[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15235-15238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06449]



[[Page 15235]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-351-845]


Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From Brazil: Affirmative 
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 
Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that certain hot-rolled steel flat products (hot-rolled 
steel) from Brazil are being, or are 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 June 30, 2015. 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: March 22, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Zukowski or Yang Jin Chun, AD/
CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0189 or (202) 
482-5760, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Department published the notice of initiation of this 
investigation on September 9, 2015.\1\ For a complete description of 
the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\2\ A list of topics included in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this 
notice. The Preliminary 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 http://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/.
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    \1\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From Australia, 
Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, the Republic 
of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigations, 80 FR 54261 (September 9, 2015) (Initiation 
Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum from Deputy Assistant Secretary Christian 
Marsh to Assistant Secretary Paul Piquado entitled ``Decision 
Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigation of Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from 
the Brazil'' (Preliminary Decision Memorandum), dated concurrently 
with this notice and hereby adopted by this notice.
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 Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are hot-rolled steel 
from Brazil. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, 
see the ``Scope of the Investigation,'' in Appendix I.

 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.

 Postponement of Deadline for Preliminary Determination

    The Department published the notice of postponement of preliminary 
determination of this investigation on November 25, 2015.\3\ Pursuant 
to sections 733(c)(1)(B)(i) and (ii) of the Act, we postponed the 
preliminary determination by 50 days.\4\ As a result of the 
postponement, the revised deadline for the preliminary determination of 
this investigation is March 8, 2016. As explained in the memorandum 
from the Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, the 
Department has exercised its discretion to toll all administrative 
deadlines due to the recent closure of the Federal Government.\5\ All 
deadlines in this investigation have been extended by four business 
days.\6\ The revised deadline for the preliminary determination of this 
investigation is now March 14, 2016.
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    \3\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia, 
Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, the Republic 
of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Postponement of Preliminary 
Determinations of Antidumping Duty Investigations, 80 FR 73702 
(November 25, 2015).
    \4\ Id.
    \5\ See Memorandum to the Record from Ron Lorentzen, Acting A/S 
for Enforcement and Compliance, regarding ``Tolling of 
Administrative Deadlines As a Result of the Government Closure 
During Snowstorm `Jonas' '' dated January 27, 2016.
    \6\ Id.
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 Methodology

    The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Export prices have been calculated in 
accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. Constructed export prices 
have been calculated in accordance with section 772(b) of the Act. 
Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the 
Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

 All-Others Rate

    Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, 
the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate 
shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and 
producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis 
margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the 
Act. For purposes of this preliminary determination, we are assigning 
as the ``all-others'' rate the rate of 33.91 percent, which is based on 
the estimated dumping margin calculated for Companhia 
Sider[uacute]rgica Nacional (CSN), the only mandatory respondent for 
which we calculated a dumping margin.

 Preliminary Determination

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                    Exporter/producer                     average margin
                                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Companhia Sider[uacute]rgica Nacional (CSN).............           33.91
Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas).....           34.28
All-Others..............................................           33.91
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of hot-rolled steel from Brazil as described in the Scope of 
the Investigation in Appendix I entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in 
the Federal Register, except for CSN and Usiminas, as described below. 
Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides

[[Page 15236]]

