[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 150 (Monday, August 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36738-36741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16497]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-523-808]


Certain Steel Nails From the Sultanate of Oman: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Partial 
Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2014-2016

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an 
administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain 
steel nails (nails) from the Sultanate of Oman (Oman). The period of 
review (POR) is December 29, 2014, through June 30, 2016. This 
administrative review covers two exporters of the subject merchandise, 
both of which were selected as mandatory respondents, Oman Fasteners 
LLC (Oman Fasteners) and Overseas International Steel Industry LLC 
(OISI). The Department preliminarily determines Oman Fasteners and OISI 
made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value during the 
POR. Additionally, we are rescinding this administrative review, in 
part, with respect to 12 companies, based on the timely withdrawal of 
Mid Continent Steel & Wire, Inc.'s (the petitioner) request for 
administrative review. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable August 7, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lilit Astvatsatrian or Thomas Martin, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-6412 or (202) 
482-3936, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 13, 2015, the Department published 
in the Federal Register an AD order on nails from Oman.\1\ On July 5, 
2016, the Department notified interested parties of the opportunity to 
request an administrative review of orders, findings, or suspended 
investigations with anniversaries in July 2016, including the AD order 
on nails from Oman. The Department received timely requests from Oman 
Fasteners, OISI, and the petitioner to conduct an administrative review 
of certain exporters covering the POR. On September 12, 2016, the 
Department published a notice initiating an AD administrative review of 
nails from Oman covering 15 companies for the POR.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Steel Nails from the Republic of Korea, 
Malaysia, the Sultanate of Oman, Taiwan, and the Socialist Republic 
of Vietnam: Antidumping Duty Orders, 80 FR 39994 (July 13, 2015) 
(Order).
    \2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 81 FR 62720 (September 12, 2016) (Initiation 
Notice).
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    In the Initiation Notice, the Department indicated that, in the 
event that we would limit the respondents selected for individual 
examination in accordance with section 777A(c)(2) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), we would select mandatory respondents for 
individual examination based upon U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) entry data.\3\ On November 9, 2016, after considering the large 
number of potential producers/exporters involved in this administrative 
review, and the resources available to the Department, we determined 
that it was not practicable to examine all exporters/producers of 
subject merchandise for which a review was requested.\4\ As a result, 
pursuant to

[[Page 36739]]

section 777A(c)(2)(B) of the Act, we determined that we could 
reasonably individually examine only the two largest producers/
exporters of nails from Oman by U.S. entry volume during the POR (i.e., 
Oman Fasteners and OISI).\5\ Accordingly, we issued the AD 
questionnaire to these companies, Oman Fasteners and OISI, the two 
mandatory respondents.\6\ On December 12, 2016, the petitioner timely 
withdrew its request for administrative review, pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.213(d)(1), of all the producers and exporters except for Oman 
Fasteners, OISI, and Overseas Distribution Services Inc. (ODS).\7\
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    \3\ See Initiation Notice, 81 FR at 62720.
    \4\ See Memorandum entitled, ``Respondent Selection in the first 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Certain Steel Nails from 
Oman,'' dated November 9, 2016 (Respondent Selection Memorandum).
    \5\ See Respondent Selection Memorandum.
    \6\ See Department Letter, ``Administrative Review of Certain 
Steel Nails from Oman: Antidumping Duty Questionnaire,'' dated 
November 9, 2016.
    \7\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Certain Steel Nails from 
Oman: Withdrawal of Request for Administrative Review, dated 
December 12, 2016.
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    On March 23, 2017, the Department extended the preliminary results 
in this review to no later than July 31, 2017.\8\
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    \8\ See Memorandum, ``Certain Steel Nails from the Sultanate of 
Oman: Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review,'' dated March 23, 2017.
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Partial Rescission of Administrative Review

    The Department received timely requests to conduct an 
administrative review of certain exporters covering the POR. Because 
the petitioner timely withdrew its requests for review of all of the 
companies listed in the Initiation Notice, with the exception of Oman 
Fasteners, OISI, and ODS, we are rescinding the administrative review 
with respect to those 12 companies, pursuant to 19 351.213(d)(1). The 
Department has rescinded the administrative review with respect to the 
remaining 12 companies on which we initiated this review pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.213(d)(1).\9\ Accordingly, the remaining companies subject to 
the instant review are: Oman Fasteners, OISI, and ODS.
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    \9\ Astrotech Steels Private Ltd, Consolidated Shipping services 
LLC, Damco India Private Ltd., Flyjac Logistics Private Ltd., 
International Maritime & Aviation LLC, Liladhar Pasoo India 
Logistics Private Ltd., Ivk Manuport Logistics LLC, Raajratna Metal 
Industries Ltd., Shanxi Tianli Industries Co. Ltd., Swift Freight 
India Private Ltd., United Building Material Factory, Uniworld 
Logistics Pvt Ltd.
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order is nails having a nominal 
shaft length not exceeding 12 inches.\10\ Merchandise covered by the 
order is currently classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 7317.00.55.02, 7317.00.55.03, 
7317.00.55.05, 7317.00.55.07, 7317.00.55.08, 7317.00.55.11, 
7317.00.55.18, 7317.00.55.19, 7317.00.55.20, 7317.00.55.30, 
7317.00.55.40, 7317.00.55.50, 7317.00.55.60, 7317.00.55.70, 
7317.00.55.80, 7317.00.55.90, 7317.00.65.30, 7317.00.65.60 and 
7317.00.75.00. Nails subject to this order also may be classified under 
HTSUS subheadings 7907.00.60.00, 8206.00.00.00 or other HTSUS 
subheadings. While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience 
and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this 
order is dispositive. For a complete description of the scope of the 
order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\11\
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    \10\ The shaft length of certain steel nails with flat heads or 
parallel shoulders under the head shall be measured from under the 
head or shoulder to the tip of the point. The shaft length of all 
other certain steel nails shall be measured overall.
    \11\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Results of the 2014-2016 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of 
Certain Steel Nails from the Sultanate of Oman,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum). 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 http://access.trade.gov and available 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 accessed directly on the 
Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and 
electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Export price 
and constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 
772 of the Act. Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 
773 of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\12\ A list of 
topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as 
an Appendix to this notice.
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    \12\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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Adverse Facts Available

