[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3108-3110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-01019]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-602-807]


Certain Uncoated Paper From Australia: Final Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative Final Determination of 
Critical Circumstances, In Part

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Department) determines that 
certain uncoated paper from Australia is being, or is likely to be, 
sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided 
in section 735(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The 
period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2014, through December 31, 
2014. The final dumping margins of sales at LTFV are listed below in 
the ``Final Determination'' section of this notice.

DATES: Effective: January 20, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eve Wang or George McMahon, 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-
6231 or (202) 482-1167, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On August 26, 2015, the Department published the Preliminary 
Determination of this antidumping duty (AD) investigation.\1\ The 
following events occurred since the Preliminary Determination was 
issued.
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    \1\ See Certain Uncoated Paper From Australia: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Negative Preliminary 
Determination of Critical Circumstances, and Postponement of Final 
Determination, 80 FR 51783 (August 26, 2015) (Preliminary 
Determination).
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    On August 27, 2015, sole respondent Paper Australia Pty. Ltd. 
(Australian Paper) withdrew its participation from this investigation, 
stating that ``due to the significant preliminary dumping margin,'' it 
was suspending its participation in the U.S. market ``pending the final 
determination on Injury.'' \2\
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    \2\ See Australian Paper's letter titled, ``Respondents Paper 
Australia Pty Ltd and Paper Products Marketing (USA) Notification of 
Withdrawal,'' dated August 27, 2015 (Australian Paper's Letter of 
Withdrawal), at 2.
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    On August 28, 2015, the Department notified interested parties of a 
revised, accelerated briefing schedule due to the lack of participation 
from the sole respondent, Australian Paper, which resulted in the 
cancellation of verification of its questionnaire responses.\3\ On 
September 24, 2015, the Department granted Petitioners' \4\ request to 
extend the briefing schedule.\5\ On October 2, 2015, Petitioners 
submitted a case brief.
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    \3\ See the Department's Memorandum titled, ``Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Certain Uncoated Paper from Australia: Case Brief 
and Rebuttal Brief Schedule for Final Determination of the above 
referenced Investigation,'' dated August 28, 2015.
    \4\ Petitioners in this investigation 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 Department's Memorandum titled, ``Certain Uncoated 
Paper From Australia: Antidumping Duty Investigation: Revised 
Briefing Schedule,'' dated September 24, 2015; see also Petitioners' 
letter titled, ``Petitioners' Request to Extend Briefing Schedule,'' 
dated September 24, 2015.
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Scope of the Investigation and Scope Comments

