[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 215 (Friday, November 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68854-68856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28447]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-533-864]


Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Corrosion-Resistant 
Steel Products From India: Preliminary Affirmative Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of certain corrosion-resistant steel products 
(``corrosion-resistant steel'') from India. The period of investigation 
is January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014. We invite interested 
parties to comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective November 6, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jerry Huang, Andrew Devine, or Matthew 
Renkey, AD/CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone 
202.482.4047, 202.482.0238, and 202.482.2312, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are corrosion-resistant 
steel products from India. For a complete description of the scope of 
this investigation, see Appendix II.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this countervailing duty (``CVD'') 
investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (``Act''). For a full description

[[Page 68855]]

of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memo.\1\ The Preliminary Decision Memo is a public 
document and is on file in the Central Records Unit (``CRU''), Room 
B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building, as well as 
electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``ACCESS''). 
ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov and 
it is available to all parties in the CRU. In addition, parties can 
directly access a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memo on 
the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed 
Preliminary Decision Memo and the electronic versions of the 
Preliminary Decision Memo are identical in content.
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    \1\ 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 Certain Corrosion-Resistant 
Steel Products from India: Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination,'' dated concurrently with this notice (``Preliminary 
Decision Memo'').
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Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated an individual rate for each producer/exporter of the subject 
merchandise individually investigated. We preliminarily determine the 
countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                           Company                               rate
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JSW Steel Limited and JSW Steel Coated Products Limited.....       2.85.
Uttam Galva Steels Limited and Uttam Value Steels Limited...       7.71.
All Others..................................................       5.28.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, we 
are directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation 
of all entries of corrosion-resistant steel from India that are 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of the publication of this notice in the Federal Register, and to 
require a cash deposit for such entries of merchandise in the amounts 
indicated above.
    In accordance with sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for 
companies not investigated, we apply an ``all-others'' rate, which is 
normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual 
companies selected as respondents by those companies' exports of the 
subject merchandise to the United States. Under section 705(c)(5)(i) of 
the Act, the all-others rate should exclude zero and de minimis rates 
calculated for the exporters and producers individually investigated. 
Where the rates for the investigated companies are all zero or de 
minimis, section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act instructs the Department 
to establish an all-others rate using ``any reasonable method.'' We 
have not calculated the ``all-others'' rate by weight averaging the 
rates of the two individually investigated respondents, because doing 
so risks disclosure of proprietary information. Therefore, and 
consistent with the Department's practice, for the ``all-others'' rate, 
we calculated a simple average of the two responding firms' rates.\2\
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    \2\ See, e.g., 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).
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Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, we intend to verify 
the information submitted in response to the Department's 
questionnaires prior to making our final determination.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose calculations performed for this 
preliminary determination to the parties within five days of the date 
of public announcement of this determination in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b). 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.\3\ A table of contents, list of 
authorities used and an executive summary of issues should accompany 
any briefs submitted to the Department. This summary should be limited 
to five pages total, including footnotes.
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    \3\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
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    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 electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed document 
must be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's 
electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 
within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.\4\ 
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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    \4\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
International Trade Commission (``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 and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: November 2, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memo

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances
VI. Injury Test
VII. Subsidies Valuation
VIII. Benchmarks and Discount Rates
IX. Analysis of Programs
X. Calculation of the All Others Rate
XI. ITC Notification
XII. Disclosure and Public Comment
XIII. Verification
XIV. Conclusion

[[Page 68856]]

