[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 162 (Monday, August 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56584-56586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-20024]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-036]


Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products From the People's 
Republic of China: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value, Affirmative Determination of Critical 
Circumstances, in Part, 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 biaxial integral geogrid products 
(``geogrids'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') are being, 
or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(``LTFV''). The period of investigation (``POI'') is July 1, 2015, 
through December 31, 2015. The estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this 
notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination.

DATES: Effective August 22, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Pulongbarit or Julia Hancock, 
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-
4031 or (202) 482-1394, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department published the notice of initiation of this 
investigation on February 16, 2016.\1\ For a complete description of 
the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum, which is dated concurrently with this 
determination and hereby adopted by this notice.\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 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 Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products From the 
People's Republic of China: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigation, 81 FR 7755 (February 16, 2016) (``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 
``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in the 
Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid 
Products from the People's Republic of China,'' dated concurrently 
with and hereby adopted by this notice (``Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum'').
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Scope of the Investigation

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

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to the Department's regulations,\3\ 
the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\4\ Certain interested 
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in 
the Initiation Notice, as well as additional language proposed by the 
Department. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal 
responses submitted to the record for this preliminary determination, 
and accompanying discussion and analysis of all comments timely 
received, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\5\ The Department is 
preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice to clarify the definition of the term ``molecular 
orientation'' as it relates to geogrids covered by the scope of this 
investigation. See ``Scope of the Investigation,'' in Appendix I, which 
includes the additional clarifying language.
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    \3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296, 
27323 (May 19, 1997).
    \4\ See Initiation Notice, 80 FR at 37229.
    \5\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). We 
calculated export prices in accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. 
Because the PRC is a non-market economy within the meaning of section 
771(18) of the Act, we calculated normal value (``NV'') in accordance 
with section 773(c) of the Act. For a full description of the 
methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in 
Part

    On May 2, 2016, Petitioner timely filed an amendment to the 
Petition, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.206(c)(2)(i), alleging that critical circumstances exist with 
respect to imports of the merchandise under consideration.\6\ We 
preliminarily

[[Page 56585]]

determine that critical circumstances exist for Taian Modern \7\ and 
the PRC-wide entity. However, for BOSTD,\8\ we preliminarily determine 
that critical circumstances do not exist. For a full description of the 
methodology and results of our analysis, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \6\ See Letter from Petitioner, ``Amendment to Petition for the 
Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Biaxial 
Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic of China'' (May 
2, 2016) (``CC Allegation'').
    \7\ Taian Modem Plastic Co., Ltd. (``Taian Modern'').
    \8\ BOSTD Geosynthetics Qingdao Ltd. (``BOSTD'').
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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.\9\
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    \9\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, 
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination 
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy 
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on 
the Department's Web site at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Preliminary Determination

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

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                                                                               Weighted- average  dumping margin
                 Exporter                               Producer                           (percent)
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BOSTD Geosynthetics Qingdao Ltd..........  BOSTD Geosynthetics Qingdao Ltd..  00.00
Taian Modern Plastic Co., Ltd............  Taian Modern Plastic Co., Ltd....  38.92
PRC-Wide Entity..........................  .................................  66.74
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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 geogrids from the PRC as described in the scope of the 
investigation section entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register except for those produced and exported by BOSTD. 
Because the estimated preliminary weighted-average dumping margin for 
BOSTD is zero, we are not directing CBP to suspend liquidation of 
entries of the merchandise it produced and exported.
    Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides 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. We preliminarily find 
that critical circumstances exist for imports of geogrids from the PRC 
produced or exported by Taian Modern and the PRC-wide entity. 
Accordingly, for Taian Modern and the PRC-wide entity, in accordance 
with section 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension of liquidation 
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.
    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 \10\ equal 
to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price as 
follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for the exporter/producer 
combination listed in the table above will be the rate identified for 
that combination in the table; (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 
the cash deposit rate established for the PRC-wide entity, 66.74 
percent; and (3) for all non-PRC exporters of the 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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    We normally adjust antidumping duty cash deposit rates by the 
amount of export subsidies, where appropriate. In the companion CVD 
investigation, we preliminarily found that Taian Modern did not receive 
export subsidies. Therefore, no offset to Taian Modern's cash deposit 
rates for export subsidies is necessary.\11\ With respect to BOSTD, 
because it is receiving a zero margin, there is no cash deposit rate 
for BOSTD and therefore no need to make an offset to its' cash deposit 
rate.\12\ For the PRC-wide entity, which received an adverse facts 
available rate based on information contained in the Petition, as an 
extension of the adverse inference found necessary pursuant to section 
776(b) of the Act, the Department has adjusted the PRC-wide entity's AD 
cash deposit rate by the lowest export subsidy rate determined for any 
party in the companion CVD proceeding.\13\ Here, that rate is zero and 
thus, no adjustment is necessary for the PRC-wide rate.14 15
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    \11\ See Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Biaxial 
Integral Geogrid Products From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Determination and Alignment of Final Determination With 
Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 81 FR 4292 (June 24, 2016) and 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum (``Geogrids CVD 
Preliminary Determination'') (unchanged in Certain Biaxial Integral 
Geogrid Products From the People's Republic of China: Amended 
Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 81 FR 
48384 (July 25, 2016) (``Geogrids Amended CVD Preliminary 
Determination'')).
    \12\ See Aluminum Extrusions From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 
and Rescission, in Part; 2013-2014, 80 FR 32347 (June 8, 2015) 
unchanged at Aluminum Extrusions From the People's Republic of 
China: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 
2013-2014, 80 FR 75060 (December 1, 2015).
    \13\ See, e.g., Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires 
From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value; Preliminary Affirmative Determination 
of Critical Circumstances; In Part and Postponement of Final 
Determination, 80 FR 4250 (January 27, 2015), and accompanying 
Issues and Decision Memorandum at 35.
    \14\ Id.
    \15\ See Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks from the People's Republic 
of China: Antidumping Duty Investigation, 77 FR 60673 (October 4, 
2012) (``unchanged in Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks form the People's 
Republic of China: Investigation, Final Determination, 78 FR 13019 
(February 26, 2013). Because the lowest export subsidy rate 
determined for any party in the companion CVD investigation, which 
is 0.00 percent for Taian Modern, the Department is not adjusting 
the cash deposit rate applicable to the PRC-wide entity. See 
Geogrids CVD Preliminary Determination at 31-2 (Foreign Trade 
Promotion Fund section).
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    Pursuant to section 777A(f) of the Act, we normally adjust 
preliminary cash deposit rates for estimated domestic subsidy pass-
through, where appropriate. However, in this case there

