[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32871-32875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14694]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-580-878; C-580-879]
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products From Republic of
Korea: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Anti-Circumvention
Inquiries on the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines
that imports of certain corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE),
produced in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) using hot-
rolled steel (HRS) and/or cold-rolled steel (CRS) flat products
manufactured in the Republic of Korea (Korea), are circumventing the
antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on CORE from
Korea.
DATES: Applicable July 10, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chien-Min Yang, AD/CVD Operations,
Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5484.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 32872]]
Background
Certain domestic interested parties, ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor
Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc. and
California Steel Industries (collectively, the petitioners) filed an
allegation \1\ that imports of CORE from Vietnam made from HRS and/or
CRS sourced from the Korea and exported to the United States as CORE
from Vietnam are circumventing the Korea CORE Orders.\2\ In their
allegation, the petitioners requested that Commerce initiate anti-
circumvention inquiries pursuant to section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of
1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.225(h), to determine whether
the importation of the Korean-origin HRS or CRS substrate for
completing into CORE in Vietnam and subsequent sale of that CORE to the
United States constitutes circumvention of the Korea CORE Orders. In
their allegation, the petitioners requested Commerce initiate anti-
circumvention inquiries pursuant to section 781(b) of the Act and 19
CFR 351.225(h), to determine whether the importation of the Korean-
origin HRS or CRS substrate for completion into CORE in Vietnam and
subsequent sale of that CORE to the United States constitutes
circumvention of the Korea CORE Orders.
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\1\ See Petitioners' letter, ``Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel
Products from Korea: Request for Circumvention Ruling,'' dated June
12, 2018 (Circumvention Ruling Request).
\2\ See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Flat Products from
India, Italy, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea,
and Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Duty Determination
for India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390 (July
25, 2016). The ``all others rate'' was subsequently amended as the
result of litigation. See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products
from the Republic of Korea: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony
with Final Determination of Investigation and Notice of Amended
Final Results, 83 FR 39054 (August 8, 2018); see also Certain
Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from India, Italy, Republic of
Korea, and the People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty
Order, 81 FR 48387 (July 25, 2016) (collectively, Korea CORE
Orders).
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On August 2, 2018, Commerce published the notice of initiation of
anti-circumvention inquiries on imports of CORE from Vietnam.\3\ For a
complete description of the events that followed the initiation of
these inquiries, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\ A list of
topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as
Appendix I 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 to all parties in the Central Records
Unit, Room B8024 of the main 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 the electronic
versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in
content.
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\3\ See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from the
Republic of Korea and Taiwan: Initiation of Anti-Circumvention
Inquiries on the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders, 83
FR 37785 (August 2, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
\4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination in the Anti-Circumvention Inquiry of Certain
Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from the Republic of Korea,''
dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice
(Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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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.\5\ If the new
deadline falls on a non-business day, in accordance with Commerce's
practice, the deadline will become the next business day.
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\5\ 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 29, 2019. All deadlines in this segment have been extended
by 40 days.
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Scope of the Orders
The products covered by these orders are certain flat-rolled steel
products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant
metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel- or iron-
based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished,
laminated, or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in
addition to the metallic coating. For a complete description of the
scope of the orders, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiries
These anti-circumvention inquiries cover CORE produced in Vietnam
from HRS or CRS substrate input manufactured in Korea and subsequently
exported from Vietnam to the United States (merchandise under
consideration). This preliminary ruling applies to all shipments of
merchandise under consideration on or after the date of initiation of
these inquiries. Importers and exporters of CORE produced in Vietnam
using (1) HRS manufactured in Vietnam or third countries, (2) CRS
manufactured in Vietnam using HRS produced in Vietnam or third
countries, or (3) CRS manufactured in third countries, must certify
that the HRS or CRS processed into CORE in Vietnam did not originate in
Korea, as provided for in the certifications attached to this Federal
Register notice. Otherwise, their merchandise may be subject to
antidumping and countervailing duties if Commerce makes affirmative
final determination in these inquiries.
Methodology
Commerce is conducting these anti-circumvention inquiries in
accordance with section 781(b) of the Act. Because certain interested
parties did not cooperate to the best of their abilities in responding
to Commerce's requests for information, we have based parts of our
preliminary determination on the facts available, with adverse
inferences, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act. For a full
description of the methodology underlying Commerce's preliminary
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Finding
As detailed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, we
preliminarily determine that CORE produced in Vietnam from HRS and/or
CRS sourced from Korea is circumventing the Korea CORE Orders. We
therefore preliminarily determine that it is appropriate to include
this merchandise within the Korea CORE Orders and to instruct U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend any entries of CORE from
Vietnam produced from HRS and/or CRS from Korea.
