[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14650-14651]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07196]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-911]


Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Pipe From the People's 
Republic of China: Rescission of Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Review; 2017

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding its 
administrative review of the countervailing duty order on circular 
welded carbon quality steel pipe (CWP) from the People's Republic of 
China (China) for the period of review (POR) January 1, 2017, through 
December 31, 2017.

DATES: Applicable April 11, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Darla Brown, 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 July 3, 2018, Commerce published in the Federal Register a 
notice of ``Opportunity to Request Administrative Review'' of the 
countervailing duty (CVD) order \1\ on circular welded carbon quality 
steel pipe from China for the POR.\2\
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    \1\ See Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Pipe from the 
People's Republic of China: Notice of Amended Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination and Notice of Countervailing Duty 
Order, 73 FR 42545 (July 22, 2008) (CVD Order).
    \2\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative 
Review, 83 FR 31121 (July 3, 2018).
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    On July 31, 2018, Commerce received timely requests from the 
petitioners \3\ and from Zekelman Industries (Zekelman), a domestic 
interested party, to conduct an administrative review of the CVD 
Order.\4\
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    \3\ The petitioners in this proceeding are Independence Tube 
Corporation and Southland Tube, Incorporated.
    \4\ See Letter from Petitioners, ``Circular Welded Carbon 
Quality Steel Pipe from the People's Republic of China: Request for 
Administrative Review,'' dated July 31, 2018. See also Letter from 
Zekelman, ``Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Pipe from the 
People's Republic of China: Request for Administrative Review,'' 
dated July 31, 2018.
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    On September 10, 2018, in accordance with section 751(a) of the 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), Commerce published in the 
Federal Register a notice of initiation of an administrative review of 
the CVD Order.\5\ The administrative review was initiated with respect 
to 128 companies, covering the POR January 1, 2017, through December 
31, 2017.
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    \5\ See Initiation of Countervailing and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 45596 (September 10, 2018).
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    On September 25, 2018, Commerce placed on the record information 
obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicating that 
there were no reviewable entries of subject merchandise exported by the 
companies subject to this administrative review during the POR.\6\ On 
October 17, 2018, Zekelman withdrew its request for review in its 
entirety.\7\
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    \6\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Release of Customs Entry Data 
from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),'' dated September 25, 
2018.
    \7\ See Letter from Zekelman, ``Circular Welded Carbon Quality 
Steel Pipe from the People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of 
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated October 17, 2018.
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    On November 15, 2018, the petitioners submitted comments regarding 
alleged discrepancies in the import data on the record.\8\ 
Specifically, the petitioners claim that, although the results of the 
CBP data query do not provide evidence of reviewable entries of subject 
merchandise during the POR, data from a third-party subscription 
service that the petitioners placed on the record purportedly show that 
there were substantial imports of CWP from China during the POR. The 
petitioners argue that this record information suggests that companies 
under review could be evading the order by misreporting entry types, 
and the petitioners urge Commerce to obtain CBP entry documents with 
respect to the entries of CWP for a subset of 27 companies under 
review, to determine whether these companies misclassified subject 
merchandise entries as non-subject merchandise entries.\9\ In their 
submission, the petitioners identified 27 of the 128 companies for 
which Commerce initiated this review which they believe produced and/or 
exported CWP during the POR.
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    \8\ See Letter from Petitioners, ``Circular Welded Carbon 
Quality Steel Pipe from the People's Republic of China: Comments on 
Import Data,'' dated November 15, 2018 (Petitioners' November 15 
Letter).
    \9\ Id. at 8-10.
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    On February 27, 2019, Commerce placed on the record POR entry data 
from Datamyne, a public data source, for the 27 companies identified by 
the petitioners in their November 15, 2018, submission.\10\ We invited 
parties to comment on these data and received timely comments from the 
petitioners.\11\ In their comments, the petitioners reiterate their 
concerns that Chinese producers and/or exporters of CWP may be 
attempting to evade the order by misrepresenting entries.\12\
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    \10\ See Memorandum to the file, ``Release of Datamyne Data,'' 
dated February 27, 2019.
    \11\ See Letter from Petitioners, ``Circular Welded Carbon 
Quality Steel Pipe from the People's Republic of China: Comments on 
Release of Datamyne Data,'' dated March 6, 2019.
    \12\ Id. at 6-7.
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Rescission of Review

    It is Commerce's practice to rescind an administrative review of a 
countervailing duty order, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), when there 
are no reviewable entries of subject merchandise during the POR for 
which liquidation is suspended.\13\ Normally, upon completion of an 
administrative review, the suspended entries are liquidated at the 
countervailing duty assessment rate calculated for the review period. 
See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(2). Therefore, for an administrative review to be 
conducted, there must be a reviewable, suspended entry that Commerce 
can instruct CBP to liquidate at the calculated countervailing duty 
assessment rate calculated for the review period.\14\ Accordingly, in 
the absence of reviewable, suspended entries of subject merchandise 
during the POR for any of the 128 companies named in our initiation 
notice, we are now rescinding

[[Page 14651]]

this administrative review in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).
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    \13\ See, e.g., Lightweight Thermal Paper from the People's 
Republic of China: Notice of Rescission of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2015, 82 FR 14349 (March 20, 2017).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).
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    Furthermore, in response to the petitioners' claim that companies 
under review could be evading the CVD Order by misreporting entry 
types, this is a matter within the jurisdiction of CBP, and, hence, any 
determination as to whether entries have been misclassified must be 
made by that agency. In light of that, Commerce intends to provide CBP 
with the petitioners' allegations and relevant documentation from this 
record.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Order

    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) 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/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.
    This notice is published in accordance with section 751 of the Act 
and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4).

    Dated: April 5, 2019.
James Maeder,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations.
[FR Doc. 2019-07196 Filed 4-10-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P