[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 230 (Friday, November 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65785-65787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25891]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-508-813]


Magnesium From Israel: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters 
of magnesium from Israel. For information on the estimated subsidy 
rates, see the ``Final Determination'' section of this notice.

DATES: Applicable November 29, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ethan Talbott or Dana Mermelstein, AD/
CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-1030 or (202) 482-
1391, respectively.

Background

    Commerce published the Preliminary Determination on May 8, 2019.\1\ 
A summary of the events that occurred since Commerce published the 
Preliminary Determination, as well as a full discussion of the issues 
raised by parties for this final determination, may be found in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum.\2\ The Issues and 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 
http://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 Issues and Decision Memorandum 
can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The 
signed and the electronic versions of the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Magnesium from Israel: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final 
Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination 84 FR 20092 
(May 8, 2019) (Preliminary Determination) and accompanying 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of 
Magnesium from Israel,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted 
by, this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation is January 1, 2017 through December 31, 
2017.

Scope of the Investigation

    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\3\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope of the investigation). 
No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it 
appeared in the Initiation Notice.\4\ Therefore, Commerce is not 
modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. 
See the scope in Appendix I to this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \4\ See Magnesium from Israel: Initiation of Countervailing Duty 
Investigation 83 FR 58529 (November 20, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received

    The subsidy programs under investigation and the issues raised in 
the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in this investigation are 
discussed in the

[[Page 65786]]

Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues raised by parties, 
and to which we responded in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, is 
attached to this notice at Appendix II.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), in August 2019, Commerce verified the subsidy information 
reported by the Government of Israel and by Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd. 
(DSM). We used standard verification procedures, including an 
examination of relevant accounting and production records, and original 
source documents provided by the GOI and by DSM.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of our findings at verification and the 
comments received, we have made certain changes to the respondent's 
subsidy rate calculations. For discussion of these changes, see the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum.

All-Others Rate

    In accordance with section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, for 
companies not individually examined, we apply an all-others rate, which 
is normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the mandatory 
respondents by those companies' exports of the subject merchandise to 
the United States. Under section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, the all-
others rate should exclude zero and de minimis rates or any rates based 
entirely on facts otherwise available pursuant to section 776 of the 
Act.
    Commerce calculated an individual estimated countervailable subsidy 
rate for Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd. (DSM) and its cross-owned affiliates 
ICL Chemicals Ltd., ICL Israel Ltd., Dead Sea Works Ltd., Dead Sea 
Bromine Company Ltd., Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd., Bromine Compounds Ltd., 
and Fertilizers& Chemicals Ltd. Because the only individually 
calculated rate is not zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts 
otherwise available, we are assigning the rate calculated for DSM to 
all other producers and exporters.

Final Determination

    We determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Net subsidy
                         Company                               rate
                                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd \5\.............................           13.77
All Others..............................................           13.77
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ This rate applies to DSM and its cross-owned affiliates: ICL 
Chemicals Ltd., ICL Israel Ltd., Dead Sea Works Ltd., Dead Sea 
Bromine Company Ltd., Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd., Bromine Compounds 
Ltd., and Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties in this 
proceeding within five days after public announcement of the final 
determination or, if there is no public announcement, within five days 
of the date of publication of the notice of final determination in the 
Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our Preliminary Determination and pursuant to 
section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all magnesium from Israel 
that was entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after May 8, 2019, the date of the publication of the Preliminary 
Determination in the Federal Register. In accordance with section 
703(d) of the Act, we instructed CBP to discontinue the suspension of 
liquidation for CVD purposes for subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, on or after September 5, 2019. If the U.S. 
International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final affirmative injury 
determination, we will issue a CVD order and will reinstate the 
suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of the Act and will 
require a cash deposit of estimated CVDs for such entries of subject 
merchandise in the amounts indicated above. If the ITC determines that 
material injury, or threat of material injury, does not exist, this 
proceeding will be terminated and all estimated duties deposited or 
securities posted as a result of the suspension of liquidation will be 
refunded or canceled.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our final affirmative CVD determination. Because the final 
determination in this proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with 
section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will make its final determination 
as to whether the domestic industry in the United States is materially 
injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of 
subject merchandise from Israel no later than 45 days after our final 
determination. If the ITC determines that such injury does not exist, 
this proceeding will be terminated, and all securities posted will be 
refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines that such injury does 
exist, Commerce will issue a countervailing duty order directing CBP to 
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on 
all imports of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective date of the 
suspension of liquidation.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Order