Suspension of Liquidation
As stated above, Commerce has made a preliminary affirmative
finding of circumvention of the Korea CORE Orders by exports to the
United States of CORE produced by any Vietnamese company from Korean-
origin HRS and/or CRS input. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.225(1)(2),
Commerce will direct CBP to suspend liquidation and to require a cash
deposit of estimated duties on unliquidated entries of CORE produced in
Vietnam, as appropriate, that were entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after August 2, 2018, the date of
initiation of the anti-circumvention inquiries. The suspension of
liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
CORE produced in Vietnam from HRS and/or CRS that is not of Korean
origin is not subject to these inquiries. Therefore, cash deposits
pursuant to the Korea CORE Orders are not required for such
merchandise. However, CORE produced in Vietnam from HRS and/or
[[Page 32873]]
CRS from China is subject to the AD/CVD orders on CORE from China,\6\
and CORE produced in Vietnam from HRS and/or CRS from Taiwan has
preliminarily been found to be circumventing the AD order on CORE from
Taiwan.\7\ Imports of such merchandise are also subject to
certification requirements and cash deposits may be required. If an
importer imports CORE from Vietnam and claims that the CORE was not
produced from HRS and/or CRS substrate manufactured in Korea, in order
not to be subject to Korea CORE Orders cash deposit requirements, the
importer and exporter are required to meet the certification and
documentation requirements described in Appendix II. Exporters of CORE
produced from non-Korean-origin HRS and/or CRS substrate must prepare
and maintain an Exporter Certification and documentation supporting the
Exporter Certification (see Appendix IV). In addition, importers of
such CORE must prepare and maintain an Importer Certification (see
Appendix III) as well as documentation supporting the Importer
Certification. Besides the Importer Certification, the importer must
also maintain a copy of the Exporter Certification (see Appendix IV)
and relevant supporting documentation from the exporter of CORE who did
not use the Korean-origin HRS and/or CRS substrate.
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\6\ See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Products from the People's
Republic of China: Affirmative Final Determination of Circumvention
of the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders, 83 FR 23895
(May 23, 2018) (CORE China Circumvention Final).
\7\ See Federal Register notice, ``Certain Corrosion-Resistant
Steel Products from Taiwan: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of
Anti-Circumvention Inquiry on the Antidumping Duty Order,'' dated
concurrently with this notice.
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In the situation where no certification is provided for an entry,
and AD/CVD orders from three countries (China, Korea, or Taiwan)
potentially apply to that entry, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to
suspend the entry and collect cash deposits at the CORE China
Circumvention Final rates (i.e., the AD rate established for the China-
wide entity (199.43 percent) and the CVD rate established for the China
all-others rate (39.05 percent)).\8\ This is to prevent evasion, given
that the CORE China Circumvention Final rates are higher than the AD
and CVD rates established for CORE from Korea and Taiwan. In the
situation where a certification is provided for the AD/CVD orders on
CORE from China (stating that the merchandise was not produced from HRS
and/or CRS from China), but no other certification is provided, then
Commerce intends to instruct CBP to suspend the entry and collect cash
deposits at the AD and CVD all-others rates (i.e., 8.31 percent and
1.19 percent, respectively) applicable to the AD/CVD orders on CORE
from Korea.\9\ This is to prevent evasion, given that the AD and CVD
rates established for CORE from Korea are higher than the AD rate
established for CORE from Taiwan.
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\8\ See CORE China Circumvention Final, 83 FR at 23896.
\9\ See Korea CORE Orders.
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Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than thirty
days after the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs,
limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than
five days after the deadline date for case briefs.\10\ Pursuant to 19
CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or
rebuttal briefs in these anti-circumvention inquiries 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.
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\10\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 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, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal
briefs, 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. Requests should contain
the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of
participants, whether any participant is a foreign national, and a list
of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made,
Commerce intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington DC 20230, at a time
and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the
date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled
date.
