the Preliminary 
Decision Memoranda are identical in content.
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    \1\ See Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel from the People's 
Republic of China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, the Republic 
of Korea, Poland, and the Russian Federation: Initiation of 
Antidumping Duty Investigations, 78 FR 65283 (Oct. 31, 2013) 
(Initiation Notice). AK Steel Corporation, Allegheny Ludlum, LLC, 
and the United Steelworkers (collectively, the petitioners) filed 
the underlying petitions. Id., at 65283.
    \2\ See memoranda to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations 
entitled: ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination of 
the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Grain-Oriented Electrical 
Steel from Germany''; ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination of the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Grain-
Oriented Electrical Steel from Japan''; ``Decision Memorandum for 
the Preliminary Determination of the Antidumping Duty Investigation 
of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel from Poland'' (Poland Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum); and ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination of the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Grain-
Oriented Electrical Steel from the Russian Federation'' (Russia 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigations

    The scope of the investigations covers GOES, which is a flat-rolled 
alloy steel product containing by weight specific levels of silicon, 
carbon, and aluminum. For a complete description of the scope of the 
investigations, see Appendix I to this notice.
    Various parties submitted comments on the scope. For discussion of 
these comments, see the Preliminary Decision Memoranda.

Tolling and Postponement of Deadline for Preliminary Determinations

    As explained in the memorandum from the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, the Department exercised its discretion to 
toll deadlines for the duration of the partial closure of the Federal 
Government from October 1, through October 16, 2013. Therefore, all 
deadlines in this segment of these proceedings have been extended by 16 
days.\3\ If the new deadline falls on a non-business day, in accordance 
with the Department's practice, the deadline will become the next 
business day.\4\
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    \3\ See Memorandum for the Record from Paul Piquado, Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, ``Deadlines Affected by 
the Shutdown of the Federal Government,'' dated October 18, 2013.
    \4\ See Notice of Clarification: Application of ``Next Business 
Day'' Rule for Administrative Determination Deadlines Pursuant to 
the Tariff Act of 1930, As Amended, 70 FR 24533 (May 10, 2005).
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    On February 10, 2014, the petitioners made a timely request for a 
50-day postponement of the preliminary determinations for these and the 
other concurrent GOES antidumping duty investigations, pursuant to 
section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(e).\5\ On February 
20, 2014, we postponed the preliminary determinations by 50 days.\6\ As 
a result of the postponement and aforementioned tolling, the revised 
deadline for the preliminary determinations of these investigations is 
now May 2, 2014.
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    \5\ See Letter from the petitioners entitled, ``Antidumping 
Investigations of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel (``GOES'') from 
China, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Poland, and 
Russia: Petitioners' Request for Extension of the Preliminary 
Determination,'' dated February 10, 2014.
    \6\ See Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's 
Republic of China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, the Republic 
of Korea, Poland, and the Russian Federation: Postponement of 
Preliminary Determinations in the Antidumping Duty Investigations, 
79 FR 11082 (February 27, 2014).
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Methodology

    The Department conducted these investigations in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. The selected mandatory respondents in the 
Germany, Japan, and Poland investigations failed to respond to the 
Department's questionnaire or otherwise participate in those 
proceedings. Further, in the

[[Page 26942]]

Russia investigation, the sole mandatory respondent failed to provide 
useable cost of production information, as requested in section D of 
the Department's initial questionnaire and in two supplemental 
questionnaires. As a result, we preliminarily determined to apply 
adverse facts available (AFA) to the mandatory respondents in the 
Germany, Japan, Poland, and Russia investigations, in accordance with 
section 776 of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. For a full discussion of the 
rationale underlying our preliminary determinations, as well as a 
description of the methodology used, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memoranda.

