[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 140 (Thursday, July 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47349-47351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17315]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-489-825]


Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes From 
the Republic of Turkey: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters 
of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes (HWR 
pipes and tubes) from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey) as provided in 
section 705 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For 
information on the estimated subsidy rates, see the ``Final 
Determination'' section of this notice. The period of investigation 
(POI) is January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014.

DATES: Effective July 21, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Smith or Aqmar Rahman, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-1766 
or (202) 482-0768, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department published the Preliminary Determination on December 
28, 2015.\1\ A summary of the events that occurred since the Department 
issued the Preliminary Determination may be found in the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum which is hereby incorporated.\2\ Additionally, this 
memorandum details the changes we made since the Preliminary 
Determination to the subsidy rates calculated for the mandatory 
respondents and all other producer/exporters. 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 http://access.trade.gov, and is available to all 
parties in the Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department 
of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the

[[Page 47350]]

Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at http://trade.gov/enforcement. The signed Issues and Decision Memorandum and 
the electronic version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.
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    \1\ See Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and 
Tubes From the Republic of Turkey: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Investigation and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 80 FR 80749 
(December 28, 2015) (Preliminary Determination).
    \2\ 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 Heavy Walled Rectangular 
Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from the Republic of Turkey: Issues and 
Decision Memorandum for the Final Determination,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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    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 closure of 
the Federal Government. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
have been extended by four business days. The revised deadline for the 
final determination is July 14, 2016.\3\
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    \3\ See Memorandum to the Record from Ron Lorentzen, Acting A/S 
for Enforcement & Compliance, ``Tolling of Administrative Deadlines 
As a Result of the Government Closure During Snowstorm Jonas'' 
(January 27, 2016).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation is HWR pipes and 
tubes from Turkey. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I.
    The Department did not receive comments regarding the scope of this 
investigation.

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 Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues 
that parties raised, and to which we responded in the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum, is attached to this notice at Appendix II.

Use of Facts Available, Including Adverse Inferences

    In making this final determination, we relied, in part, on facts 
available and, because MMZ Onur Boru Profil uretim San Ve Tic. A.S. 
(MMZ) and Ozdemir Boru Profil San ve Tic. Ltd Sti. (Ozdemir) did not 
act to the best of their ability to respond to the Department's 
requests for information, we drew an adverse inference where 
appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available with 
respect to those respondents.\4\ For further information, see the 
section ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' in 
the accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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    \4\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Final Determination

    In accordance with section 705(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated rates for MMZ and Ozdemir, the two individually investigated 
exporters/producers of the subject merchandise that participated in 
this investigation. 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. The ``all-
others'' rate does not include zero and de minimis rates or any rates 
based solely on the facts available.\5\ We intend to disclose to 
parties the calculations performed in this proceeding within five days 
of the public announcement of this final determination in accordance 
with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
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    \5\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Calculation of the `All-
Others' Rate in the Final Determination of the Countervailing Duty 
Investigation of Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes 
and Tubes from the Republic of Turkey'' (July 14, 2016). We 
calculated a weighted average of the rates of MMZ and Ozdemir using 
publicly-ranged data so as not to disclose the respondents' business 
proprietary information.
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    We determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                    Exporter/Producer                        (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MMZ Onur Boru Profil uretim San Ve Tic. A.S.............           23.37
Ozdemir Boru Profil San ve Tic. Ltd Sti.................           15.08
All Others..............................................           19.06
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Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our affirmative Preliminary Determination, and 
pursuant to section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries of 
merchandise under consideration from Turkey that were entered or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or after December 28, 
2015, the date of 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 April 26, 2016, but to continue the suspension 
of liquidation of all entries from December 28, 2015 through April 25, 
2016.
    We will issue a CVD order and reinstate the suspension of 
liquidation in accordance with our final determination and under 
section 706(a) of the Act if the United States International Trade 
Commission (ITC) issues a final affirmative injury determination, and 
we will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit of estimated 
countervailing duties 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 as a result of the suspension of 
liquidation will be refunded.

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 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 (APO), without the written 
consent of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Return or Destruction of Proprietary Information

    This notice serves as the only 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 is issued and published pursuant to sections 
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act.

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

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain heavy 
walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes of rectangular 
(including square) cross section, having a nominal wall thickness of 
not less than 4 mm. The merchandise includes, but is not limited to, 
the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A-500, grade B 
specifications, or comparable domestic or foreign specifications.
    Included products are those 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

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(3) none of the elements 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
     2.0 percent of nickel, or
     0.30 percent of tungsten, 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.
    The subject merchandise is currently provided for in item 
7306.61.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS). Subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS 
7306.61.3000. While the HTSUS subheadings and ASTM specification are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
    A. Case History
    B. Period of Investigation
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
    A. Application of Adverse Facts (AFA): MMZ and Ozdemir
    B. Selection of AFA Rates
    C. Corroboration of Secondary Information Used to Derive AFA 
Rates
V. Subsidies Valuation
    A. Allocation Period
    B. Attribution of Subsidies
    C. Denominators
    D. Benchmark Interest Rates
VI. Analysis of Programs
    A. Programs Determined to be Countervailable
    1. Provision of HRS for LTAR
    2. Provision of Land for LTAR
    3. Deduction from Taxable Income for Export Revenue
    4. Export Financing
    5. Investment Encouragement Program (IEP) Customs Duty and VAT 
Exemptions
    6. Law 6486: Social Security Premium Incentive
    B. Programs Determined to be Not Used
VII. Analysis of Comments
    Comment 1: Provision of HRS for LTAR
    A. Whether Erdemir and Isdemir Are ``Authorities''
    B. Whether the HRS for LTAR Program is De Facto Specific
    C. Whether the Department's HRS Purchase Price Comparison is 
Distortive
    Comment 2: Provision of Land for LTAR Program
    Comment 3: Ministerial Errors
    Comment 4: Treatment of Income from Services in Ozdemir's Total 
Sales Denominator
VIII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2016-17315 Filed 7-20-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P