International Trade Commission Notification
Commerce, consistent with section 781(e) of the Act, has notified
the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of these preliminary
determinations to include the merchandise subject to these
anticircumvention inquiries within the Korea CORE Orders. Pursuant to
section 781(e) of the Act, the ITC may request consultations concerning
Commerce's proposed inclusion of the subject merchandise. If, after
consultations, the ITC believes that a significant injury issue is
presented by the proposed inclusion, it will have 60 days from the date
of notification by Commerce to provide written advice.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
section 781(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225(f).
Dated: June 28, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Orders
IV. Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiries
V. Period of Inquiries
VI. Statutory Framework
VII. Use of Facts Available with an Adverse Inference
VIII. Anti-Circumvention Determination
IX. Country-Wide Determination
X. Certification for Not Using Korean-Origin HRS and/or CRS
XI. Recommendation
Appendix II
Certification Requirements
If an importer imports certain corrosion-resistant steel
products (CORE) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) and
claims that the CORE was not produced from hot-rolled steel and/or
cold-rolled steel substrate (substrate) manufactured in Korea, the
importer is required to complete and maintain the importer
certification attached hereto as Appendix III and all supporting
documents. Where the importer uses a broker to facilitate the entry
process, it should obtain the entry number from the broker. Agents
of the importer, such as brokers, however, are not permitted to make
this certification on behalf of the importer.
The exporter is also required to complete and maintain the
exporter certification attached hereto as Appendix IV, and is
further required to provide the importer a copy of that
certification and all supporting documentation.
For shipments and/or entries on or after August 2, 2018 through
July 18, 2019 for which certifications are required, importers and
exporters should complete the required certification within 30 days
of the publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
Accordingly, where appropriate, the relevant bullet in the
certification should be edited to reflect that the certification was
completed within the time frame specified above. For example, the
bullet in the importer certification that reads: ``This
certification was completed at or prior to the time of Entry,''
could be edited as follows: ``The imports referenced herein entered
before July 19, 2019. This certification was
[[Page 32874]]
completed on mm/dd/yyyy, within 30 days of the Federal Register
notice publication of the preliminary determination of
circumvention.'' Similarly, the bullet in the exporter certification
that reads, ``This certification was completed at or prior to the
time of shipment,'' could be edited as follows: ``The shipments/
products referenced herein shipped before July 19, 2019. This
certification was completed on mm/dd/yyyy, within 30 days of the
Federal Register notice publication of the preliminary determination
of circumvention.'' For such entries/shipments, importers and
exporters each have the option to complete a blanket certification
covering multiple entries/shipments, individual certifications for
each entry/shipment, or a combination thereof.
For shipments and/or entries on or after July 19, 2019, for
which certifications are required, importers should complete the
required certification at or prior to the date of Entry and
exporters should complete the required certification and provide it
to the importer at or prior to the date of shipment.
The importer and Vietnamese exporter are also required to
maintain sufficient documentation supporting their certifications.
The importer will not be required to submit the certifications or
supporting documentation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
as part of the entry process at this time. However, the importer and
the exporter will be required to present the certifications and
supporting documentation, to Commerce and/or CBP, as applicable,
upon request by the respective agency. Additionally, the claims made
in the certifications and any supporting documentation are subject
to verification by Commerce and/or CBP. The importer and exporter
are required to maintain the certifications and supporting
documentation for the later of (1) a period of five years from the
date of entry or (2) a period of three years after the conclusion of
any litigation in United States courts regarding such entries.
In the situation where no certification is provided for an
entry, and AD/CVD orders from three countries (China, Korea, or
Taiwan) potentially apply to that entry, Commerce intends to
instruct CBP to suspend the entry and collect cash deposits at the
CORE China Circumvention Final rates (i.e., the AD rate established
for the China-wide entity (199.43 percent) and the CVD rate
established for China all-others rate (39.05 percent)). In the
situation where a certification is provided for the AD/CVD orders on
CORE from China, but no other certification is provided, then
Commerce intends to instruct CBP to suspend the entry and collect
cash deposits at the AD and CVD all-others rates (i.e., 8.31 percent
and 1.19 percent, respectively) applicable to the AD/CVD orders on
CORE from Korea.
Appendix III
Importer Certification
I hereby certify that:
My name is {INSERT COMPANY OFFICIAL'S NAME HERE{time}
and I am an official of {INSERT NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time} ;
I have direct personal knowledge of the facts regarding
the importation into the Customs territory of the United States of
the corrosion-resistant steel products produced in Vietnam that
entered under entry number(s) {INSERT ENTRY NUMBER(S){time} and are
covered by this certification. ``Direct personal knowledge'' refers
to facts the certifying party is expected to have in its own
records. For example, the importer should have ``direct personal
knowledge'' of the importation of the product (e.g., the name of the
exporter) in its records;
I have personal knowledge of the facts regarding the
production of the imported products covered by this certification.
