[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32875-32878]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14721]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-881, C-580-882]


Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products From the 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 cold-rolled steel flat products (CRS), produced 
in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) using hot-rolled steel 
(HRS) manufactured in the Republic of Korea (Korea), are circumventing 
the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on CRS 
from Korea.

DATES: Applicable July 10, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Weinhold or Fred Baker, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1121 or (202) 482-2924, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Certain domestic interested parties, ArcelorMittal USA LLC (AMUSA), 
California Steel Industries (CSI), Nucor Corporation (Nucor), Steel 
Dynamics, Inc. (SDI), and United States Steel Corporation (USSC) 
(collectively, the petitioners) filed an allegation \1\ that imports of 
CRS from Vietnam made from HRS sourced from Korea and exported to the 
United States as CRS from Vietnam are circumventing the CRS 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 substrate for 
completing into CRS in Vietnam and subsequent sale of that CRS to the 
United States constitutes circumvention of the CRS Orders.
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    \1\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat 
Products from the Republic of Korea: Request for Circumvention 
Ruling Pursuant to Section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930,'' dated 
June 12, 2018.
    \2\ See Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Brazil, 
India, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom: Amended Final 
Affirmative Antidumping Determinations for Brazil and the United 
Kingdom and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 64432 (September 20, 
2016) (CRS Korea AD Order); see also Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat 
Products from Brazil, India, and the Republic of Korea: Amended 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Countervailing Duty Order (the Republic of Korea) and Countervailing 
Duty Orders (Brazil and India), 81 FR 64436 (September 20, 2016) 
(CRS Korea CVD Order) (collectively, CRS Orders).
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    On August 2, 2018, Commerce published the notice of initiation of 
anti-circumvention inquiries on imports of CRS 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 Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
Republic of Korea: Initiation of Anti-Circumvention Inquiries on the 
Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders, 83 FR 37790 (August 
2, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Preliminary Decision Memorandum for Anti-
Circumvention Inquiries on the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing 
Duty Orders on Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat 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 28, 2019. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
have been extended by 40 days.
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Scope of the Orders

    The products covered by these orders are certain cold-rolled (cold-
reduced), flat-rolled steel products, whether or not annealed, painted, 
varnished, or coated with plastics or other nonmetallic substances. 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 CRS produced in Vietnam 
from HRS substrate input manufactured in Korea and subsequently 
exported from Vietnam to the United States (merchandise under 
consideration). These preliminary rulings apply to all shipments of the 
merchandise under consideration on or after the date of the initiation 
of these inquiries. Importers and exporters of CRS produced in Vietnam 
using HRS manufactured in Vietnam or third countries must certify that 
the HRS processed into CRS in Vietnam did not originate in Korea, as 
provided for in the certifications attached to the Federal Register 
notice at Appendices II, III, and IV. Otherwise, their merchandise may 
be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties if Commerce makes 
affirmative final determinations in these inquiries.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting these anti-circumvention inquiries in 
accordance with section 781(b) of the Act. Because Vietnam is a non-
market economy country within the meaning of section 771(18) of the 
Act,\6\ Commerce has calculated the value of certain processing and 
merchandise using factors of production and market economy values, as 
discussed in section 773(c) of the Act. For a full description of the 
methodology underlying Commerce's preliminary determination,

[[Page 32876]]

see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \6\ See, e.g., Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review, 81 FR 24797 (October 14, 2016) 
(unchanged in Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; 2014-2015, 82 FR 18611 (April 20, 2017)).
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Preliminary Finding

    As detailed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, we 
preliminarily determine that CRS produced in Vietnam from HRS sourced 
from Korea is circumventing the CRS Orders. We therefore preliminarily 
determine that it is appropriate to include this merchandise within the 
CRS Orders and to instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
suspend any entries of CRS from Vietnam produced from HRS from Korea.

