[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 106 (Monday, June 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25770-25771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-11562]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-944]


Oil Country Tubular Goods From the People's Republic of China: 
Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony With the Amended Final 
Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation

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

SUMMARY: On May 3, 2017, the United States Court of International Trade 
(CIT or the Court) entered final judgment sustaining the Department of 
Commerce's (Department) final remand redetermination concerning the 
countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of oil country tubular goods 
(OCTG) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Department is 
notifying the public of that the Court's final judgment in this case is 
not in harmony with the Department's amended final determination with 
respect to Jiangsu Changbao Steel Tube Co., Ltd. (Changbao), Tianjin 
Pipe (Group) Co. (TPCO), Wuxi Seamless Oil Pipe Co., Ltd. (Wuxi), and 
Zhejiang Jianli Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Jianli), and all other exporters 
and producers.

DATES: Effective May 13, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aimee Phelan or Jennifer Shore, 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) 482-0697 or (202) 482-2778, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On December 7, 2009, the Department published its final 
determination in the CVD investigation of OCTG from the PRC.\1\ On 
January 20, 2010, the Department published an amended final 
determination and the CVD order.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's 
Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination, Final Affirmative Critical Circumstances 
Determination, 74 FR 64045 (December 7, 2009) (Final Determination).
    \2\ See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's 
Republic of China: Amended Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Countervailing Duty Order, 75 FR 3203 (January 20, 
2010) (Amended Final Determination and Order).
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    The Court remanded aspects of the Department's findings for further 
consideration.\3\ In particular, in the Remand and Opinion Order, the 
CIT ordered the Department to clarify or reconsider: (1) Its use of the 
date of the PRC accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a 
uniform cut-off date for identifying and measuring subsidies in the 
PRC; (2) its attribution methodology for subsidies received by certain 
of Changbao's and TPCO's subsidiaries; (3) its decision to include 
Jianli's freight quote in the benchmark price for steel rounds and 
billets; and (4) its decision not to tie the benefit received by TPCO 
from the provision of steel rounds and billets at less-than-adequate 
remuneration to its sales of seamless steel pipe.\4\ Finally, the Court 
granted the Department's request for a voluntary remand to recalculate 
the benchmark for steel rounds without Steel Business Briefing (SBB) 
East Asia pricing data.\5\
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    \3\ See TMK IPSCO et al. v. United States, Consol. Court No. 10-
00055, Slip Op. 16-62 (CIT June 24, 2016) (Remand Opinion and 
Order).
    \4\ See Remand Opinion and Order, at 57.
    \5\ Id., at 58.
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    On December 20, 2016, the Department issued its Remand 
Redetermination.\6\ In its Remand Redetermination, the Department: (1) 
Evaluated certain subsidies and determined a date prior to the WTO 
accession date on which subsidies provided to the respondents could be 
identified and measured for purposes of the remand; (2) changed the 
methodology for attributing to Changbao and TPCO subsidies provided to 
certain of their subsidiaries; (3) continued to find that the freight 
rates used by the Department in the investigation to adjust the 
benchmark for steel rounds are representative of what an importer paid 
or would pay if it imported the product; (4) clarified the finding that 
the provision of steel rounds was not tied to TPCO's seamless steel 
pipe production; and (5) removed SBB East Asia pricing data from the 
benchmark for steel rounds. The resulting calculations changed the CVD 
rates calculated for Changbao, Jianli, TPCO, and Wuxi, as well as their 
respective cross-owned companies, and the all-others rate.
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    \6\ See Final Results of Remand Redetermination, Court No. 10-
00055, dated December 20, 2016, available at: http://ia.ita.doc.gov/remands/ (Remand Redetermination).
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    On May 3, 2017, the CIT sustained the Department's Remand 
Redetermination.\7\ In particular, the Court held that the Remand 
Redetermination ``adequately address{ed{time}  the concerns raised in 
the court's prior decision'' and was ``supported by substantial 
evidence.'' \8\
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    \7\ See TMK IPSCO v. United States, Consol. Court No. 10-00055, 
Slip Op. 17-54 (CIT May 3, 2017).
    \8\ Id. at 3.
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Timken Notice

