[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 221 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57419-57421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24941]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-085]


Certain Quartz Surface Products From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 
in Part, in the Countervailing Duty Investigation

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of certain 
quartz surface products (quartz surface products) from certain 
producers and

[[Page 57420]]

exporters from the People's Republic of China (China).

DATES: Applicable November 15, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Darla Brown, AD/CVD Operations, Office 
II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 
DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-1791.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On April 17, 2018, Commerce received a countervailing duty (CVD) 
petition concerning imports of quartz surface products from China filed 
in proper form on behalf of the petitioner, Cambria Company LLC.\1\ On 
May 16, 2018, we initiated this investigation,\2\ and on September 21, 
2018, we published an affirmative Preliminary Determination.\3\
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    \1\ See ``Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duties: Certain Quartz Surface Products from the 
People's Republic of China,'' dated April 17, 2018 (Petition).
    \2\ See Certain Quartz Surface Products from the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 
83 FR 22618 (May 16, 2018) (Initiation Notice), and accompanying 
Initiation Checklist.
    \3\ See Certain Quartz Surface Products from the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination, and Alignment of Final Determination with Final 
Antidumping Determination, 83 FR 47881 (September 21, 2018) 
(Preliminary Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum (PDM).
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    Commerce selected Fasa Industrial Corporation, Limited (Fasa 
Industrial), Foshan Yixin Stone Co., Ltd. (Foshan Yixin), and Foshan 
Hero Stone Co., Ltd. (Hero Stone) as the individually-examined 
respondents in this investigation. With respect to Hero Stone and Fasa 
Industrial, in the Preliminary Determination we based the subsidy rates 
for these respondents on adverse facts available (AFA), in accordance 
with section 776(a) and (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the 
Act).\4\
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    \4\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at Use of Facts Otherwise 
Available and Adverse Inferences.
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    On October 9, 2018, the petitioner alleged that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of quartz surface products 
from China, pursuant to section 703(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.206.\5\
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    \5\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Certain Quartz Surface 
Products from the People's Republic of China: Amendment to Petition 
for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties to 
Allege Existence of Critical Circumstances,'' dated October 9, 2018 
(Critical Circumstances Allegation).
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    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), if the petitioner submits 
an allegation of critical circumstances 30 days or more before the 
scheduled date of the final determination,\6\ Commerce will make a 
preliminary finding whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect that critical circumstances exist. Commerce will issue its 
preliminary finding of critical circumstances within 30 days after the 
petitioner submits the allegation.\7\
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    \6\ The final determination for this CVD investigation is 
currently due no later than January 28, 2019.
    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(ii).
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Period of Investigation (POI)

    The POI is January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017.

Critical Circumstances Allegation

    The petitioner alleged a massive increase of imports of certain 
quartz surface products from China and provided monthly import data for 
the period January 2017 through August 2018.\8\ The petitioner states 
that a comparison of total imports, by quantity, for the period 
February 2018 through April 2018, to the period May 2018 through July 
2018, shows that imports of quartz surface products from China 
increased by 81 percent,\9\ which is considered ``massive'' under 19 
CFR 351.206(h)(2). The petitioner also alleges that there is a 
reasonable basis to believe that there are subsidies in this 
investigation which are inconsistent with the Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures Agreement (SCM Agreement).\10\
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    \8\ See Amended Critical Circumstances Allegation at Exhibit 1.
    \9\ See Critical Circumstances Allegation at 2.
    \10\ Id. at 5-6.
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Critical Circumstances Analysis

    Section 703(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce will 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist if there is a 
reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A) The alleged 
countervailable subsidy is inconsistent with the SCM Agreement; \11\ 
and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject merchandise over 
a relatively short period.
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    \11\ Commerce limits its critical circumstances findings to 
those subsidies contingent upon export performance or use of 
domestic over imported goods (i.e., those prohibited under Article 3 
of the SCM Agreement). See e.g., Final Affirmative Countervailing 
Duty Determination and Final Negative Critical Circumstances 
Determination: Carbon and Certain Alloy Steel Wire from Germany, 67 
FR 55808, 55809-10 (August 30, 2002) (Steel Wire from Germany).
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    In determining whether there are ``massive imports'' over a 
``relatively short period,'' pursuant to section 703(e)(1)(B) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.206(h) and (i), Commerce normally compares the 
import volumes of the subject merchandise for at least three months 
immediately preceding the filing of the petition (i.e., the base 
period) to a comparable period of at least three months following the 
filing of the petition (i.e., the comparison period). However, the 
regulations also provide that if Commerce finds that importers, or 
exporters or producers, had reason to believe, at some time prior to 
the beginning of the proceeding, that a proceeding was likely, Commerce 
may consider a period of not less than three months from the earlier 
time.\12\ Imports must increase by at least 15 percent during the 
comparison period to be considered massive.\13\
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.206(i).
    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.206(h)(2).
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Foshan Yixin