Appendix II--Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain flat-rolled 
steel products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant 
metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel- or iron-
based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished, 
laminated, or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in 
addition to the metallic coating. The products covered include coils 
that have a width of 12.7 mm or greater, regardless of form of coil 
(e.g., in successively superimposed layers, spirally oscillating, 
etc.). The products covered also include products not in coils (e.g., 
in straight lengths) of a thickness less than 4.75 mm and a width that 
is 12.7 mm or greater and that measures at least 10 times the 
thickness. The products covered also include products not in coils 
(e.g., in straight lengths) of a thickness of 4.75 mm or more and a 
width exceeding 150 mm and measuring at least twice the thickness. The 
products described above may be rectangular, square, circular, or other 
shape and include products of either rectangular or non-rectangular 
cross-section where such cross-section is achieved subsequent to the 
rolling process, i.e., products which have been ``worked after 
rolling'' (e.g., products which have been beveled or rounded at the 
edges). For purposes of the width and thickness requirements referenced 
above:
    (1) Where the nominal and actual measurements vary, a product is 
within the scope if application of either the nominal or actual 
measurement would place it within the scope based on the definitions 
set forth above, and
    (2) where the width and thickness vary for a specific product 
(e.g., the thickness of certain products with non-rectangular cross-
section, the width of certain products with non-rectangular shape, 
etc.), the measurement at its greatest width or thickness applies.
    Steel products included in the scope of this investigation are 
products in which: (1) Iron predominates, by weight, over each of the 
other contained elements; (2) the carbon content is 2 percent or less, 
by weight; and (3) none of the elements listed below exceeds the 
quantity, by weight, respectively indicated:

 2.50 percent of manganese, or
 3.30 percent of silicon, or
 1.50 percent of copper, or
 1.50 percent of aluminum, or
 1.25 percent of chromium, or
 0.30 percent of cobalt, or
 0.40 percent of lead, or
 2.00 percent of nickel, or
 0.30 percent of tungsten (also called wolfram), or
 0.80 percent of molybdenum, or
 0.10 percent of niobium (also called columbium), or
 0.30 percent of vanadium, or
 0.30 percent of zirconium

    Unless specifically excluded, products are included in this scope 
regardless of levels of boron and titanium.
    For example, specifically included in this scope are vacuum 
degassed, fully stabilized (commonly referred to as interstitial-free 
(IF)) steels and high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels. IF steels are 
recognized as low carbon steels with micro-alloying levels of elements 
such as titanium and/or niobium added to stabilize carbon and nitrogen 
elements. HSLA steels are recognized as steels with micro-alloying 
levels of elements such as chromium, copper, niobium, titanium, 
vanadium, and molybdenum.
    Furthermore, this scope also includes Advanced High Strength Steels 
(AHSS) and Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS), both of which are 
considered high tensile strength and high elongation steels.
    All products that meet the written physical description, and in 
which the chemistry quantities do not exceed any one of the noted 
element levels listed above, are within the scope of this investigation 
unless specifically excluded. The following products are outside of 
and/or specifically excluded from the scope of this investigation:
     Flat-rolled steel products either plated or coated with 
tin, lead, chromium, chromium oxides, both tin and lead (``terne 
plate''), or both chromium and chromium oxides (``tin free steel''), 
whether or not painted, varnished or coated with plastics or other non-
metallic substances in addition to the metallic coating;
     Clad products in straight lengths of 4.7625 mm or more in 
composite thickness and of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at 
least twice the thickness; and
     Certain clad stainless flat-rolled products, which are 
three-layered corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel products less than 
4.75 mm in composite thickness that consist of a flat-rolled steel 
product clad on both sides with stainless steel in a 20%-60%-20% ratio.
    The products subject to the investigation are currently classified 
in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under 
item numbers: 7210.30.0030, 7210.30.0060, 7210.41.0000, 7210.49.0030, 
7210.49.0091, 7210.49.0095, 7210.61.0000, 7210.69.0000, 7210.70.6030, 
7210.70.6060, 7210.70.6090, 7210.90.6000, 7210.90.9000, 7212.20.0000, 
7212.30.1030, 7212.30.1090, 7212.30.3000, 7212.30.5000, 7212.40.1000, 
7212.40.5000, 7212.50.0000, and 7212.60.0000.
    The products subject to the investigation may also enter under the 
following HTSUS item numbers: 7210.90.1000, 7215.90.1000, 7215.90.3000, 
7215.90.5000, 7217.20.1500, 7217.30.1530, 7217.30.1560, 7217.90.1000, 
7217.90.5030, 7217.90.5060, 7217.90.5090, 7225.91.0000, 7225.92.0000, 
7225.99.0090, 7226.99.0110, 7226.99.0130, 7226.99.0180, 7228.60.6000, 
7228.60.8000, and 7229.90.1000.
    The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of the 
investigation is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2015-28447 Filed 11-5-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P