[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9192-9193]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02299]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-863]


Honey From the People's Republic of China: Initiation of 
Antidumping Duty New Shipper Review; 2015-2016

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

DATES: Effective February 3, 2017.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is initiating 
a new shipper review (``NSR'') with respect to Jiangsu Runchen 
Agricultural/Sideline Foodstuff Co., Ltd. (``Jiangsu Runchen'') in the 
context of the antidumping duty order on honey from the People's 
Republic of China (``PRC''). The period of review (``POR'') for this 
NSR is December 1, 2015, through November 30, 2016.

DATES: Effective February 3, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Bethea, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 202-482-1491.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Department published the antidumping duty order on honey from 
the PRC in the Federal Register on

[[Page 9193]]

December 10, 2001.\1\ On December 23, 2016, the Department received a 
NSR request from Jiangsu Runchen.\2\ Jiangsu Runchen certified that it 
is the exporter and producer of the honey upon which the request for a 
NSR is based.\3\ Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.214(b)(2)(ii), Jiangsu Runchen certified that it did not export 
honey for sale to the United States during the period of investigation 
(``POI'').\4\ Moreover, pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(B)(i)(II) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.214(b)(2)(iii)(A), Jiangsu Runchen certified that, 
since the initiation of the investigation, it has never been affiliated 
with any PRC exporter or producer who exported subject merchandise to 
the United States during the POI, including those respondents not 
individually examined during the investigation.\5\ Further, as required 
by 19 CFR 351.214(b)(2)(iii)(B), it certified that its export 
activities were not controlled by the central government of the PRC.\6\ 
Jiangsu Runchen also certified it had no shipments of subject 
merchandise subsequent to the POR.\7\
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    \1\ See Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order; Honey from the People's 
Republic of China, 66 FR 63670 (December 10, 2001) (``Order'').
    \2\ See Letter to the Secretary from Jiangsu Runchen, ``Honey 
from the People's Republic of China Request for New Shipper 
Review,'' dated December 23, 2015 (``NSR Request'').
    \3\ Id. at 2 and Attachment 1.
    \4\ Id. at Attachment 1.
    \5\ Id.
    \6\ Id.
    \7\ Id.
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    In addition to the certifications described above, pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.214(b)(2)(iv), Jiangsu Runchen submitted documentation 
establishing the following: (1) The date on which it first shipped 
subject merchandise for export to the United States; (2) the volume of 
its first shipment and subsequent shipments; and (3) the date of its 
first sale to an unaffiliated customer in the United States.\8\
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    \8\ Id. at Attachment 2.
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    The Department queried the database of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (``CBP'') in an attempt to confirm that the shipment 
reported by Jiangsu Runchen had entered the United States for 
consumption and that liquidation had been properly suspended for 
antidumping duties. The information which the Department examined was 
consistent with that provided by Jiangsu Runchen in its request.\9\
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    \9\ See Memorandum to the File from Carrie Bethea, International 
Trade Compliance Analyst, Office V, ``U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection Query Results for Jiangsu Runchen,'' dated concurrently 
with this notice.
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Period of Review

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.214(c), an exporter or producer may request 
a NSR within one year of the date on which its subject merchandise was 
first entered. Moreover, 19 CFR 351.214(d)(1) states that if the 
request for the review is made during the six-month period ending with 
the end of the anniversary month, the Secretary will initiate a NSR in 
the calendar month immediately following the anniversary month. 
Further, 19 CFR 351.214(g)(1)(i)(A) states that if the NSR was 
initiated in the month immediately following the anniversary month, the 
POR will be the 12-month period immediately preceding the anniversary 
month. Jiangsu Runchen made the request for a NSR that included all 
documents and information required by the statute and regulations, 
within one year of the date on which its honey first entered. Its 
request was filed in December, which is the anniversary month of the 
Order. Therefore, the POR is December 1, 2015, through November 30, 
2016.

Initiation of New Shipper Review

    Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Act, 19 CFR 351.214(b) and 
based on the information on the record, the Department finds that 
Jiangsu Runchen's request meets the threshold requirements for 
initiation of a NSR for shipments of honey from the PRC produced and 
exported by Jiangsu Runchen. Accordingly, the Department is initiating 
a NSR of Jiangsu Runchen.\10\ Absent a determination that the new 
shipper review is extraordinarily complicated, the Department intends 
to issue the preliminary results of this NSR within 180 days from the 
date of initiation and the final results within 90 days after the date 
on which the preliminary results are issued.\11\ If the information 
supplied by Jiangsu Runchen is found to be incorrect or insufficient 
during the course of this proceeding, the Department may rescind the 
review for Jiangsu Runchen or apply facts available pursuant to section 
776 of the Act, depending on the facts on the record.
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    \10\ See `Memorandum to the File, from Carrie Bethea, 
International Trade Compliance Analyst, ``Honey from the People's 
Republic of China: New Shipper Initiation Checklist,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice.
    \11\ See Section 751(a)(2)(B)(iv) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.214(i).
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    It is the Department's usual practice, in cases involving non-
market economies (``NMEs''), to require that a company seeking to 
establish eligibility for an antidumping duty rate separate from the 
country-wide rate (i.e., a separate rate) provide evidence of de jure 
and de facto absence of government control over the company's export 
activities.\12\ Accordingly, the Department will issue questionnaires 
to Jiangsu Runchen that will include a section requesting information 
concerning its eligibility for a separate rate. The NSR will proceed if 
the responses provide sufficient indication that Jiangsu Runchen is not 
subject to either de jure or de facto government control with respect 
to its exports of honey from the PRC.
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    \12\ See Import Administration Policy Bulletin Number: 05.1. 
(http://ia.ita.doc.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf).
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    On February 24, 2016, the President signed into law the ``Trade 
Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015,'' Public Law 114-125, 
which made several amendments to section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Act. We 
will conduct this new shipper review in accordance with section 
751(a)(2)(B) of the Act, as amended by the Trade Facilitation and Trade 
Enforcement Act of 2015.\13\
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    \13\ The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 
removed from section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Act the provision directing 
the Department to instruct Customs and Border Protection to allow an 
importer the option of posting a bond or security in lieu of a cash 
deposit during the pendency of a new shipper review.
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    Interested parties requiring access to proprietary information in 
this NSR should submit applications for disclosure under administrative 
protective order, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305 and 19 CFR 351.306.
    This initiation and notice are in accordance with section 
751(a)(2)(B) of the Act, 19 CFR 351.214, and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i).

    Dated: January 30, 2017.
Gary Taverman,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations.
[FR Doc. 2017-02299 Filed 2-2-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P