Certain Affirmative Preliminary Determinations of Critical 
Circumstances

    On February 24, 2014, the petitioners filed timely critical 
circumstances allegations, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with 
respect to imports of the merchandise under consideration from Poland 
and Russia.\7\ In accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), when a 
critical circumstances allegation is submitted more than 20 days before 
the scheduled date of the preliminary determination, the Department 
must issue a preliminary finding whether there is a reasonable basis to 
believe or suspect that critical circumstances exist no later than the 
date of the preliminary determination. We conducted analyses of 
critical circumstances for Poland and Russia in accordance with section 
733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, and preliminarily determined 
that: (1) Importers of GOES from Poland and Russia knew or should have 
known that the exporter was selling the merchandise under consideration 
at LTFV and that there was likely to be material injury in accordance 
with section 733(e)(1)(A)(ii) of the Act; and (2) imports of the 
subject merchandise from Poland and Russia have been massive over a 
relatively short period in accordance with section 733(e)(1)(B) of the 
Act. For a full description of the methodology and results of our 
analysis, see the Poland Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the Russia 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \7\ See the letter from the petitioners entitled, ``Grain-
Oriented Electricl {sic{time}  Steel from the Czech Republic, Poland 
and the Russian Federation--Critical Circumstances Allegation,'' 
dated February 24, 2014.
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All Others Rate

    Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated ``all 
others'' rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters 
and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero or de 
minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 
of the Act. Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for all 
exporters and producers individually examined are zero, de minimis or 
determined based entirely under section 776 of the Act, the Department 
may use any reasonable method to establish the estimated dumping margin 
for all other producers or exporters.
    We determined the dumping margin for each of the mandatory 
respondents in the Germany, Japan, Poland, and Russia investigations 
entirely under section 776 of the Act. Consequently, the only available 
dumping margins for these preliminary determinations are found in the 
petition. Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, the Department's 
practice under these circumstances has been to calculate the all others 
rate as a simple average of these margins from the petition.\8\ For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memoranda.
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    \8\ See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of 
Germany, 73 FR 21909, 21912 (April 23, 2008), unchanged in Notice of 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite 
from the Federal Republic of Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8, 
2008), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2; 
see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Raw Flexible Magnets From Taiwan, 73 FR 39673, 39674 (July 
10, 2008); Steel Threaded Rod From Thailand: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative 
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, 78 FR 79670, 
79671 (December 31, 2013), unchanged in Steel Threaded Rod from 
Thailand: Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and 
Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances, 79 FR 
14476, 14477 (March 14, 2014).
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Preliminary Determinations

    The preliminary dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Dumping
                    Manufacturer/exporter                        margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany:
    ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel GmbH.......................     241.91
    All Others...............................................     133.70
Japan:
    JFE Steel Corporation....................................     172.30
    Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation................     172.30
    All Others...............................................      93.36
Poland:
    Stalprodukt S.A..........................................      99.51
    All Others...............................................      78.10
Russia:
    OJSC Novoliptesk Steel/VIZ-Steel LLC.....................     119.88
    All Others...............................................      68.98
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure

    Normally, the Department discloses to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination 
within five days of the date of publication of the notice of 
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because the Department preliminarily 
applied AFA to each of the mandatory respondents in these 
investigations in accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are no 
calculations to disclose.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
determinations. Interested parties may submit case briefs to the 
Department no later than 30 days after the date of publication of the 
preliminary determinations.\9\ Rebuttal briefs, the content of which is 
limited to the issues raised in the case briefs, must be filed within 
five days from the deadline date for the submission of case briefs.\10\ 
A list of authorities used, a table of contents, and an executive 
summary of issues should accompany any briefs submitted to the 
Department.\11\ Executive summaries should be limited to five pages 
total, including footnotes. Interested parties who wish to comment on 
the preliminary determinations must file briefs electronically using IA 
ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received successfully 
in its entirety by IA ACCESS, by 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the 
date the document is due.
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    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i).
    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1) and 19 CFR 351.309(d)(2).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2).
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    In accordance with section 774 of the Act, the Department will hold 
a hearing, if timely requested, to afford interested parties an 
opportunity to comment on arguments raised in case or rebuttal briefs, 
provided that such a hearing is requested by an interested party.\12\ 
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 Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
filed

