[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 4 (Friday, January 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1696-1698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00036]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-896]


Magnesium Metal From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2015-2016

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') is conducting the 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal 
from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''), covering the period 
April 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016. The Department preliminarily 
determines that Tianjin Magnesium International, Co., Ltd. (``TMI'') 
and Tianjin Magnesium Metal, Co., Ltd. (``TMM'') did not have 
reviewable entries during the period of review (``POR''). We invite 
interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

[[Page 1697]]


DATES: Effective January 6, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Terpstra or Brendan Quinn, AD/
CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3965 or (202) 
482-5848, respectively.

Background

    On April 1, 2016, the Department published a notice of opportunity 
to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
magnesium metal from the PRC for the POR.\1\ On April 29, 2016, in 
response to a timely request from Petitioner,\2\ and in accordance with 
section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the ``Act''), and 
19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), we initiated an administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the PRC with respect to 
TMI and TMM.\3\
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    \1\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity To Request Administrative 
Review, 81 FR 18826 (April 1, 2016).
    \2\ See letter from U.S. Magnesium LLC (``Petitioner''), 
``Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China: Request for 
Administrative Review,'' dated April 29, 2016.
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 81 FR 36268 (June 6, 2016).
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by this order is magnesium metal from the PRC, 
which includes primary and secondary alloy magnesium metal, regardless 
of chemistry, raw material source, form, shape, or size. Magnesium is a 
metal or alloy containing by weight primarily the element magnesium. 
Primary magnesium is produced by decomposing raw materials into 
magnesium metal. Secondary magnesium is produced by recycling 
magnesium-based scrap into magnesium metal. The magnesium covered by 
this order includes blends of primary and secondary magnesium.
    The subject merchandise includes the following alloy magnesium 
metal products made from primary and/or secondary magnesium including, 
without limitation, magnesium cast into ingots, slabs, rounds, billets, 
and other shapes; magnesium ground, chipped, crushed, or machined into 
rasping, granules, turnings, chips, powder, briquettes, and other 
shapes; and products that contain 50 percent or greater, but less than 
99.8 percent, magnesium, by weight, and that have been entered into the 
United States as conforming to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium 
Alloy''\4\ and are thus outside the scope of the existing antidumping 
orders on magnesium from the PRC (generally referred to as ``alloy'' 
magnesium).
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    \4\ The meaning of this term is the same as that used by the 
American Society for Testing and Materials in its Annual Book for 
ASTM Standards: Volume 01.02 Aluminum and Magnesium Alloys.
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    The scope of this order excludes: (1) All forms of pure magnesium, 
including chemical combinations of magnesium and other material(s) in 
which the pure magnesium content is 50 percent or greater, but less 
than 99.8 percent, by weight, that do not conform to an ``ASTM 
Specification for Magnesium Alloy'' \5\; (2) magnesium that is in 
liquid or molten form; and (3) mixtures containing 90 percent or less 
magnesium in granular or powder form by weight and one or more of 
certain non-magnesium granular materials to make magnesium-based 
reagent mixtures, including lime, calcium metal, calcium silicon, 
calcium carbide, calcium carbonate, carbon, slag coagulants, fluorspar, 
nephaline syenite, feldspar, alumina (Al203), calcium aluminate, soda 
ash, hydrocarbons, graphite, coke, silicon, rare earth metals/
mischmetal, cryolite, silica/fly ash, magnesium oxide, periclase, 
ferroalloys, dolomite lime, and colemanite.\6\
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    \5\ The material is already covered by existing antidumping 
orders. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Orders: Pure Magnesium from 
the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and Ukraine; 
Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Pure Magnesium From the 
Russian Federation, 60 FR 25691 (May 12, 1995); and Antidumping Duty 
Order: Pure Magnesium in Granular Form from the People's Republic of 
China, 66 FR 57936 (November 19, 2001).
    \6\ This third exclusion for magnesium-based reagent mixtures is 
based on the exclusion for reagent mixtures in the 2000-2001 
investigations of magnesium from China, Israel, and Russia. See 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Pure Magnesium 
in Granular Form From the People's Republic of China, 66 FR 49345 
(September 27, 2001); Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Pure Magnesium From Israel, 66 FR 49349 (September 27, 2001); 
Final Determination of Sales at Not Less Than Fair Value: Pure 
Magnesium From the Russian Federation, 66 FR 49347 (September 27, 
2001). These mixtures are not magnesium alloys, because they are not 
combined in liquid form and cast into the same ingot.
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    The merchandise subject to this order is classifiable under items 
8104.19.00, and 8104.30.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS items are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
merchandise is dispositive.

