[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 183 (Monday, September 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56560-56562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-22501]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-991]


Chlorinated Isocyanurates From the People's Republic of China: 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination; 2012

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') published the 
Preliminary Determination of the countervailing duty (``CVD'') 
investigation of chlorinated isocyanurates (``isos'') from the People's 
Republic of China (``PRC'') on February 24, 2014.\1\ The Department 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of isos from the PRC. For information on the 
estimated subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section 
of this notice. The period of investigation is January 1, 2012 through 
December 31, 2012.
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    \1\ See Countervailing Duty Investigation of Chlorinated 
Isocyanurates from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Determination and Alignment of Final Determination with Final 
Antidumping Determination, 79 FR 10097 (February 24, 2014) 
(``Preliminary Determination'').

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DATES: Effective Date: September 22, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Renkey (Kangtai) or Paul 
Walker (Jiheng), AD/CVD Operations,

[[Page 56561]]

Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone 202.482.2312, 
or 202.482.0413, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department published the Preliminary Determination on February 
24, 2014.\2\ Petitioners in this case are Clearon Corp. and Occidental 
Chemical Corporation. Between May 22 and July 18, 2014, we conducted a 
verification of the questionnaire responses of the Government of the 
PRC (``GOC''), Hebei Jiheng Chemicals Co., Ltd. (``Jiheng'') \3\ and 
Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co., Ltd. (``Kangtai''). Between July 31, 
2014 and August 5, 2014, interested parties submitted case and rebuttal 
briefs. A full discussion of the issues raised by parties for this 
final determination may be found in the I&D Memo, which is hereby 
adopted by this notice.\4\ The I&D Memo 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 I&D Memo can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed I&D Memo and 
the electronic versions are identical in content.
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    \2\ Id.
    \3\ Including its cross-owned affiliates Hebei Jiheng Baikang 
Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (``Baikang'') and the Hebei Jiheng Group 
Co., Ltd. (the ``Jiheng Group'').
    \4\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
``Countervailing Duty Investigation of Chlorinated Isocyanurates 
from the People's Republic of China: Issues and Decision Memorandum 
for the Final Determination,'' dated concurrently with this notice 
(``I&D Memo'').
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Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to the Department's regulations and 
as stated in the Initiation,\5\ we set aside a period of time for 
parties to raise issues regarding product coverage. We encouraged all 
parties to submit comments within 20 calendar days of publication of 
the Initiation. No parties submitted scope comments in this 
investigation.
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    \5\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296, 
27323 (May 19, 1997); Chlorinated Isocyanurates from the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 
78 FR 59001 (September 25, 2013) (``Initiation'').
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are chlorinated 
isocyanurates. Chlorinated isocyanurates are derivatives of cyanuric 
acid, described as chlorinated s-triazine triones. There are three 
primary chemical compositions of chlorinated isocyanurates: (1) 
Trichloroisocyanuric acid (``TCCA'') (Cl3(NCO)3), 
(2) sodium dichloroisocyanurate (dihydrate) 
(NaCl2(NCO)3 X 2H2O), and (3) sodium 
dichloroisocyanurate (anhydrous) (NaCl2(NCO)3). 
Chlorinated isocyanurates are available in powder, granular and solid 
(e.g., tablet or stick) forms.
    Chlorinated isocyanurates are currently classifiable under 
subheadings 2933.69.6015, 2933.69.6021, 2933.69.6050, 3808.50.4000, 
3808.94.5000, and 3808.99.9500 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (``HTSUS''). The tariff classification 2933.69.6015 
covers sodium dichloroisocyanurates (anhydrous and dihydrate forms) and 
trichloroisocyanuric acid. The tariff classifications 2933.69.6021 and 
2933.69.6050 represent basket categories that include chlorinated 
isocyanurates and other compounds including an unfused triazine ring. 
The tariff classifications 3808.50.4000, 3808.94.5000 and 3808.99.9500 
cover disinfectants that include chlorinated isocyanurates. The HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes. The 
written description of the scope of the investigation is dispositive.

Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received

    The subsidy programs under investigation and the issues raised in 
the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in this investigation are 
discussed in the I&D Memo. A list of the issues that parties raised, 
and to which we responded in the I&D Memo, is attached to this notice 
as an Appendix.