    The product covered by this investigation is certain uncoated paper 
from Australia. For a complete description of the scope of the 
investigation, see the ``Scope of the Investigation,'' in Appendix I of 
this notice, which incorporates changes made subsequent to the 
Preliminary Determination.
    On October 2, 2015, Gartner Studios submitted its case brief 
regarding the scope of the investigations.\6\ On October 6, 2015, the 
Department revised the briefing schedule for scope comments and 
rebuttal comments.\7\ On October 19, 2015, American Greetings 
Corporation (American Greetings) submitted its case brief regarding the 
scope of the investigations.\8\ On October 29, 2015, Petitioners 
submitted their rebuttal brief regarding the scope of the 
investigations.\9\ The Department is issuing a scope comments decision 
memorandum for the final determinations of the AD and countervailing 
duty investigations of certain uncoated paper, which is incorporated by 
reference in, and hereby adopted by, this final determination.\10\ As 
explained in the Final Scope Decision Memorandum, to facilitate the 
scope's administrability and enforcement, we have clarified the scope 
language such that certain uncoated paper with ``final printed 
content'' is excluded from the scope of the investigations.
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    \6\ Because there are multiple investigations of uncoated paper, 
the Department has considered collectively all comments regarding 
the scope of the investigations filed by the interested parties.
    \7\ See Memorandum titled, ``Revised Briefing Schedule for Scope 
Comments and Rebuttal Comments,'' dated October 6, 2015.
    \8\ See Letter from American Greetings titled, ``Certain 
Uncoated Paper From Australia, Brazil, The People's Republic of 
China, Indonesia, and Portugal: Case Brief of American Greetings 
Corporation,'' dated October 19, 2015.
    \9\ See Letter from Petitioners titled, ``Certain Uncoated Paper 
From Australia, Brazil, The People's Republic of China, Indonesia, 
and Portugal: Scope Rebuttal Brief,'' dated October 20, 2015.
    \10\ See the Department's memorandum to the file titled, ``Less-
Than-Fair-Value Investigations of Certain Uncoated Paper from 
Australia, Brazil, the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, and 
Portugal; and Countervailing Duty Investigations of Certain Uncoated 
Paper from the People's Republic of China and Indonesia: Scope 
Comments Decision Memorandum for the Final Determinations,'' dated 
January 8, 2016 (Final Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by interested 
parties in this investigation that are not related to the scope of this 
investigation are addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, 
which is incorporated by reference by, and hereby adopted by, this 
notice.\11\
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    \11\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
titled ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Determination 
in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Uncoated Paper from 
Australia'' (Issues and Decision Memorandum), dated concurrently 
with this notice.
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    A list of the issues raised is attached to this notice as Appendix 
II. The Issues and Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on 
file 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 Central Records Unit, room B-8024 
of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete 
version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and 
electronic versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical 
in content.

[[Page 3109]]

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of the comments received and Australian 
Paper's withdrawal of participation from this investigation, we have 
revised the margin for Australian Paper to reflect the application of 
facts available with an adverse inference pursuant to sections 
776(a)(2)(C) and (D) and 776(b) of the Act. We have also revised the 
all-others rate. For a discussion of these changes, see the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum at Comments 1, 2, and 3.

All Others Rate

    Section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act provides that, where the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins established for all exporters and 
producers individually investigated are zero or de minimis, or are 
determined entirely under section 776 of the Act, the Department may 
use any reasonable method to establish the estimated all-others rate 
for exporters and producers not individually investigated. Where the 
sole individually investigated respondent's margin is based on total 
AFA under section 776 of the Act, our practice under these 
circumstances has been to assign as the all-others rate the simple 
average of the margins in the petition,\12\ which we have done in this 
final determination.\13\
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    \12\ See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Light-Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube from 
Turkey, 73 FR 5508, 5513-14 (January 30, 2008), unchanged in Notice 
of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Light-
Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube from Turkey, 73 FR 19814, 19815 
(April 11, 2008); see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative Final Determination of Critical 
Circumstances: Glycine from Japan, 72 FR 67271, 67272 (November 28, 
2007).
    \13\ See Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 3.
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Final Determination

    The Department determines that the estimated final weighted-average 
dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
                   Exporter/Manufacturer                       dumping
                                                                margin
                                                              (percent)
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Paper Australia Pty. Ltd...................................       222.46
All Others.................................................       138.87
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Disclosure

    We will disclose the calculations performed to interested parties 
within five days of the public announcement of this final determination 
in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, In Part