[[Page 56586]]

is no basis to grant a domestic subsidy pass-through adjustment. See 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested 
parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of announcement 
of this preliminary determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 
Interested parties may submit case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearing 
requests.\16\ For a schedule of the deadlines for filing case briefs, 
rebuttal briefs, and hearing requests, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum at Section IX.
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    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d), 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 
Petitioners. 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.
    On July 11, 2016, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(b) and (e), Taian 
Modern requested that, contingent upon an affirmative preliminary 
determination of sales at LTFV, the Department postpone the final 
determination and that provisional measures be extended to a period not 
to exceed six months.\17\
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    \17\ See Letter to the Secretary of Commerce from Taian Modern 
Plastic Co., Ltd.,''Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from 
the People's Republic of China: Request to Extend Final 
Determination'' (July 11, 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 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 120 days after the date of publication of 
this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the 
Act.\18\
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    \18\ 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 will notify 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 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: August 16, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by the scope are certain biaxial integral 
geogrid products. Biaxial integral geogrid products are a polymer 
grid or mesh material (whether or not finished, slit, cut-to-length, 
attached to woven or non-woven fabric or sheet material, or 
packaged) in which four-sided openings in the form of squares, 
rectangles, rhomboids, diamonds, or other four-sided figures 
predominate. The products covered have integral strands that have 
been stretched to induce molecular orientation into the material (as 
evidenced by the strands being thinner in width toward the middle 
between the junctions than at the junctions themselves) constituting 
the sides of the openings and integral junctions where the strands 
intersect. The scope includes products in which four-sided figures 
predominate whether or not they also contain additional strands 
intersecting the four-sided figures and whether or not the inside 
corners of the four-sided figures are rounded off or not sharp 
angles. As used herein, the term ``integral'' refers to strands and 
junctions that are homogenous with each other. The products covered 
have a tensile strength of greater than 5 kilonewtons per meter 
(``kN/m'') according to American Society for Testing and Materials 
(``ASTM'') Standard Test Method D6637/D6637M in any direction and 
average overall flexural stiffness of more than 100,000 milligram-
centimeter according to the ASTM D7748/D7748M Standard Test Method 
for Flexural Rigidity of Geogrids, Geotextiles and Related Products, 
or other equivalent test method standards.
    Subject merchandise includes material matching the above 
description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise further 
processed in a third country, including by trimming, slitting, 
coating, cutting, punching holes, stretching, attaching to woven or 
non-woven fabric or sheet material, or any other finishing, 
packaging, or other further processing that would not otherwise 
remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigations if 
performed in the country of manufacture of the biaxial integral 
geogrid.
    The products subject to the scope are currently classified in 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS'') 
under the following subheading: 3926.90.9995. Subject merchandise 
may also enter under subheadings 3920.20.0050 and 3925.90.0000. The 
HTSUS subheadings set forth above are provided for convenience and 
U.S. Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope is 
dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures
V. Scope Comments
VI. Selection of Respondents
VII. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part
VIII. Scope of the Investigation
IX. Discussion of the Methodology
    a. Non-Market Economy Country
    b. Surrogate Country and Surrogate Values Comments
    c. Separate Rates
    d. Combination Rates
    e. Affiliation
    f. The PRC-wide Entity
    g. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
    h. Date of Sale
    i. Comparisons to Fair Value
X. Currency Conversion
XI. Export Subsidy Adjustment
XII. Adjustment Under Section 777a(f) of the Act
XIII. Disclosure and Public Comment
XIV. Verification
XV. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2016-20024 Filed 8-19-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P