[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 124 (Thursday, June 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29481-29483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-13629]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-835]


Finished Carbon Steel Flanges From Italy: Final Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Department) determines that 
imports of finished carbon steel flanges (flanges) from Italy are 
being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair 
value (LTFV). The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins of 
sales at LTFV are listed below in the section entitled ``Final 
Determination.'' The period of investigation is April 1, 2015, through 
March 31, 2016.

DATES: Effective June 29, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Moses Song or Edythe Artman, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5041, or (202) 482-
3931, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On February 8, 2017, the Department published the Preliminary 
Determination in the Federal Register.\1\ In the Preliminary 
Determination, we postponed the final determination until no later than 
135 days after the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination, in accordance with section 735(a)(2) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended (the Act).\2\
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    \1\ See Finished Carbon Steel Flanges from Italy: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination, 82 FR 9711 (February 8, 2017) (Preliminary 
Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
(PDM).
    \2\ See Preliminary Determination, 82 FR at 9713.
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    The petitioners in this investigation are Weldbend Corporation and 
Boltex Manufacturing Co., L.P. The two mandatory respondents in this 
investigation are: (1) Metalfar Prodotti Industriali S.p.A. (Metalfar); 
and (2) Officine Ambrogio Melesi & C. S.r.l.

[[Page 29482]]

(Melesi)/ASFO S.p.A. (ASFO) (collectively, Melesi/ASFO).
    A summary of the events that occurred since the Department 
published the Preliminary Determination, as well as a full discussion 
of the issues raised by parties for this final determination, may be 
found in the accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum.\3\ 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 
to all parties in the Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main 
Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov. The signed and electronic versions of the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Finished Carbon Steel Flanges from Italy: 
Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value,'' dated concurrently with this 
determination and hereby adopted by this notice.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are finished carbon 
steel flanges from Italy. The Department did not receive any scope 
comments and has not updated the scope of the investigation since the 
Preliminary Determination. For a complete description of the scope of 
the investigation, see Appendix I of this notice.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs that were 
submitted by interested parties in this investigation are addressed in 
the Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of these issues is attached 
to this notice at Appendix II.

Verification

    Because the mandatory respondents in this investigation did not 
provide the information requested, the Department did not conduct 
verification.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination and Use of Adverse Facts 
Available

    The Department has made no changes to the Preliminary 
Determination. As stated in the Preliminary Determination, we found 
that the application of facts available with an adverse inference with 
respect to both mandatory respondents in this investigation, Metalfar 
and Melesi/ASFO, was warranted, in accordance with sections 776(a)(1), 
776(a)(2)(A)-(C), and 776(b) of the Act.\4\
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    \4\ See Preliminary Determination, 82 FR at 9712 and PDM at 4-9.
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All-Others Rate

    As discussed in the Preliminary Determination, the Department based 
the selection of the all-others rate on the simple average of the three 
dumping margins calculated for subject merchandise from Italy alleged 
in the petition,\5\ in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, 
and determined a rate of 79.17 percent. We made no changes to the all-
others rate for this final determination.\6\
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    \5\ See Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping Duties on 
Imports of Finished Carbon Steel Flanges from India, Italy and Spain 
and Countervailing Duties on Imports from India, dated June 30, 2016 
(the Petition) at Volume III; see also Letter from Petitioners to 
the Department, regarding ``Finished Carbon Steel Flanges from 
Italy: Second Supplemental Questionnaire Response,'' dated July 13, 
2016; see also Antidumping Duty Investigation Initiation Checklist: 
Finished Carbon Steel Flanges from Italy, dated July 20, 2016.
    \6\ See Preliminary Determination, 82 FR at 9712.
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Final Determination

    The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                                                              average
                  Producer or exporter                        dumping
                                                              margins
                                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Metalfar Prodotti Industriali S.p.A.....................          204.53
Officine Ambrogio Melesi & C. S.r.l./ASFO S.p.A.........          204.53
All Other Producers and Exporters.......................           79.17
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure

    The estimated weighted-average dumping margins assigned to the 
mandatory respondents in this investigation in the Preliminary 
Determination were based on adverse facts available and the Department 
described the method it used to determine the adverse facts available 
rate in the Preliminary Determination. As we made no changes to this 
margin since the Preliminary Determination, no additional disclosure of 
calculations is necessary for this final determination.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department 
will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of flanges from Italy, 
as described in Appendix I of this notice, which were entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after February 8, 2017, 
the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination. Furthermore, 
the Department will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit for such 
entries of merchandise. Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the 
Act, CBP shall require a cash deposit equal to the weighted-average 
amount by which normal value exceeds U.S. price, as follows: (1) For 
Metalfar and Melesi/ASFO, the cash deposit rates will be equal to the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin which the Department 
determined in this final determination; (2) if the exporter is not a 
firm identified in this investigation but the producer is, then the 
cash deposit rate will be equal to the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margin established for the producer of the subject merchandise; 
(3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be 
79.17 percent, as discussed in the ``All-Others Rate'' section and as 
listed in the chart, above.
    The instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until 
further notice.

