[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14647-14650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07197]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-552-824]


Laminated Woven Sacks From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters 
of laminated woven sacks (LWS) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 
(Vietnam) during the period of investigation (POI),

[[Page 14648]]

January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017.

DATES: Applicable April 11, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Martin or Ariela Garvett, 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) 482-3936 or (202) 
482-3609, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    This final determination is made in accordance with section 705 of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the 
Preliminary Determination on August 13, 2018.\1\ In the Preliminary 
Determination, Commerce aligned the final countervailing duty (CVD) 
determination with the final determination in the companion antidumping 
duty (AD) investigation, in accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the 
Tariff Act of 1930 (the Act) and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4). Commerce 
exercised its discretion to toll all deadlines affected by the partial 
federal government closure from December 22, 2018, through the 
resumption of operations on January 29, 2019.\2\ If the new deadline 
falls on a non-business day, in accordance with Commerce's practice, 
the deadline will become the next business day. Accordingly, the 
revised deadline for the final determination is now April 4, 2019.
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    \1\ See Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination 
and Alignment of Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 83 FR 39983 (August 13, 2018) (Preliminary 
Determination).
    \2\ See Memorandum to the Record from 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, ``Deadlines 
Affected by the Partial Shutdown of the Federal Government,'' dated 
January 28, 2019. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
have been extended by 40 days.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
Preliminary Determination, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.\3\ A 
list of topics discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum is 
included as Appendix II to this notice. 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 is 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 Issues and 
Decisions Memorandum can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and electronic versions of the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Affirmative Determination of the Countervailing Duty 
Investigation of Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist Republic 
of Vietnam,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this 
notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are laminated woven 
sacks from Vietnam. For a full description of the scope of this 
investigation, see the ``Scope of the Investigation,'' at Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    During the course of this investigation and the concurrent AD 
investigation of LWS from Vietnam, Commerce received scope comments 
from interested parties. Commerce issued a Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum to address these comments.\4\ In response to Commerce's 
invitation to comment on its preliminary scope determination, Commerce 
received scope comments from Halsted Corporation (Halsted),\5\ and 
rebuttal comments from the petitioners.\6\ However, Commerce rejected 
Halsted's scope comments because they contained untimely filed new 
factual information.\7\ Because Halsted's scope comments have been 
removed from the record of these investigations and Halsted did not 
file a redacted version of its scope comments within the deadline 
allotted by Commerce, Halsted's comments have not been considered in 
these investigations.\8\ Furthermore, because the petitioners' rebuttal 
comments respond to Halsted's comments, which have been removed from 
the record of these investigations, Commerce has not considered the 
petitioners' comments. Therefore, Commerce has made no changes to the 
scope of these investigations since the Preliminary Determination.
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Investigations of Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist Republic 
of Vietnam: Preliminary Scope Determination,'' dated October 3, 2018 
(Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
    \5\ See Letter from Halstead, ``Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Investigations of Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam: Rejection of Untimely Filed Factual 
Information,'' dated December 12, 2018 (rejecting Halsted 
Corporation's November 13, 2018 scope brief).
    \6\ See Letter from Petitioners, ``Investigation of Laminated 
Woven Sacks from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Petitioners'' 
Rebuttal Scope Brief,'' dated November 19, 2018.
    \7\ See Letter from Commerce, ``Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Investigations of Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam: Rejection of Untimely Filed Factual 
Information,'' dated December 12, 2018; see also Letter from 
Halstead, ``Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations of 
Laminated Woven Sacks from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 
Request for Withdrawal of Scope Comments,'' dated February 8, 2019.
    \8\ Id.
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Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received

    The subsidy programs under investigation and the issues raised in 
the case briefs by parties in this investigation are discussed in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues that parties 
raised, and to which we responded in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum, is attached to this notice at Appendix II.

Methodology

    Commerce conducted this investigation in accordance with section 
701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found countervailable, 
Commerce determines that there is a subsidy, i.e., a financial 
contribution by an ``authority'' that gives rise to a benefit to the 
recipient, and that the subsidy is specific.\9\ For a full description 
of the methodology underlying our final determination, see the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum.
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    \9\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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    In making these findings, Commerce, in part, selected from among 
the facts otherwise available and, because it determined that one or 
more interested parties did not act to the best of their ability to 
respond to Commerce's requests for information, Commerce used an 
adverse inference where appropriate in selecting from among the facts 
otherwise available.\10\ For further information, see ``Use of Facts 
Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \10\ See sections 776(a), (b), and 782(d) of the Act.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our review and analysis of the comments received from the 
interested parties and our findings at verification, we made certain 
changes to the respondents'' subsidy rate calculations. For a 
discussion of these changes, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

[[Page 14649]]

