[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 160 (Monday, August 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42897-42898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17772]



[[Page 42897]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-814]


Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From the People's Republic 
of China: Rescission of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 
2017-2018

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel 
butt-weld pipe fittings (BWPF) from the People's Republic of China 
(China), based on withdrawal of the requests for review.

DATES: Applicable August 19, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kabir Archuletta or Hannah Falvey, AD/
CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-2593 or (202) 482-
4889, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On July 6, 1992, Commerce published in the Federal Register the 
antidumping duty order on BWPF from China.\1\ On July 31, 2018, 
Commerce received separate requests to conduct an administrative review 
of the Order for Chinese producer/exporter Jinan Mech Piping Technology 
Co., Ltd. (Jinan Mech) on behalf of Jinan Mech \2\ and for Malaysian 
producer/exporter Pantech Steel Industries SDN BHD (Pantech) on behalf 
of Pantech and U.S. importers Silbo Industries, Inc. (Silbo) and Allied 
Group (Allied).\3\ Based upon these requests, on September 10, 2018, 
Commerce published in the Federal Register a notice of initiation of an 
administrative review covering the period of review (POR) July 1, 2017 
through June 30, 2018 for Jinan Mech and Pantech.\4\
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    \1\ See Antidumping Duty Order and Amendment to the Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value; Certain Carbon Steel 
Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's Republic of China, 57 FR 
29702 (July 6, 1992) (Order).
    \2\ See Jinan Mech's Letter, ``Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Duty Order on Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from 
the People's Republic of China: Request for Review,'' dated July 31, 
2018.
    \3\ See Pantech's Letter, ``Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings 
from the People's Republic of China, A-570-814: Review Request,'' 
dated July 31, 2018; Silbo's Letter, ``Request for Administrative 
Review of the Antidumping Duty Order on Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe 
Fittings from the People's Republic of China (A-570-814),'' dated 
July 31, 2018; and Allied's Letter, ``Certain Carbon Steel Butt-Weld 
Pipe Fittings from China: Allied Group Request for Administrative 
Review,'' dated July 31, 2018.
    \4\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 45596, 45601-02 (September 10, 2018).
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    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, and no 
other party requested a review of the company for which the petitioner 
requested a review. Section 351.213(d)(1) also provides that Commerce 
may extend this time limit if Commerce decides that it is reasonable to 
do so. The deadline for a party to withdraw a request for review was 
December 10, 2018.\5\
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    \5\ See 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1). 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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    On October 11, 2018, Jinan Mech timely withdrew its review request 
\6\ and, on December 28, 2018, Commerce rescinded this administrative 
review in part, with respect to Jinan Mech.\7\ No party withdrew any 
pending review requests for Pantech by the December 10, 2018 deadline.
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    \6\ See Jinan Mech's Letter, ``Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Duty Order on Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from 
the People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of Request for Review,'' 
dated October 11, 2018.
    \7\ See Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China; Rescission of the Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review, In Part; 2017-2018, 83 FR 67228 (December 28, 2018).
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    On July 2, 2019, Commerce received multiple requests to extend the 
time limit for Pantech, Silbo, and Allied to withdraw their requests 
for review of Pantech.\8\ In their letters, the parties explained that 
unique circumstances warranted an extension of the 90-day deadline 
under 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1). In particular, in the preliminary 
determination of the concurrent anti-circumvention inquiry on the 
Order, Commerce found that Pantech's BWFP exports from Malaysia were 
produced from finished or unfinished BWPF produced in China, and 
therefore subject to the Order.\9\ As a protective measure, Pantech, 
Silbo, and Allied requested an administrative review of the Order with 
respect to Pantech as a result of the anti-circumvention preliminary 
determination because they then faced suspended entries under the 
Order.\10\ However, in the final determination of the anti-
circumvention inquiry published on June 21, 2019, Commerce found that 
Pantech was now eligible for the import certification program for BWPF 
from Malaysia, and that the suspended entries of BWPF from Malaysia 
that do not contain finished or unfinished BWPF from China will not be 
subject to the Order.\11\ Any of Pantech's entries that do contain 
finished or unfinished BWPF from China are still subject to the 
Order.\12\ Shortly after this determination was published, Silbo, 
Allied, and Pantech each requested that Commerce extend the deadline to 
withdraw a request for review. The parties explained that the sole 
reason for requesting a review--to preserve their ability for 
administrative review of Pantech's entries in light of the affirmative 
preliminary determination in the concurrent anti-circumvention 
inquiry--was no longer at issue.\13\
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    \8\ See Silbo's Letter, ``Silbo's Request to Extend the Time 
Within Which to Withdraw Its Administrative Review Request and 
Withdrawal of the Administrative Review Request in the 
Administrative Review of the Antidumping Duty Order on Carbon Steel 
Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's Republic of China (A-570-
814) (POR: 7/1/17-6/30/18),'' dated July 2, 2019; see also Allied's 
Letter, ``Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China: (1) Request to Extend the Time Within Which to 
Withdraw Administrative Review Request; and (2) Withdrawal of the 
Administrative Review Request,'' dated July 2, 2019; and Pantech's 
Letter, ``Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China, A-570-814: Withdrawal of Review Request and 
Request to Rescind Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated 
July 2, 2019 (Pantech Review Request Withdrawal Letter).
    \9\ See Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of 
Circumvention of the Antidumping Duty Order, 83 FR 35205 (July 25, 
2018).
    \10\ See, e.g., Pantech Review Request Withdrawal Letter at 3.
    \11\ See Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Circumvention 
of the Antidumping Duty Order, 84 FR 29164 (June 21, 2019).
    \12\ Id., 84 FR at 29165, ``Continuation of Suspension of 
Liquidation.''
    \13\ See, e.g., Pantech Review Request Withdrawal Letter at 3-4.
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    The parties additionally argued that, although Commerce had 
expended some resources in the conduct of this review, it had not yet 
issued the preliminary results of review. Further, the parties argued 
that rescission of the review at this time would still conserve 
substantial resources, particularly in a review which would require 
calculations of margins in a potentially unusual circumstance of a 
market economy company using an input from a non-market economy. 
Moreover, the parties explained that they are not withdrawing their 
request for a review in order to receive a more favorable rate. Indeed, 
by withdrawing at this stage,