Preliminary Determination of No Shipments

    We received timely submissions from TMM and TMI certifying that 
they did not have sales, shipments, or exports of subject merchandise 
to the United States during the POR.\7\ On July 11, 2016, we requested 
the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') data file of entries 
of subject merchandise imported into the United States during the POR, 
and exported by TMM and/or TMI. This query returned no entries during 
the POR.\8\ Additionally, in order to examine TMM's and TMI's claim, we 
sent an inquiry to CBP requesting that it provide any information 
contrary to these no-shipments claims.\9\ We received no notification 
from CBP of any entries of subject merchandise concerning these 
companies. On August 15, 2016, Petitioner, submitted public information 
it alleged contradicts TMM's and TMI's certifications of no shipments 
of subject merchandise during the POR.\10\
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    \7\ See letter from TMM, ``Magnesium Metal From the People's 
Republic of China; A-570-896; Certification of No Sales by Tianjin 
Magnesium Metal Co., Ltd.,'' dated June 24, 2016, at 1. See letter 
from TMI, ``Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China; A-
570-896; Certification of No Sales by Tianjin Magnesium 
International, Co., Ltd.,'' dated July 1, 2016, at 1.
    \8\ See Memorandum to the File, ``RE: U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection Data,'' dated September 29, 2016 (``No Shipments Memo''), 
at Attachment 1.
    \9\ See No Shipments Memo, at Attachment 2. See also CBP message 
6250303, dated 09/06/2016.
    \10\ See letter from Petitioner, ``Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China: Response to TMM/TMI's No Shipment 
Certifications,'' dated August 15, 2016, at Exhibits 1-3. We 
provided the information submitted by Petitioner to CBP on November 
4, 2016. See the Department's letter to Alexander Amdur, Director, 
AD/CVD Policy & Programs Division, Office of International Trade 
U.S. Customs & Border Protection, from Wendy J. Frankel Director, 
Customs Liaison Unit, ``Pure Magnesium from the People's Republic of 
China and Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China,'' 
dated November 4, 2016, at Attachment II.
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    Because we have not received information to the contrary from CBP, 
consistent with our practice, we preliminarily determine that TMI and 
TMM had no shipments and, therefore, no reviewable entries during the 
POR. In addition, we find it is not appropriate to rescind the review 
with respect to these companies but, rather, to complete the review 
with respect to TMI and TMM and issue appropriate instructions to CBP 
based on the final results of the review, consistent with our practice 
in non-market economy (``NME'') cases.\11\
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    \11\ See Glycine From the People's Republic of China: Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 2014-2015, 81 FR 
72567 (October 20, 2016) and the ``Assessment Rates'' section, 
below.

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[[Page 1698]]

Public Comment

    Interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register.\12\ Rebuttals to case briefs, which must be limited to issues 
raised in the case briefs, must be filed within five days after the 
date for filing case briefs.\13\ Parties who submit arguments are 
requested to submit with each argument (a) a statement of the issue, 
(b) a brief summary of the argument, and (c) a table of 
authorities.\14\ Parties submitting briefs should do so pursuant to the 
Department's electronic filing system: Enforcement and Compliance's 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service 
System (``ACCESS'').\15\ ACCESS is available to registered users at 
https://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the 
Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce 
building.
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1)(2).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2), (d)(2).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.303 (for general filing requirements).
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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 
within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice. Hearing 
requests should contain the following information: (1) The party's 
name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; 
and (3) a list of the issues parties intend to discuss. Issues raised 
in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case 
and rebuttal briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, parties will 
be notified of the time and date of the hearing which will be held at 
the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.
    Unless extended, we intend to issue the final results of this 
administrative review, including our analysis of all issues raised in 
any written brief, within 120 days of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results, the Department will determine, 
and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries 
covered by this review.\16\ We intend to issue assessment instructions 
to CBP 15 days after the publication date of the final results of this 
review. Pursuant to the Department's practice in NME cases, if we 
continue to determine in the final results that TMI and TMM had no 
shipments of subject merchandise, any suspended entries of subject 
merchandise during the POR from these companies will be liquidated at 
the PRC-wide rate.\17\
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    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
    \17\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Non-Market 
Economy Antidumping Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
76 FR 65694 (October 24, 2011).
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Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this administrative review for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
final results of review, as provided for by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the 
Act: (1) For TMI, which claimed no shipments, the cash deposit rate 
will remain unchanged from the rate assigned to TMI in the most 
recently completed review of the company; (2) for previously 
investigated or reviewed PRC and non-PRC exporters who are not under 
review in this segment of the proceeding but who have separate rates, 
the cash deposit rate will continue to be the exporter-specific rate 
published for the most recent period; (3) for all PRC exporters of 
subject merchandise that have not been found to be entitled to a 
separate rate (including TMM, which claimed no shipments, but has not 
been found to be separate from the PRC-wide entity), the cash deposit 
rate will be the PRC-wide rate of 141.49 percent; and (4) for all non-
PRC exporters of subject merchandise which have not received their own 
rate, the cash deposit rate will be the rate applicable to the PRC 
exporter(s) that supplied that non-PRC exporter. These deposit 
requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further 
notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this period. Failure to comply with this 
requirement may result in the Secretary's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.
    This notice is issued in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 
777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: December 29, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2017-00036 Filed 1-5-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P