    In the Preliminary Determination, the Department found that 
critical circumstances did not exist with respect to imports of 
uncoated paper from Australia from Australian Paper and all other 
exporters or producers.\14\ Based on Australian Paper's withdrawal from 
this investigation, and upon further analysis following the Preliminary 
Determination, we are modifying our findings for the final 
determination.
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    \14\ See Preliminary Determination, 80 FR at 51784.
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    Because we do not have verifiable shipment data from Australian 
Paper, we must base our ``massive imports'' determination on the facts 
available, pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act. Because Australian 
Paper failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to 
allow for verification of its sales and cost questionnaire responses, 
we are making an adverse inference in selecting from the facts 
available, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act. Thus, in accordance 
with section 776(b) of the Act, we have used an adverse inference in 
applying facts available, and determine that there were massive imports 
from Australian Paper over a relatively short period pursuant to 
section 733(e)(1)(B) of the Act.\15\ We also find that Australian 
Paper's dumping margin is sufficient to impute importer knowledge of 
sales at less than fair value, and the International Trade Commission's 
(ITC) preliminary injury determination is sufficient to impute the 
likelihood of material injury, in accordance with section 
733(e)(1)(A)(ii) of the Act. For those reasons, we determine that 
critical circumstances exist for imports from Australia of uncoated 
paper produced by Australian Paper. For a discussion of these changes, 
see the Issues and Decision Memorandum at ``VI. Finding of Critical 
Circumstances, In Part.''
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    \15\ See, e.g., Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-To-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate 
Products from Japan, 64 FR 73215 (December 29, 1999).
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    However, we have not inferred, as AFA, that massive imports exist 
for companies under the all-others category, because, unlike the 
uncooperative company in question, the all-others companies have not 
failed to cooperate in this investigation. Furthermore, the record 
indicates that the only known producer of uncoated paper from Australia 
is Australian Paper.\16\ Therefore, an adverse inference with respect 
to finding a massive surge in imports by the all-others companies is 
not appropriate. Therefore, we determine that critical circumstances do 
not exist for imports of uncoated paper from Australia for companies in 
the all-others category. For further discussion of this analysis, see 
the Issues and Decision Memorandum at ``VI. Finding of Critical 
Circumstances, In Part.''
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    \16\ 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 8614 (February 18, 2015); 
see also Initiation Checklist at 2.
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    As noted above, for this final determination, the Department found 
that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of the 
subject merchandise from Australian Paper. However, the Department did 
not find that critical circumstances existed with respect to imports by 
Australian Paper in the Preliminary Determination.\17\ Therefore, in 
accordance with section 735(c)(4)(B) of the Act, the Department is 
modifying the suspension of liquidation as announced in the Preliminary 
Determination for Australian Paper. The Department will instruct U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries 
of uncoated paper from Australian Paper, as described in Appendix I of 
this notice, to apply to unliquidated entries that were entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 28, 2015, 90 
days prior to publication of the Preliminary Determination of this 
investigation in the Federal Register, and require a cash deposit for 
such entries equal to the estimated amount by which the normal value 
exceeds the U.S. price as noted above for such unliquidated entries.
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    \17\ See Preliminary Determination, 80 FR at 51784.
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    Because we continue to find that critical circumstances do not 
exist with respect to all others, in accordance with section 
735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we will instruct CBP to continue to suspend 
liquidation of all appropriate entries of uncoated paper from all 
others, which were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after August 26, 2015, the date of publication of the 
Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our final affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. Because 
the final determination in this proceeding is 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

[[Page 3110]]

is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of 
imports of uncoated paper from Australia no later than 45 days after 
our final determination. If the ITC determines that material injury or 
threat of material injury does not exist, the proceeding will be 
terminated and all cash deposits will be refunded. If the ITC 
determines that such injury does exist, the Department will issue an 
antidumping duty order 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 (APO)

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to an APO 
of their responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary 
information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3). Timely written 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 terms of an APO 
is a violation subject to sanction.
    This determination and this notice are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

     Dated: January 8, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by the 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. For 
purposes of this scope definition, paper shall be considered 
``printed with final content'' where at least one side of the sheet 
has printed text and/or graphics that cover at least five percent of 
the surface area of the entire sheet.
    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 investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. List of Comments
V. Discussion of Comments
    Comment 1: Whether Adverse Facts Available (AFA) are Warranted 
for Respondent Australian Paper
    Comment 2: Rate To Assign to Australian Paper Based on AFA
    Comment 3: Derivation of the All-Others Rate
VI. Finding of Critical Circumstances, In Part

[FR Doc. 2016-01019 Filed 1-19-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P