U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our final determination. 
Because the final determination in this proceeding is affirmative, in 
accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will make its 
final determination as to whether the domestic industry in the United 
States is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by 
reason of imports, or sales (or the likelihood of sales) for 
importation of finished carbon steel flanges from Italy no later than 
45 days after this final determination. If the ITC determines that 
material injury or threat of material injury does not exist, the 
proceeding will be terminated and all cash deposits will be refunded. 
If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, the Department will 
issue an antidumping duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by the Department, antidumping duties on all imports of the 
subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the effective date of the suspension of 
liquidation, as discussed above in the ``Continuation of Suspension of 
Liquidation'' section.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice will serve as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative

[[Page 29483]]

protective orders (APOs) 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 
return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial 
protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the 
regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination and notice are issued and published in 
accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(c).

    Dated: June 23, 2017.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers finished carbon steel 
flanges. Finished carbon steel flanges differ from unfinished carbon 
steel flanges (also known as carbon steel flange forgings) in that 
they have undergone further processing after forging, including, but 
not limited to, beveling, bore threading, center or step boring, 
face machining, taper boring, machining ends or surfaces, drilling 
bolt holes, and/or de-burring or shot blasting. Any one of these 
post-forging processes suffices to render the forging into a 
finished carbon steel flange for purposes of this investigation. 
However, mere heat treatment of a carbon steel flange forging 
(without any other further processing after forging) does not render 
the forging into a finished carbon steel flange for purposes of this 
investigation.
    While these finished carbon steel flanges are generally 
manufactured to specification ASME B16.5 or ASME B16.47 series A or 
series B, the scope is not limited to flanges produced under those 
specifications. All types of finished carbon steel flanges are 
included in the scope regardless of pipe size (which may or may not 
be expressed in inches of nominal pipe size), pressure class 
(usually, but not necessarily, expressed in pounds of pressure, 
e.g., 150, 300, 400, 600, 900, 1500, 2500, etc.), type of face 
(e.g., flat face, full face, raised face, etc.), configuration 
(e.g., weld neck, slip on, socket weld, lap joint, threaded, etc.), 
wall thickness (usually, but not necessarily, expressed in inches), 
normalization, or whether or not heat treated. These carbon steel 
flanges either meet or exceed the requirements of the ASTM A105, 
ASTM A694, ASTM A181, ASTM A350 and ASTM A707 standards (or 
comparable foreign specifications). The scope includes any flanges 
produced to the above-referenced ASTM standards as currently stated 
or as may be amended. The term ``carbon steel'' under this scope is 
steel in which:
    (a) Iron predominates, by weight, over each of the other 
contained elements:
    (b) The carbon content is 2 percent or less, by weight; and
    (c) none of the elements listed below exceeds the quantity, by 
weight, as indicated:
    (i) 0.87 percent of aluminum;
    (ii) 0.0105 percent of boron;
    (iii) 10.10 percent of chromium;
    (iv) 1.55 percent of columbium;
    (v) 3.10 percent of copper;
    (vi) 0.38 percent of lead;
    (vii) 3.04 percent of manganese;
    (viii) 2.05 percent of molybdenum;
    (ix) 20.15 percent of nickel;
    (x) 1.55 percent of niobium;
    (xi) 0.20 percent of nitrogen;
    (xii) 0.21 percent of phosphorus;
    (xiii) 3.10 percent of silicon;
    (xiv) 0.21 percent of sulfur;
    (xv) 1.05 percent of titanium;
    (xvi) 4.06 percent of tungsten;
    (xvii) 0.53 percent of vanadium; or
    (xviii) 0.015 percent of zirconium.
    Finished carbon steel flanges are currently classified under 
subheadings 7307.91.5010 and 7307.91.5050 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). They may also be entered 
under HTSUS subheadings 7307.91.5030 and 7307.91.5070. The HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes; the 
written description of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Discussion of the Issues:
    Comment 1: Collapsing of Melesi and ASFO
    Comment 2: Application of Total AFA to Melesi/ASFO
    Comment 3: Use of the Highest Petition Rate as the Total AFA 
Rate for Melesi/ASFO
    Comment 4: Verification of Melesi/ASFO
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2017-13629 Filed 6-28-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P