Use of Adverse Facts Available

    For purposes of this final determination, we relied on facts 
available, and drawn an adverse inference, in accordance with sections 
776(a) and (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``Act''), in 
determining the countervailability of the GOC's provision of 
electricity. The GOC provided no provincial-specific information in 
response to questions from the Department in its initial questionnaire 
response and in a supplemental questionnaire response. Because of the 
GOC's failure to respond to the Department's questions, necessary 
information regarding the GOC's provision of electricity is not on the 
record. Thus, we determine that we must rely on facts otherwise 
available in this final determination in analyzing this program.\6\ 
Moreover, we find that the GOC failed to cooperate by not acting to the 
best of its ability and, consequently, an adverse inference is 
warranted in the application of facts available.\7\ As adverse facts 
available, we determined that that the GOC's provision of electricity 
constitutes a financial contribution within the meaning of section 
771(5)(D) of the Act and is specific within the meaning of section 
771(5A) of the Act. We also relied on an adverse inference in selecting 
the benchmark for determining the existence and amount of the benefit. 
For a full discussion of this issue, see the I&D Memo at ``Use of Facts 
Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' and Comment 1.
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    \6\ See sections 776(a)(1) and (a)(2)(A) of the Act (stating 
that the Department may make a determination based on facts 
available if ``(1) necessary information is not available on the 
record'' or ``(2) an interested party'' ``(A) withholds information 
that has been requested'' by the Department).
    \7\ See section 776(b) of the Act (permitting the Department to 
``use an inference that is adverse to the interests of the party in 
selecting from among the facts otherwise available'' if ``an 
interested party has failed to cooperate by not acting to the best 
of its ability to comply with a request for information'' from the 
Department).
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    We also relied on facts available, and drew an adverse inference, 
in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, to determine the 
subsidy rate for the Jiheng Group's electricity for less than adequate 
remuneration. The Jiheng Group failed to report its electricity 
purchases for one of its branch companies, Jiheng Lantian Chemical 
Branch Company (``Lantian''). Because of the Jiheng Group's failure to 
report these purchases, necessary information regarding Lantian's 
electricity purchases are not on the record. Thus, we determine that we 
must rely on facts otherwise available in this final determination in 
calculating the Jiheng Group's CVD rate.\8\ Moreover, we find that the 
Jiheng Group failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its 
ability and, consequently, an adverse inference is warranted in the 
application of facts available.\9\ As adverse facts available, we 
inferred that Lantian's purchases of

[[Page 56562]]

electricity occurred at the lowest possible rate, and that the 
benchmark used to calculate the benefit is from the high peak rate. For 
a full discussion of this issue, see the I&D Memo at ``Use of Facts 
Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' and Comment 2.
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    \8\ See sections 776(a)(1) and (a)(2)(A) of the Act.
    \9\ See section 776(b) of the Act.
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    In accordance with section 705(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated a rate for each company respondent. Section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) 
of the Act states that, for companies not individually investigated, we 
will determine an ``all others'' rate equal to the weighted-average 
countervailable subsidy rates established for exporters and producers 
individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis 
countervailable subsidy rates, and any rates determined entirely under 
section 776 of the Act.
    Notwithstanding the language of section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, 
we have not calculated the ``all others'' rate by weight averaging the 
rates of Jiheng and Kangtai because doing so risks disclosure of 
proprietary information. Therefore, we calculated a simple average of 
Jiheng's and Kangtai's rates.\10\ Since both Jiheng and Kangtai 
received countervailable export subsidies and the ``all others'' rate 
is an average based on the individually investigated respondents, the 
``all others'' rate includes export subsidies.
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    \10\ See, e.g., Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From the 
Republic of Turkey: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Final Affirmative Critical Circumstances 
Determination, 79 FR 41964, 41965 (July 18, 2014).
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    We determine the total estimated net countervailable subsidy rates 
to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                           Company                                rate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hebei Jiheng Chemicals Co., Ltd..............................      20.06
Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co., Ltd..........................       1.55
All Others...................................................      10.81
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Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our Preliminary Determination and pursuant to 
section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (``CBP'') to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject 
merchandise from the PRC that were entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after February 24, 2014, the date of 
the publication of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal 
Register. In accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we issued 
instructions to CBP to discontinue the suspension of liquidation for 
CVD purposes for subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, on or after June 24, 2014, but to continue the suspension of 
liquidation of all entries from February 24, 2014, through June 23, 
2014.
    If the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') issues a final 
affirmative injury determination, we will issue a CVD order and 
reinstate the suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of the 
Act, and we will require a cash deposit of estimated CVDs for such 
entries of merchandise in the amounts indicated above. If the ITC 
determines that material injury, or threat of material injury, does not 
exist, this proceeding will be terminated and all estimated duties 
deposited or securities posted as a result of the suspension of 
liquidation will be refunded or canceled.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) 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 related 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 (``APO''), without the written 
consent of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Return or Destruction of Proprietary Information

    In the event that the ITC issues a final negative injury 
determination, this notice will serve as the only reminder to parties 
subject to an APO of their responsibility concerning the destruction of 
proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3). Timely written notification of the return/destruction of 
APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby 
requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of an APO 
is a violation which is subject to sanction.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: September 8, 2014.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix--I&D Memo

Comment 1: Appropriate High Peak, Peak, Normal and Valley 
Electricity Benchmarks
Comment 2: Jiheng's Electricity Consumption
Comment 3: Kangtai's Electricity Consumption
Comment 4: Specificity Issue for the Provision of Urea for Less than 
Adequate Remuneration

[FR Doc. 2014-22501 Filed 9-19-14; 8:45 am]
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