that, given an affirmative determination of critical circumstances, any 
suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of 
merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after the later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on 
which the suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date 
on which notice of initiation of the investigation was published. On 
December 9, 2015, we preliminarily found that critical circumstances 
exist for imports exported by CSN and Usiminas.\7\ For CSN and 
Usiminas, in accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, 
suspension of liquidation of hot-rolled steel from Brazil, as described 
in the ``Scope of the Investigation'' in Appendix I, shall apply to 
unliquidated entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date which is 90 days before 
the publication of this notice, the date suspension of liquidation is 
first ordered. Because we find critical circumstances do not exist for 
``all others,'' we will begin suspension of liquidation for such firms 
on the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
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    \7\ See Antidumping Duty Investigations of Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products From Australia, Brazil, Japan, and the 
Netherlands and Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Hot-
Rolled Steel Flat Products From Brazil: Preliminary Determinations 
of Critical Circumstances, 80 FR 76444 (December 9, 2015).
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    Pursuant to section 733 (d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), 
the Department will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the 
weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, adjusted 
where appropriate for export subsidies, as follows: (1) The rates for 
CSN and Usiminas, when adjusted for export subsidies, are 29.78 and 
30.46 percent, respectively; (2) if the exporter is not a firm 
identified in this investigation, but the producer is, the rate will be 
the rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise, less 
export subsidies; (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters 
when adjusted for export subsidies is 29.93 percent.\8\ These 
suspensions of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until 
further notice.
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    \8\ Consistent with the Department's normal practice, because we 
calculated the ``All Others Rate'' in this investigation based on 
the calculated weighted-average dumping margin for CSN, the ``All 
Others Rate'' includes export subsidies at a rate equal to the 
average of the CVD export subsidy rates applicable to the mandatory 
respondents. See Utility Scale Wind Towers From the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value and Postponement of Final Determination, 77 FR 46034, 
46043 (August 2, 2012); see also, ``Antidumping Duty Investigation 
of Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Brazil: Calculation 
of All-Others Rate'' (All-Others Rate Memorandum), dated 
concurrently with this notice.
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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.\9\ 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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    \9\ 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 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.\10\ 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, 1401 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.
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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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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 petitioners. Respondents' requests for postponement of a final 
antidumping determination must 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.\11\
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2).
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    On February 22, and February 25, 2016, respectively, pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.210(e), CSN and Usiminas requested that the Department postpone 
the final determination and extend provisional measures to a period not 
to exceed six months.\12\
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    \12\ See Letter to the Secretary of Commerce from CSN, ``Request 
for Postponement of Final Determinations,'' (February 22, 2016). See 
also letter to the Secretary of Commerce from Usiminas, ``Cold-
Rolled and Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Brazil; Request for 
Postponement of Final Determinations,'' (February 25, 2016).
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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 exporter accounts 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.\13\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.210(e).
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International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying 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.

[[Page 15237]]

