[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 140 (Tuesday, July 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42501-42503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17226]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

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


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

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that 
grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) from Germany, Japan, and Poland 
is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than 
fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 735 of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act). The period of investigation (POI) is July 
1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. The final weighted-average dumping 
margins of sales at LTFV are listed below in the ``Final 
Determinations'' section of this notice.

DATES: July 22, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Banea at (202) 482-0656 
(Germany); Steve Bezirganian at (202) 482-1131 (Japan); or Alan Ray at 
(202) 482-5403 (Poland); 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

    On May 12, 2014, the Department published the preliminary 
determinations of sales at LTFV of GOES from Germany, Japan, and 
Poland.\1\ We invited, but did not receive, interested party comments 
on the preliminary determinations in these investigations.
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    \1\ See 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, 79 FR 26941 (May 12, 2014) (Preliminary 
Determinations).
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    In May and June 2014, the mandatory respondents in the 
investigations from Germany and Japan requested that the Department 
postpone the final determinations in those cases, pursuant to section 
735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(1). These companies also 
requested that the Department extend provisional measures from a four-
month period to not more than six months, in accordance with section 
733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2). Subsequently, the 
petitioners and a domestic interested party \2\ submitted letters 
jointly opposing these requests.\3\
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    \2\ The petitioners are AK Steel Corporation, Allegheny Ludlum, 
LLC, and the United Steelworkers. The domestic interested party is 
the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and 
Agricultural Implemental Workers of America (UAW). Collectively, 
these parties are referred to as ``the domestic industry.''
    \3\ For further discussion of this issue, see the ``Requests to 
Postpone the Final Determinations for Germany and Japan'' section of 
this notice.
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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.

Verification

    The Department did not verify any of the mandatory respondents in 
these investigations because none of the mandatory respondents 
participated in the investigations prior to the issuance of the 
preliminary determinations.

Requests To Postpone the Final Determinations for Germany and Japan

    On May 14 and May 19, 2014, respectively, the Department received 
requests to postpone the final determinations from the mandatory 
respondents in the Japan investigation (i.e., Nippon Steel & Sumitomo 
Metal Corporation (NSSMC) and JFE Steel Corporation (JFE)) and the 
mandatory respondent in the German investigation (i.e., ThyssenKrupp 
Electrical Steel GmbH (TKES)). On May 19, 2014, the

[[Page 42502]]

domestic industry objected to all three requests, arguing that there 
are compelling reasons to deny them. Specifically, the domestic 
industry contends that postponements would be inappropriate in these 
cases because: (1) The mandatory respondents failed to participate in 
these investigations and, thus, there is nothing to be gained from 
these non-cooperative companies in terms of argument or additional 
factual information; (2) unlike past investigations in which the 
Department postponed final determinations, the petitioners and other 
members of the domestic industry objected to the postponements, thus 
providing a compelling reason not to extend; and (3) postponing the 
deadlines would require the Department to prepare multiple final 
determinations (i.e., one for Poland in July and then two others for 
Germany and Japan in September).
    On May 20 and 21, 2014, respectively, JFE and NSSMC responded to 
the objections of the domestic industry, stating that: (1) There is no 
requirement under the statute or the regulations that a respondent may 
request a postponement of the final only if it participated in the 
investigation; (2) the Department's workload would be essentially 
unaffected by a postponement; and (3) the Department has recently 
postponed its final determinations under similar circumstances.\4\ TKES 
did not respond to the domestic industry's arguments.
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    \4\ See Welded Stainless Pressure Pipe from Malaysia: 
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 
Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, in 
Part, and Postponement of Final Determination, 79 FR 808, 809-10 
(January 7, 2014) (Stainless Pipe from Malaysia).
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    On May 28, 2014, the domestic industry responded to JFE's and 
NSSMC's submissions, stating that respondents' failure to respond to 
the Department's information requests impeded the proceeding, and when 
the Department has postponed final determinations in the past, there 
either had been no objection from the petitioners or the petitioners 
had requested the postponement. Thus, the domestic industry contends 
that the precedent cited by JFE and NSSMC is not applicable.
    On June 2, 2014, NSSMC replied to the domestic industry's May 28 
submission, noting that the domestic industry had identified only one 
instance where a request for postponement was denied.\5\ According to 
NSSMC, that case was not factually similar because, unlike these 
investigations, the Department had identified a ``record of misleading 
and contradictory responses.'' \6\ Furthermore, NSSMC noted that the 
domestic industry cited no statute, regulation, or precedent indicating 
that a petitioner's position on a postponement request is relevant.
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    \5\ See Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Certain Stainless Steel Wire Rods From India, 58 FR 41729, 
41731 (August 5, 1993) (Steel Wire Rod From India).
    \6\ Id.
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    Section 735(a)(2)(A) 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. Further, 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 not more than six months.
    After considering all submissions on this issue, the Department has 
determined that additional time is not required to complete these final 
determinations, given that: (1) No interested parties have submitted 
case briefs or otherwise commented on our preliminary determinations; 
(2) the Department will avoid expenditure of further administrative 
resources by completing the Germany and Japan investigations at the 
same time as the Poland investigation, in which no exporter requested a 
postponement of the final determination; (3) the domestic industry, 
including the petitioners, object to postponing these final 
determinations, unlike the circumstances in Stainless Pipe from 
Malaysia; and, (4) section 735(a)(2) of the Act and the Department's 
regulations at 19 CFR 351.210(e)(1) provide that the Department may 
postpone a final determination, but do not require us to do so upon 
request. Therefore, we have exercised our discretion under the Act and 
are not postponing the final determinations.