[[Page 26943]]

electronically using IA ACCESS, as noted above. An electronically-filed 
request must be received successfully in its entirety by IA ACCESS, by 
5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time within 30 days after the date of 
publication of this notice.\13\ Requests should contain the following 
information: (1) The party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) 
the number of participants; and (3) a list of the issues to be 
discussed.\14\ If a request for a hearing is made, we will inform 
parties of the scheduled date and time for the hearing which will be 
held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230.\15\ Parties should confirm by 
telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing.
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    \12\ See also 19 CFR 351.310.
    \13\ Id.
    \14\ Id.
    \15\ Id.
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will instruct 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of subject merchandise from Germany and Japan entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Further, because we 
preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist in the Poland and 
Russia investigations with regard to the mandatory respondents and 
companies receiving the ``all others'' rate, we will instruct CBP to 
suspend liquidation of covered entries from Poland and Russia entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption up to 90 days prior to the 
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.\16\
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    \16\ See section 733(e)(2) of the Act.
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    Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we 
will instruct CBP to require cash deposits \17\ equal to the dumping 
margins, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for 
the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific 
rate we determined in these preliminary determinations; (2) if the 
exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above in one of these 
investigations, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate 
established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the 
rate for all other producers or exporters will be the country-specific 
all others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will 
remain in effect until further notice.
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    \17\ See Modification of Regulations Regarding the Practice of 
Accepting Bonds During the Provisional Measures Period in 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations, 76 FR 61042 
(October 3, 2011).
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Postponement of Russian Final Determination

    Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination 
may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the 
publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an 
affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement 
is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of 
exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative 
preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by 
the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by 
respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by 
a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month 
period to a period not more than six months in duration.
    Respondent OJSC Novolipetsk Steel/VIZ-Steel LLC (NLMK) requested 
that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in the 
Russia investigation, the Department postpone its final determination 
by 60 days (i.e., to 135 days after publication of the preliminary 
determination), and agreed to extend the application of the provisional 
measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six 
months.\18\ In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 
CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination for 
Russia is affirmative; (2) the requesting producer or exporter accounts 
for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise from 
Russia; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are 
postponing the final determination in the Russia investigation until no 
later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month 
period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will 
issue our final determination in the Russia investigation no later than 
135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary 
determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.\19\
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    \18\ See letter from NLMK entitled, ``Grain-Oriented Electrical 
Steel from Russia: Request for Postponement of Final Determination 
and to Extend Provisional Measures,'' dated April 30, 2014.
    \19\ See 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2) and (e).
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International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our affirmative preliminary determinations of sales at LTFV. If 
our final determinations in these investigations are affirmative, 
section 735(b)(2) of the Act requires that the ITC make its final 
determination as to whether the domestic industry in the United States 
is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of 
imports of GOES from Germany, Japan, Poland, and Russia before the 
later of 120 days after the date of these preliminary determinations or 
45 days after our final determinations.
    These determinations are issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: May 2, 2014.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigations

    The scope of these investigations covers grain-oriented silicon 
electrical steel (GOES). GOES is a flat-rolled alloy steel product 
containing by weight at least 0.6 percent but not more than 6 
percent of silicon, not more than 0.08 percent of carbon, not more 
than 1.0 percent of aluminum, and no other element in an amount that 
would give the steel the characteristics of another alloy steel, in 
coils or in straight lengths. The GOES that is subject to these 
investigations is currently classifiable under subheadings 
7225.11.0000, 7226.11.1000, 7226.11.9030, and 7226.11.9060 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although 
the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes, the written description of the scope of these 
investigations is dispositive. Excluded are flat-rolled products not 
in coils that, prior to importation into the United States, have 
been cut to a shape and undergone all punching, coating, or other 
operations necessary for classification in Chapter 85 of the HTSUS 
as a transformer part (i.e., laminations).

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision 
Memoranda

1. Summary
2. Background
3. Period of Investigation
4. Scope of the Investigation
5. Scope Comments
6. Product Comparisons
7. Respondent Selection
8. Application of Facts Available and Use of Adverse Inference
9. Corroboration of Secondary Information
10. All Others Rate
11. Critical Circumstances (Poland and Russia only)
12. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2014-10747 Filed 5-9-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P