Suspension of Liquidation

    As stated above, Commerce has made a preliminary affirmative 
finding of circumvention of the CRS Orders by exports to the United 
States of CRS produced by any Vietnamese company from Korean-origin HRS 
inputs. In accordance with section 19 CFR 351.225(l)(2), Commerce will 
direct CBP to suspend liquidation and to require a cash deposit of 
estimated duties on unliquidated entries of CRS 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 inquiry. The suspension of liquidation instructions 
will remain in effect until further notice.
    CRS produced in Vietnam from HRS that is not of Korean origin is 
not subject to these inquiries. Therefore, cash deposits are not 
required for such merchandise. However, CRS produced in Vietnam from 
CRS from China is subject to the AD/CVD orders on CRS from China.\7\ 
Imports of such merchandise are also subject to certification 
requirements and cash deposits may be required. If an importer imports 
CRS from Vietnam and claims that the CRS was not produced from HRS 
substrate manufactured in Korea, in order not to be subject to cash 
deposit requirements, the importer and exporter are required to meet 
the certification and documentation requirements described in Appendix 
II. Exporters of CRS produced from non-Korean-origin HRS substrate must 
prepare and maintain an Exporter Certification and documentation 
supporting the Certification (see Appendix IV). In addition, importers 
of such CRS 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 CRS who did 
not use Korean-origin HRS substrate.
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    \7\ See Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Affirmative Final Determination of 
Circumvention of the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty 
Orders, 83 FR 23891 (May 23, 2018) (CRS China Circumvention Final).
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    In the situation where no certification is provided for an entry, 
and AD/CVD orders from two countries (China or Korea) potentially apply 
to that entry, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to suspend the entry 
and collect cash deposits at the CRS China Circumvention Final rates 
(i.e., the AD rate established for the China-wide entity (199.76 
percent) and the CVD rate established for the China all-others rate 
(256.44 percent)).\8\ This is to prevent evasion, given that the CRS 
China Circumvention Final rates are higher than the AD and CVD rates 
established for CRS from Korea. In the situation where a certification 
is provided for the AD/CVD orders on CRS from China (stating that the 
merchandise was not produced from HRS 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., 20.33 percent and 3.89 percent, respectively) 
applicable to the AD/CVD orders on CRS from Korea.\9\
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    \8\ See CRS China Circumvention Final, 83 FR at 23892.
    \9\ See Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Brazil, 
India, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom: Amended Final 
Affirmative Antidumping Determinations for Brazil and the United 
Kingdom and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 64432 (September 20, 
2016) (CRS Korea AD Order); Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products 
from Brazil, India, and the Republic of Korea: Amended Final 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Countervailing 
Duty Order (the Republic of Korea) and Countervailing Duty Orders 
(Brazil and India), 81 FR 64436 (September 20, 2016) (CRS Korea CVD 
Order).
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Verification

    As provided in 19 CFR 351.307, Commerce intends to verify 
information relied upon in making its final determination.

Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven 
days after the date on which the last final verification report is 
issued in these anti-circumvention inquiries, unless the Secretary 
alters the time limit. 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 International Trade Commission (ITC) of these preliminary 
determinations to include the merchandise subject to these anti-
circumvention inquiries within the CRS Orders. Pursuant to section 
781(e) of the Act, the ITC may request consultations concerning 
Commerce's proposed inclusion of the merchandise under consideration. 
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

    These determinations are 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

[[Page 32877]]

IV. Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiries
V. Period of Inquiry
VI. Surrogate Countries and Methodology for Valuing Inputs from 
Korea and Processing in Vietnam
VII. Statutory Framework
VIII. Use of Facts Available with an Adverse Inference
IX. Statutory Analysis
X. Country-Wide Determination
XI. Certification for Not Using Korean-Origin HRS
XII. Recommendation

Appendix II

Certification Requirements

    If an importer imports certain cold-rolled steel flat products 
(CRS) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) and claims 
that the CRS was not produced from hot-rolled steel substrate 
(substrate) manufactured in the Republic of Korea (Korea), the 
importer is required to complete and maintain the importer 
certification attached hereto as Appendix III and all supporting 
documentation. 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 required to complete and maintain the exporter 
certification, attached 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 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 two countries (China or Korea) 
potentially apply to that entry, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to 
suspend the entry and collect cash deposits at the CRS China 
Circumvention Final rates (i.e., the AD rate established for the 
China-wide entity (199.76 percent) and the CVD rate established for 
the China all-others rate (256.44 percent)).\11\ In the situation 
where a certification is provided for the AD/CVD orders on CRS from 
China (stating that the merchandise was not produced from HRS 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., 20.33 percent and 
3.89 percent, respectively) applicable to the AD/CVD orders on CRS 
from Korea.\12\
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    \11\ See Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Affirmative Final Determination of 
Circumvention of the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty 
Orders, 83 FR 23891 (May 23, 2018) (CRS China Circumvention Final).
    \12\ See CRS Korea AD Order, 81 FR at 64434; CRS Korea CVD 
Order, 81 FR at 64438.
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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 cold-rolled steel flat 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 cold-rolled steel flat products produced in 
Vietnam do not contain hot-rolled steel substrate produced in Korea:
     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

[[Page 32878]]

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 cold-rolled steel flat 
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 cold-rolled steel flat products produced in 
Vietnam do not contain hot-rolled steel substrate produced in Korea:
     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:
    [cir] Suspension 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;
     This certification was completed at or prior to the 
time of shipment;
     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. 2019-14721 Filed 7-9-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P