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: March 14, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain hot-
rolled, flat-rolled steel products, with or without patterns in 
relief, and whether or not annealed, painted, varnished, or coated 
with plastics or other non-metallic substances. The products covered 
do not include those that are clad, plated, or coated with metal. 
The products covered include coils that have a width or other 
lateral measurement (``width'') of 12.7 mm or greater, regardless of 
thickness, and 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 of 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 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 achieve 
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 unless the resulting measurement makes the product 
covered by the existing antidumping \14\ or countervailing duty \15\ 
orders on Certain Cut-To-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate Products 
From the Republic of Korea (A-580-836; C-580-837), and
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    \14\ Notice of Amendment of Final Determinations of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Orders: Certain Cut-To-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate Products From France, India, 
Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the Republic of Korea, 65 FR 6585 
(February 10, 2000).
    \15\ Notice of Amended Final Determinations: Certain Cut-to-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From India and the Republic of 
Korea; and Notice of Countervailing Duty Orders: Certain Cut-To-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From France, India, Indonesia, 
Italy, and the Republic of Korea, 65 FR 6587 (February 10, 2000).
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    (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, or
     0.80 percent of molybdenum, or
     0.10 percent of niobium, 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, high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels, the 
substrate for motor lamination steels, Advanced High Strength Steels 
(AHSS), and Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS). 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. The substrate for motor 
lamination steels contains micro-alloying levels of elements such as 
silicon and aluminum. AHSS and UHSS are considered high tensile 
strength and high elongation steels, although AHSS and UHSS are 
covered whether or not they are high tensile strength or high 
elongation steels.
    Subject merchandise includes hot-rolled steel that has been 
further processed in a third country, including but not limited to 
pickling, oiling, levelling, annealing, tempering, temper rolling, 
skin passing, painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, punching, 
and/or slitting, or any other processing that would not otherwise 
remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if 
performed in the country of manufacture of the hot-rolled steel.
    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:
     Universal mill plates (i.e., hot-rolled, flat-rolled 
products not in coils that have been rolled on four faces or in a 
closed box pass, of a width exceeding 150 mm but not exceeding 1250 
mm, of a thickness not less than 4.0 mm, and without patterns in 
relief);
     Products that have been cold-rolled (cold-reduced) 
after hot-rolling; \16\
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    \16\ For purposes of this scope exclusion, rolling operations 
such as a skin pass, levelling, temper rolling or other minor 
rolling operations after the hot-rolling process for purposes of 
surface finish, flatness, shape control, or gauge control do not 
constitute cold-rolling sufficient to meet this exclusion.
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     Ball bearing steels; \17\
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    \17\ Ball bearing steels are defined as steels which contain, in 
addition to iron, each of the following elements by weight in the 
amount specified: (i) Not less than 0.95 nor more than 1.13 percent 
of carbon; (ii) not less than 0.22 nor more than 0.48 percent of 
manganese; (iii) none, or not more than 0.03 percent of sulfur; (iv) 
none, or not more than 0.03 percent of phosphorus; (v) not less than 
0.18 nor more than 0.37 percent of silicon; (vi) not less than 1.25 
nor more than 1.65 percent of chromium; (vii) none, or not more than 
0.28 percent of nickel; (viii) none, or not more than 0.38 percent 
of copper; and (ix) none, or not more than 0.09 percent of 
molybdenum.
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     Tool steels; \18\ and
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    \18\ Tool steels are defined as steels which contain the 
following combinations of elements in the quantity by weight 
respectively indicated: (i) More than 1.2 percent carbon and more 
than 10.5 percent chromium; or (ii) not less than 0.3 percent carbon 
and 1.25 percent or more but less than 10.5 percent chromium; or 
(iii) not less than 0.85 percent carbon and 1 percent to 1.8 
percent, inclusive, manganese; or (iv) 0.9 percent to 1.2 percent, 
inclusive, chromium and 0.9 percent to 1.4 percent, inclusive, 
molybdenum; or (v) not less than 0.5 percent carbon and not less 
than 3.5 percent molybdenum; or (vi) not less than 0.5 percent 
carbon and not less than 5.5 percent tungsten.
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     Silico-manganese steels; \19\
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    \19\ Silico-manganese steel is defined as steels containing by 
weight: (i) Not more than 0.7 percent of carbon; (ii) 0.5 percent or 
more but not more than 1.9 percent of manganese, and (iii) 0.6 
percent or more but not more than 2.3 percent of silicon.
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    The products subject to this investigation are currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under item numbers: 7208.10.1500, 7208.10.3000, 
7208.10.6000, 7208.25.3000, 7208.25.6000, 7208.26.0030, 
7208.26.0060, 7208.27.0030, 7208.27.0060, 7208.36.0030, 
7208.36.0060, 7208.37.0030, 7208.37.0060, 7208.38.0015, 
7208.38.0030, 7208.38.0090, 7208.39.0015, 7208.39.0030, 
7208.39.0090, 7208.40.6030, 7208.40.6060, 7208.53.0000, 
7208.54.0000, 7208.90.0000, 7210.70.3000, 7211.14.0030, 
7211.14.0090, 7211.19.1500, 7211.19.2000, 7211.19.3000, 
7211.19.4500, 7211.19.6000, 7211.19.7530, 7211.19.7560, 
7211.19.7590, 7225.11.0000, 7225.19.0000, 7225.30.3050, 
7225.30.7000, 7225.40.7000, 7225.99.0090, 7226.11.1000, 
7226.11.9030, 7226.11.9060, 7226.19.1000, 7226.19.9000, 
7226.91.5000, 7226.91.7000, and 7226.91.8000. The products subject 
to the investigation may also enter under the following HTSUS 
numbers: 7210.90.9000, 7211.90.0000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, 
7212.50.0000, 7214.91.0015, 7214.91.0060, 7214.91.0090, 
7214.99.0060, 7214.99.0075, 7214.99.0090, 7215.90.5000, 
7226.99.0180, and 7228.60.6000.
    The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and 
U.S. Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of 
the investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances
V. Scope of the Investigation

[[Page 15238]]

VI. Scope Comments
VII. All-Others Rate
VIII. Discussion of Methodology
    A. Determination of the Comparison Method
    B. Results of the Differential Pricing Analysis
    C. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
    1. Application of Facts Available With an Adverse Inference
    2. Selection of Information Used as Facts Available
    3. Selection and Corroboration of the AFA Rate
IX. Date of Sale
X. Product Comparisons
XI. Constructed Export Price
XII. Normal Value
    A. Comparison Market Viability
    B. Affiliated Party Transactions and Arm's-Length Test
    C. Level of Trade
    D. Cost of Production Analysis
    1. Calculation of COP
    2. Test of Comparison Market Sales Prices
    3. Results of the COP Test
    E. Calculation of NV Based on Comparison-Market Prices
XIII. Currency Conversion
XIV. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates For Export Subsidies in the 
Companion Countervailing Duty Investigation
XV. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2016-06449 Filed 3-21-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P