Final Determinations

    We made no changes to our preliminary determinations in the 
Germany, Japan, and Poland investigations. Therefore, we continue to 
determine that the following margins exist for the following entities 
for the POI:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Dumping
                   Manufacturer/ exporter                       margin
                                                               (percent)
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                                 Germany
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ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel GmbH..........................      241.91
All Others..................................................      133.70
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                                  Japan
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JFE Steel Corporation.......................................      172.30
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation...................      172.30
All Others..................................................       93.36
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                                 Poland
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stalprodukt S.A.............................................       99.51
All Others..................................................       78.10
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Certain Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances

    We made no changes to our critical circumstances analysis for 
Poland announced in the Preliminary Determinations and described in 
``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination of the 
Antidumping Duty Investigation of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel from 
Poland,'' which is hereby adopted by this notice. Thus, pursuant to 
735(a)(3) of the Act, we continue to find that critical circumstances 
exist with respect to imports of GOES from Poland from Stalprodukt S.A. 
and the companies covered by the ``all others'' rate.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department 
will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of GOES from Germany and 
Japan as described in the ``Scope of the Investigations'' section of 
this notice, which were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after May 12, 2014, the date of publication of the 
preliminary determinations of those investigations in the Federal 
Register.
    With respect to entries of GOES from Poland, in accordance with 
section 735(c)(4)(A) of the Act, the Department will instruct CBP to 
continue to suspend liquidation of all entries from Stalprodukt S.A. 
and the companies covered by the ``all others'' rate that were entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after February 11, 
2014, which is ninety days prior to the publication of the preliminary 
determination of that investigation in the Federal Register.
    Further, the Department will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit 
equal to

[[Page 42503]]

the weighted-average amount by which normal value exceeds U.S. price as 
follows: (1) for the mandatory respondents listed in the table above, 
the cash deposit rate will be equal to the dumping margin which the 
Department determined in these final determinations; (2) if the 
exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified in these 
investigations, but the producer is, the cash deposit rate will be the 
rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) 
the cash deposit rates for all other producers or exporters will be 
133.70 percent for entries from Germany, 93.36 percent for entries from 
Japan, and 78.10 percent for entries from Poland. The suspension of 
liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of the final affirmative determinations of sales at LTFV. Because 
the final determinations in these proceedings are affirmative, in 
accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will 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, and Poland no later than 
45 days after our final determinations. If the ITC determines that 
material injury or threat of material injury does not exist for any 
country, the associated proceeding will be terminated and all 
securities posted will be refunded. If the ITC determines that such 
injury does exist for any country, the Department will issue an 
antidumping duty order for that country directing CBP to assess, upon 
further instruction by the Department, antidumping duties on all 
imports of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective date of the 
suspension of liquidation.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely notification of the 
return or destruction of APO materials, or conversion to judicial 
protective order, is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the 
regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.
    These determinations and this notice are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: July 16, 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).

[FR Doc. 2014-17226 Filed 7-21-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P