Final Determination

    In accordance with section 705(c)(l)(B)(i)(I) of the Act, we 
calculated a rate for Duong Vinh Hoa Packaging Company Limited (DVH 
Packaging), a producer/exporter of subject merchandise selected for 
individual examination in this investigation. With regard to Xinsheng 
Plastic Industry Co. Ltd. (Xinsheng), for the reasons described in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum, Commerce assigned a rate based entirely 
on adverse facts available pursuant to section 776 of the Act.
    Section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that in the final 
determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate 
for companies not individually examined. This rate shall be an amount 
equal to the weighted average of the estimated subsidy rates 
established for those companies individually examined, excluding any 
zero and de minimis rates and any rates based entirely under section 
776 of the Act. DVH Packaging is the only respondent for which Commerce 
calculated an estimated weighted-average dumping margin that is not 
zero, de minimis , or based entirely on facts otherwise available. 
Therefore, for purposes of determining the ``all-others'' rate, and 
pursuant to section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are using the subsidy 
rate calculated for DVH Packaging.
    Commerce determines the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                           Company                               rate
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duong Vinh Hoa Packaging Company Limited....................        3.02
Xinsheng Plastic Industry Co. Ltd...........................      198.87
All-Others..................................................        3.02
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Disclosure

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties in this 
proceeding, for this final determination, within five days of the date 
of publication of our final determination, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our affirmative Preliminary Determination and 
pursuant to sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, we instructed 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of any 
entries of merchandise under consideration from Vietnam that were 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
August 13, 2018, which is the publication date in the Federal Register 
of the Preliminary Determination. In accordance with section 703(d) of 
the Act, we issued instructions to CBP to discontinue the suspension of 
liquidation for CVD purposes for subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, on or after December 11, 2018, but to 
continue the suspension of liquidation of all entries from August 13, 
2018, through December 10, 2018.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of the final affirmative determination of countervailable subsidies 
are being provided to producers and exporters of LWS from Vietnam. 
Because Commerce's final determination is affirmative, in accordance 
with section 705(b) 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 LWS 
from Vietnam no later than 45 days after this final determination. If 
the ITC determines that such injury does not exist, this proceeding 
will be terminated and all cash deposits will be refunded or canceled. 
If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, Commerce will issue 
a countervailing duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by Commerce, countervailing 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 the only reminder to parties subject to 
an APO of their responsibility concerning the destruction of 
proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3). Timely written notification of the return/destruction of 
APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby 
requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of an APO 
is a violation which is subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: April 4, 2019.
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 I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation is laminated woven 
sacks. Laminated woven sacks are bags consisting of one or more 
plies of fabric consisting of woven polypropylene strip and/or woven 
polyethylene strip, regardless of the width of the strip; with or 
without an extrusion coating of polypropylene and/or polyethylene on 
one or both sides of the fabric; laminated by any method either to 
an exterior ply of plastic film such as biaxially-oriented 
polypropylene (BOPP), polyester (PET), polyethylene (PE), nylon, or 
any film suitable for printing, or to an exterior ply of paper; 
printed; displaying, containing, or comprising three or more visible 
colors (e.g., laminated woven sacks printed with three different 
shades of blue would be covered by the scope), not including the 
color of the woven fabric; regardless of the type of printing 
process used; with or without lining; with or without handles; with 
or without special closing features (including, but not limited to, 
closures that are sewn, glued, easy-open (e.g., tape or thread), re-
closable (e.g., slider, hook and loop, zipper), hot-welded, 
adhesive-welded, or press-to-close); whether finished or unfinished 
(e.g., whether or not closed on one end and whether or not in roll 
form, including, but not limited to, sheets, lay-flat, or formed in 
tubes); not exceeding one kilogram in actual weight. Laminated woven 
sacks produced in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are subject to 
the scope regardless of the country of origin of the fabric used to 
make the sack.
    The scope of this investigation excludes laminated woven sacks 
having each of the following physical characteristics: (1) No side 
greater than 24 inches, (2) weight less than 100 grams, (3) an open 
top that is neither sealable nor closable, the rim of which is 
hemmed or sewn around the entire circumference, (4) carry handles 
sewn on the open end, (5) side gussets, and (6) either a bottom 
gusset or a square or rectangular bottom. The excluded items with 
the above-mentioned physical characteristics may be referred to as 
reusable shopping bags.
    Subject laminated woven sacks are currently classifiable under 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
6305.33.0040 and 6305.33.0080. If entered with plastic coating on 
both sides of the fabric consisting of woven polypropylene strip 
and/or woven polyethylene strip, laminated woven sacks may be 
classifiable under HTSUS subheadings 3923.21.0080, 3923.21.0095, and 
3923.29.0000. If entered not closed on one end or in roll form 
(including, but not limited to, sheets, lay-flat tubing, and 
sleeves), laminated woven sacks may be

[[Page 14650]]

classifiable under other HTSUS subheadings, including 3917.39.0050, 
3921.90.1100, 3921.90.1500, and 5903.90.2500. If the polypropylene 
strips and/or polyethylene strips making up the fabric measure more 
than 5 millimeters in width, laminated woven sacks may be 
classifiable under other HTSUS subheadings including 
4601.99.0500,4601.99.9000, and 4602.90.0000. Although 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. List of Issues
III. Background
IV. Scope Comments
V. Scope of the Investigation
VI. Subsidies Valuation Information
VII. Benchmarks and Interest Rates
VIII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
IX. Analysis of Programs
X. Analysis of Comments
XI. Recommendation

 [FR Doc. 2019-07197 Filed 4-10-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P