    This notice will serve as a reminder to the parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of return or 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 sanctionable violation.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: November 21, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ In the Preliminary Determination, we inadvertently included 
incorrect scope language. This appendix contains the correct scope 
language.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The products covered by this investigation are primary and 
secondary pure and alloy magnesium metal, regardless of chemistry, 
raw material source, form, shape, or size (including, without 
limitation, magnesium cast into ingots, slabs, t-bars, rounds, sows, 
billets, and other shapes, and magnesium ground, chipped, crushed, 
or machined into raspings, granules, turnings, chips, powder, 
briquettes, and any other shapes). Magnesium is a metal or alloy 
containing at least 50 percent by actual weight the element 
magnesium. Primary magnesium is produced by decomposing raw 
materials into magnesium metal. Secondary magnesium is produced by 
recycling magnesium-based scrap into magnesium metal. The magnesium 
covered by this investigation also includes blends of primary 
magnesium, scrap, and secondary magnesium.
    The subject merchandise includes the following pure and alloy 
magnesium metal products made from primary and/or secondary 
magnesium: (1) Products that contain at least 99.95 percent 
magnesium, by actual weight (generally referred to as ``ultra-pure'' 
or ``high purity'' magnesium); (2) products that contain less than 
99.95 percent but not less than 99.8 percent magnesium, by actual 
weight (generally referred to as ``pure'' magnesium); and (3) 
chemical combinations

[[Page 65787]]

of magnesium and other material(s) in which the magnesium content is 
50 percent or greater, but less than 99.8 percent, by actual weight, 
whether or not conforming to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium 
Alloy.''
    The scope of this investigation excludes mixtures containing 90 
percent or less magnesium in granular or powder form by actual 
weight and one or more of certain non-magnesium granular materials 
to make magnesium-based reagent mixtures, including lime, calcium 
metal, calcium silicon, calcium carbide, calcium carbonate, carbon, 
slag coagulants, fluorspar, nepheline syenite, feldspar, alumina 
(A1203), calcium aluminate, soda ash, hydrocarbons, graphite, coke, 
silicon, rare earth metals/mischmetal, cryolite, silica/fly ash, 
magnesium oxide, periclase, ferroalloys, dolomite lime, and 
colemanite.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation is classifiable 
under items 8104.11.0000, 8104.19.0000, and 8104.30.0000 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although 
the HTSUS items are provided for convenience and customs purposes, 
the written description of the merchandise under investigation is 
dispositive.

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Final Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Subsidies Valuation
VI. Discount Rates
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Whether the GOI's Contributions to the Remediation 
Projects at the Dead Sea Constitute GOI Purchases of Services from 
Dead Sea Works, Ltd.
    Comment 2: Whether Commerce Should Find Specific Accelerated 
Depreciation, Tax Consolidation, or Tax Deductions Related to 
Listing Shares on a Stock Market Under the Encouragement of Industry 
Law (EIL) 1969
    Comment 3: Whether Commerce Should Calculate the Benefit from 
EIL's Accelerated Depreciation Program as a Deferral of Taxes
    Comment 4: Whether Commerce Should Attribute to Dead Sea 
Magnesium Ltd. Subsidies Received by Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd.
    Comment 5: Whether Income Tax Reduction Provided Under the 
Encouragement of Capital Investment Law is Countervailable
    Comment 6: Whether Dead Sea Works, Ltd. Received a Benefit from 
the Provision of Groundwater for Less than Adequate Remuneration
    Comment 7: Whether Commerce Correctly Applied a Tier 3 Benchmark 
Analysis and Whether Commerce Should Account for Profit
IX. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2019-25891 Filed 11-27-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P