[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 165 (Wednesday, August 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51768-51771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21173]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-022]


Certain Uncoated Paper From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and 
Postponement of Final Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Department) preliminarily 
determines that certain uncoated paper (uncoated paper) from the 
People's Republic of China (PRC) 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, 2014, through December 31, 
2014. The estimated weighted-average dumping margins of sales at LTFV 
are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination.

DATES: Effective date: August 26, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Moore or Paul Stolz, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3692 
or (202) 482-4474, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department published a notice of initiation of this 
investigation on February 18, 2015.\1\ For a complete description of 
the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the 
memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and 
hereby adopted by this notice.\2\ The Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and 
Compliance's Antidumping and

[[Page 51769]]

Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). 
ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov, 
and to all parties in the Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main 
Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be found at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.
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    \1\ See Certain Uncoated Paper From Australia, Brazil, the 
People's Republic of China, Indonesia, and Portugal: Initiation of 
Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 80 FR 8608 (February 18, 2015) 
(Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
entitled ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in 
the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Uncoated Paper from 
Indonesia'' (Preliminary Decision Memorandum), dated concurrently 
with this notice.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is uncoated paper from 
the PRC. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see 
the ``Scope of the Investigation,'' in Appendix I of this notice.

Scope Comments

    Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the 
investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For discussion 
of those comments, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\3\
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    \3\ See also Memorandum from Erin Begnal, Director, Office III, 
to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
entitled ``Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination of the Above-Captioned Investigations,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice.
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Postponement of Deadline for Preliminary Determination

    On May 15, 2015, the petitioners \4\ made timely requests for a 50-
day postponement of the preliminary determination in this investigation 
pursuant to section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(e).\5\ 
On June 1, 2015, we postponed the preliminary determination by 50 days, 
to August 19, 2015.\6\
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    \4\ The petitioners in this proceeding are United Steel, Paper 
and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and 
Service Workers International Union; Domtar Corporation; Finch Paper 
LLC; P.H. Glatfelter Company; and Packaging Corporation of America.
    \5\ See the petitioners' letters to the Department dated May 15, 
2015 and May 18, 2015.
    \6\ See Certain Uncoated Paper from Australia, Brazil, the 
People's Republic of China, Indonesia, and Portugal: Postponment of 
Preliminary Determinations of Antidumping Duty Investigations, 80 FR 
31017 (June 1, 2015).
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. There is one mandatory respondent participating 
in this investigation, Asia Symbol (Guangdong) Paper Co., Ltd., (AS 
Guangdong), Greenpoint Global Trading (Macao Commercial Offshore) Ltd., 
(Greenpoint), and Asia Symbol (Shandong) Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. (AS 
Shandong (collectively, Asia Symbol). Export price for this company is 
calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Because the PRC 
is a nonmarket economy within the meaning of section 771(18) of the 
Act, normal value (NV) has been calculated in accordance with section 
773(c). Specifically, the Department preliminarily selected South 
Africa as the surrogate country, which is at the same level of economic 
development as the PRC and is a significant producer of comparable 
merchandise. Thus, we calculated NV using South African prices, when 
available, to value the respondent's factors of production (FOPs). For 
a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    Because mandatory respondents Shandong Sun Paper Industry Joint 
Stock Co., Inc. (Sun Paper), and UPM (China) Co., Ltd. (UPM) failed to 
respond to the Department's questionnaire, we preliminarily determine 
to apply adverse facts available (AFA) to these respondents, in 
accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. 
As a part of the application of AFA, we are treating these mandatory 
respondents as part of the PRC-wide entity. Further, because the PRC-
wide entity also failed to cooperate to the best of its ability in 
complying with our requests for information,\7\ we determined an 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin based on adverse facts 
available for the PRC-wide entity, which includes the mandatory 
respondents. For further discussion, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \7\ Specifically, the Department did not receive responses to 
its quantity and value questionnaire (Q&V) from the following 
companies: Shandong Tralin Paper Group (Shandong Tralin); MCC Paper 
Group (MCC Paper); Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings (Shandong 
Chenming); Shandong Huatai Paper Industry Shareholding Co., Ltd. 
(Shandong Huatai); and Shandong Taishan Paper Group (Shandong 
Taishan). See Memorandum to the File, ``Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Uncoated Paper from the People's Republic of China: 
FedEx-UPS Delivery Confirmations (Updated),'' dated March 25, 2015.
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Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice, the Department stated that it would 
calculate combination rates for the respondents that are eligible for a 
separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin 05.1 describes 
this practice.

