[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 72 (Monday, April 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15182-15183]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07429]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-580-837]


Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From the 
Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; and Rescission of Review, in Part; Calendar Year 
2017

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that countervailable subsidies are being provided to certain exporters/
producers of certain cut-to-length plate from the Republic of Korea at 
de minimis levels during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2017, 
through December 31, 2017. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable April 15, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Conniff or Jolanta Lawska, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-1009 and (202) 482-8362, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On April 16, 2018, Commerce published a notice of initiation of an 
administrative review \1\ of the countervailing duty order on certain 
cut-to-length carbon quality steel plate from the Republic of Korea 
(Korea).\2\ On September 26, 2018, Commerce extended the due date of 
the preliminary results of this administrative review until February 
28, 2019.\3\ On January 28, 2019, 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.\4\ If the new deadline falls on a non-business day, in 
accordance with Commerce's practice, the deadline will become the next 
business day. As a result, the revised deadline for the preliminary 
results in this review is now April 9, 2019.
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 16298 (April 16, 2018) (Initiation).
    \2\ See Notice of Amended Final Determinations: Certain Cut-to-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate from India and the Republic of 
Korea; and Notice of Countervailing Duty Orders: Certain Cut-To-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate from France, India, Indonesia, 
Italy, and the Republic of Korea, 65 FR 6587 (February 10, 2000) 
(Order).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Cut-to-Length Carbon Quality Steel Plate 
from the Republic of Korea: Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,'' dated 
September 26, 2018.
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``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 
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\5\ 
A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included at the Appendix to this notice. 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 https://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 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and electronic versions of the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 2017: 
Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate from the Republic 
of Korea,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this 
notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the Order is certain cut-to-length 
carbon-quality steel plate from Korea. For a complete description of 
the scope of the order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each 
of the subsidy programs found countervailable, we preliminarily 
determine that there is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an 
``authority'' that confers a benefit to the recipient, and that the 
subsidy is specific.\6\ For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our conclusions, see the accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \6\ 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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Preliminary Results of the Review

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(6)(i), we calculated 
individual subsidy rates for DSM and Hyundai Steel. For the period 
January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017, we preliminarily determine 
that the following net subsidy rates for the producers/exporters under 
review to be as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Company                      Subsidy rate ad valorem
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Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd...............  0.25 percent (de minimis).
Hyundai Steel Company.....................  0.44 percent (de minimis).
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Assessment Rates

    Consistent with section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, upon issuance of 
the final results, Commerce shall determine, and Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) shall assess, countervailing duties on all appropriate 
entries covered by this review. We intend to issue instructions to CBP 
15 days after publication of the final results of this review. Commerce 
intends to issue appropriate assessment instructions directly to CBP 15 
days after publication of this notice.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, Commerce also intends 
to instruct CBP to collect cash deposits of estimated countervailing 
duties for each of the companies listed above on shipments of subject 
merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after the date of publication of the final results of this

[[Page 15183]]

administrative review, except, where the rate calculated in the final 
results is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit will be required. For 
all non-reviewed firms, we will instruct CBP to continue to collect 
cash deposits of estimated countervailing duties at the most recent 
company-specific or all-others rate applicable to the company, as 
appropriate. These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall 
remain in effect until further notice.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    We will disclose to parties to this proceeding the calculations 
performed in reaching the preliminary results within five days of the 
date of publication of these preliminary results.\7\ Interested parties 
may submit written arguments (case briefs) within 30 days of 
publication of the preliminary results and rebuttal comments (rebuttal 
briefs) within five days after the time limit for filing the case 
briefs.\8\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(d)(2), rebuttal briefs may 
respond only to issues raised in the case briefs. Parties who submit 
arguments are requested to submit with the argument: (1) Statement of 
the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities.\9\
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    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii); 351.309(d)(1).
    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and 351.309(d)(2).
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a 
written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date 
of publication of this notice.\10\ Requests should contain the party's 
name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a 
list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, 
we will inform parties of the scheduled date for the hearing, which 
will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time and location to be 
determined.\11\ Issues addressed during the hearing will be limited to 
those raised in the briefs.\12\ Parties should confirm by telephone the 
date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled 
date.
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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.310.
    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    Parties are reminded that briefs and hearing requests are to be 
filed electronically using ACCESS and that electronically filed 
documents must be received successfully in their entirety by 5:00PM 
Eastern Time on the due date.
    Unless the deadline is extended pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of 
the Act, Commerce will issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of our analysis of the issues raised by 
parties in their comments, within 120 days after issuance of these 
preliminary results.
    This administrative review and notice are issued and published in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.213.

    Dated: April 8, 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

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Review
IV. Scope of the Order
V. Subsidies Valuation Information
    A. Allocation Period
    B. Attribution of Subsidies
    C. Benchmarks for Long-Term Loans and Discount Rates
    D. Denominators
VI. Analysis of Programs
    A. Programs Preliminarily Determined to be Countervailable
    B. Programs Preliminarily Determined Not to Confer a Measurable 
Benefit
    C. Other Programs
    D. Programs Preliminarily Determined to Not be Not Used
VII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2019-07429 Filed 4-12-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P