    Section 776(a) of the Act provides that the Department shall, 
subject to section 782(d) of the Act, use ``facts otherwise available'' 
if: (1) Necessary information is not on the record; or (2) an 
interested party or any other person: (A) Withholds information that 
has been requested; (B) fails to provide information within the 
deadlines established, or in the form and manner requested by the 
Department, subject to subsections (c)(1) and (e) of section 782 of the 
Act; (C) significantly impedes a proceeding; or (D) provides 
information that cannot be verified as provided by section 782(i) of 
the Act.
    Section 776(b) of the Act provides that the Department may use an 
adverse inference in applying the facts otherwise available when a 
party fails to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to 
comply with a request for information (i.e., adverse facts available, 
or AFA). In doing so, and under the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 
2015 (TPEA), the Department is not required to determine, or make any 
adjustments to, a weighted-average dumping margin based on any 
assumptions about information an interested party would have provided 
if the interested party had complied with the request for information. 
Further, section 776(b)(2) of the Act states that an adverse inference 
may include reliance on information derived from the petition, the 
final determination from the less than fair value investigation, a 
previous administrative review, or other information placed on the 
record.
    Section 776(c) of the Act provides that, in general, when the 
Department relies on secondary information rather than on information 
obtained in the course of an investigation, it shall, to the extent 
practicable, corroborate that information from independent sources that 
are reasonably at its disposal. Secondary information is defined as 
information derived from the petition that gave rise to the 
investigation, the final determination concerning the subject 
merchandise, or any previous review under section 751 of the Act 
concerning the subject merchandise. However, the Department is not 
required to corroborate any dumping margin applied in a separate 
segment of the same proceeding.
    Under section 776(d) of the Act, the Department may use any dumping 
margin from any segment of a proceeding under an AD order when applying 
an adverse inference, including the highest of such margins. The TPEA 
also makes clear that when selecting an AFA margin, the Department is 
not required to estimate what the dumping margin would have been if the 
interested party failing to cooperate had cooperated or to demonstrate 
that the dumping margin reflects an ``alleged commercial reality'' of 
the interested party.
    In accordance with section 776 of the Act, the Department 
preliminarily determines that the application of facts

[[Page 36740]]

available is warranted for OISI because OISI has not provided the 
necessary information on the record, pursuant to section 776(a)(1) of 
the Act. Specifically, OISI reported that ODS was its affiliate in the 
United Arab Emirates, but failed to provide adequate information 
regarding its relationship with ODS. OISI also failed to provide 
adequate information regarding its U.S. sales data, such that the 
Department could not use the data in its calculations. Furthermore, 
OISI has withheld requested information, failed to provide such 
information in the form and manner required, impeded this review, and 
reported information that could not be verified, the use of facts 
available for the preliminary results is warranted, pursuant to 
sections 776(a)(2)(A), (B), (C), and (D) of the Act. For a full 
discussion, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    Furthermore, by withholding requested information, failing to 
provide such information in the manner and form required, impeding this 
review, and reporting information that could not be verified, OISI 
failed to cooperate with the Department by not acting to the best of 
its ability to comply with a request for information by the Department, 
pursuant to section 776(b)(1) of the Act. Accordingly, we preliminarily 
determine to apply adverse facts available (AFA) to OISI, in accordance 
with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. Record 
information indicates that OISI and ODS are affiliated and may meet our 
criteria for collapsing, due to OISI's reported shared ownership and 
intertwined operations with ODS. Because OISI did not answer our 
supplemental questionnaire, we do not have all of the information we 
need on the record in order to conduct a collapsing analysis. 
Accordingly, we have applied an adverse inference to the factual 
information on the record, and have, as AFA, collapsed OISI and ODS 
into a single entity. Furthermore, as we do not have adequate 
information on the record to calculate a margin for OISI, we have 
calculated its margin based on total AFA. Specifically, we are applying 
a rate of 154.33 percent, which was calculated by Petitioner in the 
petition in this investigation.\13\ We have corroborated this rate with 
information obtained in the course of this administrative review, 
consistent with section 776(c)(1) of the Act. For further discussion, 
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \13\ Letter from the Department, ``Certain Steel Nails India, 
the Republic of Korea, the Sultanate of Oman, Malaysia, Taiwan, the 
Republic of Turkey, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,'' dated 
May 29, 2014 (Petition). See also section 776(b)(2)(A) (stating that 
the petition is a potential source of information for the 
application of adverse facts available).
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Preliminary Results of Review