    In its decision in Timken,\9\ as clarified by Diamond 
Sawblades,\10\ the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal 
Circuit (CAFC) held that, pursuant to section 516A(e) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended (the Act), the Department must publish a notice of 
a court decision that is not ``in harmony'' with a Department 
determination and must suspend liquidation of entries pending a 
``conclusive'' court decision. The CIT's May 3, 2017, final judgment 
affirming the Remand Redetermination constitutes a final decision of 
that court which is not in harmony with the Amended Final Determination 
and Order. This notice is published in fulfillment of the publication 
requirements of Timken.
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    \9\ See Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 
1990) (Timken).
    \10\ See Diamond Sawblades Mfrs. Coalition v. United States, 626 
F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (Diamond Sawblades).
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Amended Final Determination

    As there is now final court decision, the Department amends its 
Amended Final Determination and Order. The Department finds that the 
following revised net countervailable subsidy rates exist:

[[Page 25771]]



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                                                            Net subsidy
                    Producer/exporter                     rate (percent)
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Jiangsu Changbao Steel Tube Co. and Jiangsu Changbao               28.70
 Precision Steel Tube Co., Ltd..........................
Tianjin Pipe (Group) Co., Tianjin Pipe Iron                        21.48
 Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tianguan Yuantong Pipe Product
 Co., Ltd., Tianjin Pipe International Economic and
 Trading Co., Ltd., and TPCO Charging Development Co.,
 Ltd....................................................
Wuxi Seamless Pipe Co, Ltd., Jiangsu Fanli Steel Pipe              29.48
 Co, Ltd., Tuoketuo County Mengfeng Special Steel Co.,
 Ltd....................................................
Zhejiang Jianli Enterprise Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Jianli              30.56
 Steel Steel Tube Co., Ltd., Zhuji Jiansheng Machinery
 Co., Ltd., and Zhejiang Jianli Industry Group Co., Ltd.
All-Others..............................................           27.08
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Cash Deposit Requirements

    Because there has been a subsequent administrative review for Wuxi, 
the cash deposit rate for Wuxi will remain the rate established in the 
final results of the 2012 administrative review, which is 59.29 
percent.\11\ Because there have been no subsequent administrative 
reviews for Changbao, TPCO, and Jianli, the Department will instruct 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to set the cash deposit rates 
for these companies to the rates listed above, again, pending a final 
and conclusive court decision.\12\
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    \11\ See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's 
Republic of China: Final Results of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2012, 79 FR 52301 (September 3, 2014).
    \12\ As explained in the Remand Redetermination, the Department 
established new cash deposit rates for TPCO and all-others in 
proceedings conducted under section 129 of the Uruguay Round 
Agreements Act. See Implementation of Determinations Pursuant to 
Section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, 81 FR 37180, 37182 
(June 9, 2016). The Department used these revised rates as the basis 
for calculating revised cash deposit rates in the Remand 
Redetermination. See Remand Redetermination at 56.
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    Pursuant to section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, companies not 
individually investigated are assigned an ``all-others'' 
countervailable duty rate. As a general rule, the all-others rate is 
equal to the weighted average countervailable subsidy rates established 
for individually investigated producers and producers, excluding any 
zero and de minimis countervailable subsidy rates.\13\ The Department 
will instruct CBP that the ``all-others'' cash deposit rate is to be 
amended to reflect the weighted-average of the revised subsidy rates 
calculated for Changbao, TPCO, Wuxi, and Jianli, as listed above.
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    \13\ See section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act.
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    This notice is issued and published in accordance with sections 
516A(e)(1), 705(c)(1)(B), and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: May 30, 2017.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2017-11562 Filed 6-2-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P