``Personal knowledge'' includes facts obtained from another party,
(e.g., correspondence received by the importer (or exporter) from
the producer regarding the source of the input used to produce the
imported products);
These corrosion-resistant steel products produced in
Vietnam do not contain hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel
substrate produced in Taiwan:
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF IMPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to maintain a copy of this certification
and sufficient documentation supporting this certification (i.e.,
documents maintained in the normal course of business, or documents
obtained by the certifying party, for example, mill certificates,
productions records, invoices, etc.) for the later of (1) a period
of five years from the date of entry or (2) a period of three years
after the conclusion of any litigation in the United States courts
regarding such entries;
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF IMPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to provide this certification and
supporting records, upon request, to U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and/or the Department of Commerce (Commerce);
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF IMPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to maintain a copy of the exporter's
certification for the later of (1) a period of five years from the
date of entry or (2) a period of three years after the conclusion of
any litigation in United States courts regarding such entries;
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF IMPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to maintain and provide a copy of the
exporter's certification and supporting records, upon request, to
CBP and/or Commerce;
I understand that the claims made herein, and the
substantiating documentation, are subject to verification by CBP
and/or Commerce;
I understand that failure to maintain the required
certification and/or failure to substantiate the claims made herein
will result in:
[cir] Suspension of liquidation of all unliquidated entries (and
entries for which liquidation has not become final) for which these
requirements were not met and
[cir] the requirement that the importer post applicable
antidumping duty (AD) cash deposits equal to the rates as determined
by Commerce;
I understand that agents of the importer, such as
brokers, are not permitted to make this certification;
This certification was completed at or prior to the
time of Entry; and
I am aware that U.S. law (including, but not limited
to, 18 U.S.C. 1001) imposes criminal sanctions on individuals who
knowingly and willfully make material false statements to the U.S.
government.
Signature--------------------------------------------------------------
NAME OF COMPANY OFFICIAL
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TITLE
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DATE
Appendix IV
Exporter Certification
I hereby certify that:
My name is {INSERT COMPANY OFFICIAL'S NAME HERE{time}
and I am an official of {INSERT NAME OF EXPORTING COMPANY{time} ;
I have direct personal knowledge of the facts regarding
the production and exportation of the corrosion-resistant steel
products that were sold to the United States under invoice number(s)
INSERT INVOICE NUMBER(S). ``Direct personal knowledge'' refers to
facts the certifying party is expected to have in its own books and
records. For example, an exporter should have ``direct personal
knowledge'' of the producer's identity and location.
These corrosion-resistant steel products produced in
Vietnam do not contain hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel
substrate produced in Taiwan:
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF EXPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to maintain a copy of this certification
and sufficient documentation supporting this certification (i.e.,
documents maintained in the normal course of business, or documents
obtained by the certifying party, for example, mill certificates,
productions records, invoices, etc.) for the later of (1) a period
of five years from the date of entry or (2) a period of three years
after the conclusion of any litigation in the United States courts
regarding such entries;
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF EXPORTING
COMPANY{time} must provide this Exporter Certification to the U.S.
importer by the time of shipment;
I understand that {INSERT NAME OF EXPORTING
COMPANY{time} is required to provide a copy of this certification
and supporting records, upon request, to U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and/or the Department of Commerce (Commerce);
I understand that the claims made herein, and the
substantiating documentation are subject to verification by CBP and/
or Commerce;
I understand that failure to maintain the required
certification and/or failure to substantiate the claims made herein
will result in:
o Suspension of all unliquidated entries (and entries for which
liquidation has not become final) for which these requirements were
not met and
o the requirement that the importer post applicable antidumping
duty (AD) cash deposits equal to the rates as determined by
Commerce;
This certification was completed at or prior to the
time of shipment;
[[Page 32875]]
I am aware that U.S. law (including, but not limited
to, 18 U.S.C. 1001) imposes criminal sanctions on individuals who
knowingly and willfully make material false statements to the U.S.
government.
Signature--------------------------------------------------------------
NAME OF COMPANY OFFICIAL
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TITLE
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DATE
[FR Doc. 2019-14694 Filed 7-9-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P