    In the Preliminary Determination, we found that Foshan Yixin did 
not receive any countervailable subsidies during the POI that are 
inconsistent with the SCM Agreement.\14\ Accordingly, because the 
requirement under section 703(e)(1)(A) of the Act has not been met, we 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances do not exist with 
respect to Foshan Yixin.
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    \14\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at Analysis of Programs.
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Fasa Industrial and Hero Stone

    As explained in our Preliminary Determination, we applied total 
adverse facts available (AFA) to Fasa Industrial and Hero Stone, 
pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act. In applying total AFA to these 
two companies, we preliminarily determined that both Fasa Industrial 
and Hero Stone benefited from countervailable subsidies under the 
``Export Assistance Grants'' program.\15\ Although we did not make a 
preliminary finding as to whether the ``Export Assistance Grants'' 
program was inconsistent with the SCM Agreement in the Preliminary 
Determination, we now preliminarily find, pursuant to section 776(b) of 
the Act, that there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that 
the program, as alleged in the Petition and supported by information 
reasonably available to the petitioner, is export contingent within the 
meaning of section 771(5A)(B) of the Act and, thus, inconsistent with 
the SCM Agreement.\16\ We preliminarily found this program to have a 
program-specific rate of 0.58 percent.\17\ We are making the 
inconsistency determination

[[Page 57421]]

with regard to this program, which had the lowest rate in the 
Preliminary Determination among the programs alleged to be inconsistent 
with the SCM Agreement. In so doing, we intend to limit the 
corresponding offset to the dumping margin (if one is found) in the 
companion antidumping duty investigation, which best fulfills our 
statutory mandate ``to ensure that the party does not obtain a more 
favorable result by failing to cooperate than if it had cooperated 
fully,'' \18\ and induce future cooperation by companies in 
investigations where the petitioners allege the existence of programs 
potentially inconsistent with the SCM Agreement.
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    \15\ Id. at 11.
    \16\ See Countervailing Duty Investigation Initiation Checklist: 
Certain Quartz Surface Products from the People's Republic of China, 
dated May 7, 2018.
    \17\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at Appendix.
    \18\ Statement of Administrative Action accompanying the Uruguay 
Round Agreements Act, H.R. Doc. 103-316, Vol. 1 (1994) at 870, 
reprinted in 1994 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4040, 4199.
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    Because we preliminarily find that the ``Export Assistance Grants'' 
program is export contingent, we preliminarily find that the criterion 
under section 703(e)(1)(A) of the Act has been met. In addition, for 
the purposes of the ``massive imports'' analysis, we preliminarily 
determine, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act, that Fasa Industrial 
and Hero Stone shipped quartz surface products in ``massive'' 
quantities during the comparison period, thereby fulfilling the 
criteria under section 703(e)(1)(B) of the Act.\19\ As a result, we 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist with regard 
to Fasa Industrial and Hero Stone.
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    \19\ See Critical Circumstances Allegation at Exhibit 1.
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All Other Companies

    We based the all-others rate applied in the Preliminary 
Determination on the rate preliminarily calculated for Foshan Yixin. As 
noted above, we preliminarily found that Foshan Yixin did not use any 
countervailable subsidies inconsistent with the SCM Agreement. As a 
result, we also preliminarily determine that all other exporters of 
subject merchandise from China not selected as mandatory respondents 
did not use countervailable subsidies inconsistent with the SCM 
Agreement, and thus preliminarily find that critical circumstances do 
not exist with respect to the companies covered by the all-others rate.

Final Determination

    We will make a final determination concerning critical 
circumstances in the final determination of this investigation, which 
is currently scheduled for January 28, 2019.

Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven 
days after the date on which the last verification report is issued in 
this investigation. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case 
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline 
date for case briefs.\20\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), 
parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this investigation 
are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the 
issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities.\21\
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    \20\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1).
    \21\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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    Electronically filed documents must be received successfully in 
their entirety by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due dates established 
above.\22\
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    \22\ See 19 CFR 351.303(b)(1).
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(e)(2)(A) of the Act, for Fasa 
Industrial and Hero Stone, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of any unliquidated entries of 
subject merchandise from the China entered, or withdrawn from warehouse 
for consumption, on or after June 23, 2018, which is 90 days prior to 
the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal 
Register. For such entries, CBP shall require a cash deposit equal to 
the estimated preliminary subsidy rates established for Fasa Industrial 
and Hero Stone in the Preliminary Determination. This suspension of 
liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of this preliminary determination of critical circumstances.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: November 8, 2018.
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.
[FR Doc. 2018-24941 Filed 11-14-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P