Preliminary Determination

    The Department preliminarily determines that the following 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                                                              average
            Exporter                     Producer         dumping margin
                                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greenpoint Global Trading        Asia Symbol (Guangdong)           97.48
 (Macao Commercial Offshore)      Paper Co., Ltd.; and
 Ltd.                             Asia Symbol (Shandong)
                                  Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.
PRC-Wide Entity................  .......................          193.30
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As detailed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Sun Paper and 
UPM did not demonstrate that they are entitled to a separate rate. 
Accordingly, we consider Sun Paper and UPM to be part of the PRC-Wide 
Entity. Further, because the Department did not receive a Q&V response 
from the following companies, the PRC-wide entity also includes: (1) 
Shandong Tralin; (2) MCC Paper; (3) Shandong Chenming; (4) Shandong 
Huatai; and (5) Shandong Taishan.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we are directing 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of uncoated paper from the PRC, as described in Appendix I of 
this notice, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on 
or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register.
    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to 
require a cash deposit equal to the weighted-average amount by which 
the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, adjusted 
for export

[[Page 51770]]

subsidies found in the preliminary determination of the companion 
countervailing duty investigation.\8\ Therefore, for cash deposit 
purposes, we are subtracting from the applicable cash deposit rate that 
portion of the countervailing duty rate attributable to the export 
subsidies found in the preliminary affirmative countervailing duty 
determination. Accordingly, the export subsidy offsets are as follows: 
0.13 percent for Asia Symbol, and 0.13 percent for PRC-wide entity.\9\ 
After this adjustment, the resulting cash deposit rates will be 97.35 
percent for Asia Symbol,and 193.17 percent for the PRC-wide entity.
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    \8\ See Certain Uncoated Paper From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping 
Determination, 80 FR 36968 (June 29, 2015), and accompanying 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \9\ See Memorandum to the File from Stephanie Moore, Case 
Analyst, entitled, ``Placing Information on the Record: Export 
Subsidies Calculated in the Preliminary Determination of the 
Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Uncoated Paper from the 
People's Republic of China,''dated concurrently with this notice.
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    Further, pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits\10\ equal to 
the weighted-average amount by which NV exceeds U.S. price, adjusted 
where appropriate for export subsidies, as follows: (1) The cash-
deposit rate for the exporter/producer combination listed above will be 
the dumping margin that the Department determined in this preliminary 
determination; (2) for all combinations of PRC exporters/producers of 
merchandise under consideration that have not received their own 
separate rate above, the cash-deposit rate will be equal to the dumping 
margin established for the PRC-wide entity; and (3) for all non-PRC 
exporters of merchandise under consideration which have not received 
their own separate rate above, the cash-deposit rate will be the cash 
deposit rate applicable to the PRC exporter/producer combination that 
supplied that non-PRC exporter. These suspension of liquidation 
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
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    \10\ 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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Disclosure

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested 
parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of publication 
of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify 
information relied upon in making our final determination.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted 
to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 
seven days after the date on which the final verification report is 
issued in this proceeding, 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.\11\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) 
and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 
proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement 
of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities.
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce. 
All documents must normally be filed electronically using ACCESS. An 
electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its 
entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, within 30 days after the 
date of publication of this notice. \12\
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    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 time and date to be 
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and 
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    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 antidumping 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.
    Asia Symbol requested that, in the event of an affirmative 
preliminary determination in this 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.\13\ In addition, the petitioners also 
requested that, in the event of a negative preliminary determination, 
the Department postpone its final determination to 135 days after the 
date of publication of the preliminary determination.\14\
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    \13\ See letter from Asia Symbol titled, ``Certain Uncoated 
Paper From the People's Republic of China: Request to Postpone Final 
Determination,'' dated July 31, 2015.
    \14\ See letter from the petitioners entitled, ``Certain 
Uncoated Paper From the People's Republic of China: Request For 
Postponement of The Final Determination,'' dated July 31, 2015.
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    In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is 
affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant 
proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling 
reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination and 
extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period 
not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will make our final 
determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of 
this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the 
Act.\15\
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    \15\ See also 19 CFR 351.210(e).
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International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If 
our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before 
the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination 
or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are 
materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections

[[Page 51771]]

733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: August 19, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation includes uncoated 
paper in sheet form; weighing at least 40 grams per square meter but 
not more than 150 grams per square meter; that either is a white 
paper with a GE brightness level \1\ of 85 or higher or is a colored 
paper; whether or not surface-decorated, printed (except as 
described below), embossed, perforated, or punched; irrespective of 
the smoothness of the surface; and irrespective of dimensions 
(Certain Uncoated Paper).
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    \1\ One of the key measurements of any grade of paper is 
brightness. Generally speaking, the brighter the paper the better 
the contrast between the paper and the ink. Brightness is measured 
using a GE Reflectance Scale, which measures the reflection of light 
off a grade of paper. One is the lowest reflection, or what would be 
given to a totally black grade, and 100 is the brightest measured 
grade. ``Colored paper'' as used in this scope definition means a 
paper with a hue other than white that reflects one of the primary 
colors of magenta, yellow, and cyan (red, yellow, and blue) or a 
combination of such primary colors.
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    Certain Uncoated Paper includes (a) uncoated free sheet paper 
that meets this scope definition; (b) uncoated ground wood paper 
produced from bleached chemi-thermo-mechanical pulp (BCTMP) that 
meets this scope definition; and (c) any other uncoated paper that 
meets this scope definition regardless of the type of pulp used to 
produce the paper.
    Specifically excluded from the scope are (1) paper printed with 
final content of printed text or graphics and (2) lined paper 
products, typically school supplies, composed of paper that 
incorporates straight horizontal and/or vertical lines that would 
make the paper unsuitable for copying or printing purposes.
    Imports of the subject merchandise are provided for under 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) categories 
4802.56.1000, 4802.56.2000, 4802.56.3000, 4802.56.4000, 
4802.56.6000, 4802.56.7020, 4802.56.7040, 4802.57.1000, 
4802.57.2000, 4802.57.3000, and 4802.57.4000. Some imports of 
subject merchandise may also be classified under 4802.62.1000, 
4802.62.2000, 4802.62.3000, 4802.62.5000, 4802.62.6020, 
4802.62.6040, 4802.69.1000, 4802.69.2000, 4802.69.3000, 4811.90.8050 
and 4811.90.9080. While HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
scope of the investigations is dispositive.

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

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Selection of Respondents
IV. Period of Investigation
V. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures
VI. Scope Comments
VII. Scope of the Investigation
VIII. Affiliation Determination
IX. Discussion of Methodology
    A. Non-Market Economy
    B. Separate Rates
    C. Surrogate Country and Surrogate Value Data
    D. Surrogate Country
    E. Economic Compatibility
    F. Significant Producer of Comparable Merchandise
    G. Data Availability
    H. Date of Sale
    I. Fair Value Comparisons
    a. Determination of the Comparison Method
    b. Results of the Differential Pricing Analysis
    J. Export Price
    K. Value-Added Tax
    L. Normal Value
    M. Factor Valuation Methodology
X. Currency Conversion
XI. Application Of Facts Available And Adverse Inferences
    A. Use of Facts Available
    B. Application of Facts Available with an Adverse Inference
    C. Corroboration of the AFA Rate
XII. Adjustment Under Section 777a(F) Of The Act
XIII. Verification
XIV. U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
XV. Disclosure And Public Comment
XVI. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-21173 Filed 8-25-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P