    As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the 
following weighted-average dumping margins for the period December 29, 
2014 through June 30, 2016:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margins
                                                               (percent)
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Oman Fasteners LLC..........................................       99.88
Overseas International Steel Industry LLC/Overseas                154.33
 Distribution Services Inc\14\..............................
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Assessment Rates
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    \14\ ODS was initially a non-selected respondent subject to this 
administrative review; however, because we have, as AFA, collapsed 
ODS with mandatory respondent OISI, we are assigning both the same 
AFA margin.
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    Upon completion of the administrative review, the Department shall 
determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate 
entries. The Department intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP 
15 days after the date of publication of the final results of this 
review.
    For any individually examined respondents whose weighted-average 
dumping margin is above de minimis (i.e., 0.50 percent), we will 
calculate importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rates based on 
the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the importer's 
examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).\15\ For entries of subject 
merchandise during the POR produced by each respondent for which it did 
not know its merchandise was destined for the United States, we will 
instruct CBP to liquidate un-reviewed entries at the all-others rate if 
there is no rate for the intermediate company involved in the 
transaction.\16\ We will instruct CBP to assess antidumping duties on 
all appropriate entries covered by this review when the importer-
specific assessment rate calculated in the final results of this review 
is above de minimis. Where either the respondent's weighted-average 
dumping margin is zero or de minimis, or an importer-specific 
assessment rate is zero or de minimis, we will instruct CBP to 
liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping duties.
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    \15\ In these preliminary results, the Department applied the 
assessment rate calculation methodology adopted in Antidumping 
Proceedings: Calculation of the Weighted-Average Dumping Margin and 
Assessment Rate in Certain Antidumping Proceedings: Final 
Modification, 77 FR 8101 (February 14, 2012).
    \16\ See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: 
Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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    For the twelve companies for which this review is rescinded, 
antidumping duties will be assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit 
of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(1)(i). The Department intends to issue appropriate 
assessment instructions directly to CBP 15 days after publication of 
this notice. The final results of this review shall be the basis for 
the assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered 
by the final results of this review and for future deposits of 
estimated duties, where applicable.

Cash Deposit Requirement

    The following deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the notice of the final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of nails from Oman entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the 
final results of this administrative review, as provided by section 
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for the companies 
under review will be the rate established in the final results of this 
review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit will 
be required); (2) for merchandise exported by manufacturers or 
exporters not covered in this review but covered in a prior segment of 
the proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-
specific rate published for the most recently completed segment of this 
proceeding in which the manufacturer or exporter participated; (3) if 
the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or 
the less-than-fair-value investigation, but the manufacturer is, the 
cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently 
completed segment of the proceeding for the manufacturer of the 
merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers 
or exporters will continue to be 9.10 percent ad valorem, the all-
others rate established in the less-than-fair value investigation.\17\
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    \17\ See Certain Steel Nails from the Republic of Oman: Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 80 FR 28955 (May 20, 
2015).

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[[Page 36741]]

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose the calculations used in our 
analysis to interested parties in this review within five days of the 
date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b). Interested parties are invited to comment on the 
preliminary results of this review. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(1)(ii), interested parties may submit case briefs no later 
than 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal 
briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed no 
later than five days after the time limit for filing case briefs.\18\ 
Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding 
are requested to submit with each brief: (1) A statement of the issue, 
(2) a brief summary of the argument, and (3) a table of 
authorities.\19\ Executive summaries should be limited to five pages 
total, including footnotes.\20\ Case and rebuttal briefs should be 
filed using ACCESS.\21\
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    \18\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1).
    \19\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \20\ Id.
    \21\ See 19 CFR 351.303.
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), any interested party may request a 
hearing within 30 days of the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. If a hearing is requested, the Department will notify 
interested parties of the hearing schedule. Interested parties who wish 
to request a hearing, or to participate if one is requested, must 
submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance, filed electronically via ACCESS within 30 days after the 
date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The 
party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of 
participants; and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues 
raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective 
case and rebuttal briefs.
    We intend to issue the final results of this administrative review, 
including the results of our analysis of issues raised by the parties 
in the written comments, within 120 days of publication of these 
preliminary results in the Federal Register, unless otherwise 
extended.\22\
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    \22\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.
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Notification to Importers

    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply 
with this requirement could result in the Department's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.
    These preliminary results and partial rescission of administrative 
review are issued and published in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) 
and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

    Dated: July 31, 2017.
Gary Taverman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Affiliation
V. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Interferences
VI. Discussion of the Methodology
VII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2017-16497 Filed 8-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P