[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 115 (Friday, June 14, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27752-27754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12618]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-028]


Hydrofluorocarbon Blends From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Final 
Rescission, in Part; 2017-2018

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

SUMMARY: On October 4, 2018, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) 
initiated an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
hydrofluorocarbon blends (HFCs) from the People's Republic of China 
(China) for 13 companies. Based on timely withdrawal of requests for 
review, we are now rescinding this administrative review with respect 
to 12 of these companies.

DATES: Applicable June 14, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew Medley or Manuel Rey, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office II, Enforcement

[[Page 27753]]

and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 
(202) 482-4987 or (202) 482-5518, respectively.

Background

    In August 2018, Commerce received timely requests to conduct an 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on HFCs from China 
from Weitron International Refrigeration Equipment (Kushan) Co., Ltd. 
(Weitron) and the petitioners.\1\ Based upon these requests, on October 
4, 2018, in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the Act), Commerce published a notice of initiation of an 
administrative review covering the period of review (POR) August 1, 
2017 through July 31, 2018, with respect to 13 companies.\2\ On 
February 11, 2019, the petitioners withdrew their requests for an 
administrative review.\3\ Weitron did not withdraw its request for an 
administrative review.
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    \1\ The petitioners in this case are the American HFC Coalition 
and its individual members and District Lodge 154 of the 
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
    \2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 50077 (October 4, 2018). See also 
Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Reviews, 83 FR 57411 (November 15, 2018), correcting the spelling of 
three company names.
    \3\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Hydrofluorocarbon Blends from the 
People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of Review Request,'' dated 
February 11, 2019.
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    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\ Accordingly, the 
revised deadline for the issuance of these preliminary results is now 
June 12, 2019.
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    \4\ 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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Partial Rescission

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested 
the review withdraws the request within 90 days of the date of 
publication of notice of initiation of the requested review. The 
aforementioned withdrawal request by the petitioners was timely 
submitted, and no other interested party requested an administrative 
review of these particular companies. Therefore, in accordance with 19 
CFR 351.213(d)(1), we are rescinding this review of the antidumping 
duty order on HFCs from China, in part, with respect to the 12 
companies named in the appendix.
    The instant review will continue with respect to Weitron.

Preliminary Determination of No Shipments

    We received timely submissions from Weitron certifying that it did 
not have sales, shipments, exports, or entries of subject merchandise 
to the United States during the POR.\5\ On April 11, 2019, we requested 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data to confirm any entries of 
subject merchandise imported into the United States during the POR and 
exported by Weitron. This query returned no entries during the POR.\6\ 
Additionally, in order to examine Weitron's claim, we sent an inquiry 
to CBP requesting that any CBP officer alert Commerce if he/she had 
information contrary to this no-shipments claim.\7\ On April 12, 2019, 
we received notification from CBP of no information contrary to the no 
shipment claims.\8\
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    \5\ See letter from Weitron, ``No Shipment Certification and 
Separate Rate Application for Weitron: Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review of Hydrofluorocarbon Blends from the People's 
Republic of China,'' dated November 7, 2018, at 1. Because Weitron 
certified that it did not have sales, shipments, exports, or entries 
of subject merchandise during the POR, and given that a suspended 
entry is required to evaluate a company's separate rate claim, we 
have not evaluated Weitron's separate rate application for the 
purposes of this review.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``No shipments inquiry for hydrofluorocarbon 
blends from the People's Republic of China exported by Weitron 
International Refrigeration Equipment (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. (A-570-
028),'' dated April 11, 2019.
    \7\ Id.
    \8\ See Memorandum, ``Re: No shipment inquiry with respect to 
the company below during the period 08/01/2017 through 7/31/2018,'' 
dated May 24, 2019.
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    Because we have not received information to the contrary from CBP, 
consistent with our practice, we preliminarily determine that Weitron 
had no shipments of subject merchandise. In addition, as discussed 
below, we find it is not appropriate to rescind the review with respect 
to Weitron but, rather, to complete the review with respect to it and 
issue appropriate instructions to CBP based on the final results of the 
review, consistent with our practice in non-market economy (NME) 
cases.\9\
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    \9\ See the ``Assessment'' section, below.
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Public Comment

    Interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register.\10\ Rebuttals to case briefs, which must be limited to issues 
raised in the case briefs, must be filed within five days after the 
date for filing case briefs.\11\ Parties who submit arguments are 
requested to submit with each argument (a) a statement of the issue, 
(b) a brief summary of the argument, and (c) a table of 
authorities.\12\ Parties submitting briefs should do so pursuant to 
Commerce's electronic filing system: Enforcement and Compliance's 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service 
System (ACCESS).\13\ 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.
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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1)(2).
    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2), (d)(2).
    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.303 (for general filing requirements).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), 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 of the date of publication of this notice. Hearing 
requests should contain the following information: (1) The party's 
name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; 
and (3) a list of the issues parties intend to discuss. Issues raised 
in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case 
and rebuttal briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, parties will 
be notified of the time and date of the hearing which will be held at 
the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20230.
    Unless extended, we intend to issue the final results of this 
administrative review, including our analysis of all issues raised in 
any written brief, within 120 days of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Assessment

    Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. For the companies 
for which this review is rescinded, antidumping duties shall be 
assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit of estimated antidumping 
duties required at the time of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse,

[[Page 27754]]

for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(c)(1)(i). For those 
companies, Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP 15 
days after publication of this notice.
    Pursuant to Commerce's practice in NME cases, if Commerce continues 
to determine in the final results that Weitron had no shipments of 
subject merchandise, any suspended entries during the POR from Weitron 
will be liquidated at the China-wide rate.\14\ We intend to issue 
assessment instructions for Weitron 15 days after the publication date 
of the final results of this review.\15\
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    \14\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Non-Market 
Economy Antidumping Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
76 FR 65694 (October 24, 2011).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
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Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this administrative review for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as 
provided for by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) For previously 
investigated or reviewed Chinese and non-Chinese exporters who are not 
under review in this segment of the proceeding but who have separate 
rates, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the exporter-specific 
rate published for the most recent period; (2) for all Chinese 
exporters of subject merchandise that have not been found to be 
entitled to a separate rate, the cash deposit rate will be the China-
wide rate of 216.37 percent (i.e., including Weitron, which did not 
demonstrate that it was entitled to a separate rate in the most 
recently completed administrative review); \16\ and (3) for all non-
Chinese exporters of subject merchandise which have not received their 
own rate, the cash deposit rate will be the rate applicable to Chinese 
exporter(s) that supplied that non-Chinese exporter. These deposit 
requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further 
notice.
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    \16\ See Hydrofluorocarbon Blends from the People's Republic of 
China: Final Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 
and Final Determination of No Shipments; 2016-2017, 84 FR 17380, 
17381 (April 25, 2019).
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Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) 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 presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of doubled antidumping duties.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305, which continues 
to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the 
proceeding. 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 notice is issued and published in accordance with sections 751 
and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4).

    Dated: June 11, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Companies for Which the Administrative Review Is Rescinded

Arkema Daikin Advanced Fluorochemicals (Changsu) Co., Ltd.
Daikin Fluorochemicals (China) Co., Ltd.
Dongyang Weihua Refrigerants Co., Ltd.
Jinhua Yonghe Fluorochemical Co., Ltd.
Shandong Huaan New Material Co., Ltd.
Sinochem Environmental Protection Chemicals (Taicang) Co., Ltd.
T.T. International Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Lantian Environmental Protection Fluoro Material Co. Ltd.
Zhejiang Quzhou Lianzhou Refrigerants Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Sanmei Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Yonghe Refrigerant Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Zhonglan Refrigeration Technology Co., Ltd.

[FR Doc. 2019-12618 Filed 6-13-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P