[[Page 42898]]

Pantech's entries that do contain finished or unfinished BWPF from 
China, if any, will be assessed at the China-wide rate of 182.90 
percent.\14\
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    \14\ Id. at 5-6.
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    After reviewing the reasons outlined in the requests, Commerce 
determined that it was reasonable to extend the deadline for parties to 
withdraw a request for review to July 29, 2019, pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.213(d)(1).\15\ On July 25, 2019, Silbo, Allied, and Pantech 
separately withdrew each of their requests for an administrative review 
of the Order.\16\ No other parties requested an administrative review 
of Pantech. Additionally, the petitioners have not raised any concerns 
regarding these withdrawal requests, nor submitted any further comments 
on the information that Pantech submitted to the record.
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    \15\ See Commerce's Letter to Silbo, ``Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review of Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from 
the People's Republic of China: Extension of Time Limit,'' dated 
July 24, 2019 (Silbo--Extension of Time); Commerce's Letter to 
Allied, ``Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Carbon Steel 
Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's Republic of China: 
Extension of Time Limit,'' dated July 24, 2019 (Allied--Extension of 
Time), see also Commerce's Letter to Pantech, ``Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review of Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from 
the People's Republic of China: Extension of Time Limit,'' dated 
July 24, 2019 (Pantech--Extension of Time).
    \16\ See Silbo's Letter, ``Silbo's Withdrawal of Its 
Administrative Review Request in the Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Order on Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the 
People's Republic of China (A-570-814) (POR: 7/1/17-6/30/18),'' 
dated July 25, 2019 (Silbo's Withdrawal Request); see also Allied's 
Letter ``Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's 
Republic of China: Withdrawal of Review Request,'' dated July 25, 
2019 (Allied's Withdrawal Request); Pantech's Letter, ``Carbon Steel 
Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the People's Republic of China, A-570-
814: Withdrawal of Review Request,'' dated July 25, 2019 (Pantech's 
Withdrawal Request).
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Rescission of Review

    As discussed above, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce 
considered the interested parties' requests to extend the deadline to 
withdraw their requests for a review of Pantech, and, based on the 
reasons provided by the parties and the circumstances presented, 
determined that it was reasonable to extend the deadline.\17\ Once the 
extension was granted, each interested party separately withdrew their 
review requests for Pantech and requested a rescission of 
administrative review of the Order.\18\ There are no remaining requests 
for an administrative review of the Order. Accordingly, Commerce is 
rescinding this review of the Order for the POR in accordance with 19 
CFR 351.213(d)(1).
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    \17\ See Silbo--Extension of Time; Allied--Extension of Time; 
and Pantech--Extension of Time.
    \18\ See Silbo's Withdrawal Request; Allied's Withdrawal 
Request; and Pantech's Withdrawal Request.
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Assessment

    Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. 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, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(1)(i). Commerce intends to issue appropriate assessment 
instructions directly to CBP 15 days after publication of this notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a 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.

Administrative Protective Order (APO)

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to APO of 
their responsibility concerning the return or destruction of 
proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3), 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 section 
751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and 19 
CFR 351.213(d)(4).

    Dated: August 14, 2019.
James Maeder,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2019-17772 Filed 8-16-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P