[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68876-68877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27161]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-602-809]


Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From Australia: 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2017-
2018

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that 
sales of certain hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia were 
made at less than normal value during the period of review (POR) 
October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. We invite interested 
parties to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable December 17, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Greenberg, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0652.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On December 11, 2018, Commerce initiated the administrative review 
of the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled steel flat products 
(hot-rolled steel) from Australia in accordance with section 751(a) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\1\ This review covers one 
producer/exporter of subject merchandise, the collapsed entity, 
BlueScope Steel (AIS) Pty Ltd., BlueScope Steel Ltd., and BlueScope 
Steel Distribution Pty Ltd. (collectively, BlueScope).\2\ 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, resulting in a revised 
deadline for these preliminary results.\3\ Additionally, Commerce 
exercised its discretion to extend the deadline for the preliminary 
results until December 10, 2019.\4\
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 63615 (December 11, 2018) (Initiation 
Notice).
    \2\ We note that in the Initiation Notice, we initiated this 
review on BlueScope Steel Ltd., BlueScope Steel Americas, Inc. 
(BSA), and Steelscape LLC (Steelscape). However, this was an error, 
and the calculated margin is only applicable to the BlueScope 
collapsed entity, as an exporter, because BSA is an importer of 
subject merchandise and Steelscape is a further manufacturer of 
subject merchandise in the United States. Accordingly, consistent 
with the underlying investigation and the first administrative 
review, we reviewed the responses from the BlueScope collapsed 
entity, which included responses from BSA and Steelscape as required 
by our requests for information.
    \3\ 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.
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products 
from Australia: Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated July 1, 2019.
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Scope of the Order \5\
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    \5\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia, 
Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, the Republic 
of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Amended Final Affirmative 
Antidumping Determinations for Australia, the Republic of Korea, and 
the Republic of Turkey and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 67962 
(October 3, 2016) (Order).
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    The products covered by this order are certain hot-rolled, flat-
rolled steel products. For a full description of the scope, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying 
these preliminary results, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\ 
A list of the topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included as an appendix to this notice. The Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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 it is available 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 is available at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. 
The signed and electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Certain Hot-
Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia; 2017-2018,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum).
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Partial Adverse Facts Available

    BlueScope failed to provide all necessary information and failed to 
cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with 
Commerce's request for information in this review. As a result, we 
preliminary determine to apply facts otherwise available with an 
adverse inference to BlueScope, in accordance with sections 
776(a)(2)(A), (B), and (C) and section 776(b) of the Act. For further 
discussion, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Results of Review

    We preliminarily determine that the following weighted-average 
dumping margin exists for the period October 1, 2017 through September 
30, 2018:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
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BlueScope Steel (AIS) Pty Ltd, BlueScope Steel Ltd., and           15.13
 BlueScope Steel Distribution Pty Ltd.......................
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[[Page 68877]]

Assessment Rates

    Upon completion of this administrative review, Commerce shall 
determine, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. If BlueScope's weighted-
average dumping margin is not zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.5 
percent) in the final results of this review, we will calculate 
importer-specific ad valorem antidumping duty assessment rates based on 
the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the importer's 
examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). We will instruct CBP to assess 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review 
when the importer-specific assessment rate calculated in the final 
results of this review is not zero or de minimis. If BlueScope's 
weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis, we will instruct 
CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping 
duties. The final results of this review shall be the basis for the 
assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by 
the final results of this review and for future deposits of estimated 
duties, where applicable.\7\
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    \7\ See section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act.
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    In accordance with Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice, 
for entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by BlueScope 
for which it did not know that the merchandise was destined to the 
United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate those entries at the 
all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) 
involved in the transaction.\8\
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    \8\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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    We intend to issue liquidation instructions to CBP 15 days after 
publication of the final results of this review.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
finals results of this administrative review, as provided by section 
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for BlueScope in the 
final results of review will be equal to the weighted-average dumping 
margin established in the final results of this administrative review; 
(2) for merchandise exported by producers or exporters not covered in 
this review but covered in a prior segment of the proceeding, the cash 
deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published 
for the most recently completed segment of this proceeding in which 
they were reviewed; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this 
review or the original investigation but the producer is, then the cash 
deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently 
completed segment of this proceeding for the producer of the 
merchandise; (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or 
exporters will continue to be 29.58 percent, the all-others rate 
established in the less-than-fair-value investigation. These cash 
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until 
further notice.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties within 
five days after public announcement of the preliminary results.\9\ 
Commerce will establish a deadline for interested parties to submit 
case briefs and rebuttal briefs at a later date.\10\ Parties who submit 
case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding 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.\11\ Case and 
rebuttal briefs should be filed using ACCESS \12\ and must be served on 
interested parties.\13\ Executive summaries should be limited to five 
pages total, including footnotes.
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    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii) and 351.309(d)(1).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \12\ See generally 19 CFR 351.303.
    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.303(f).
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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, filed electronically via 
ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received successfully 
in its entirety by Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 
5:00 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of 
this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The party's name, address and 
telephone number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of 
issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to 
those raised in the respective case briefs. Commerce intends to issue 
the final results of this administrative review, including the results 
of its analysis of the issues raised in any written briefs, not later 
than 120 days after the date of publication of this notice, pursuant to 
section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

Notification to Importers

    This notice also 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 POR. Failure to comply with this 
requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement 
of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of doubled 
antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This administrative review and notice are issued and published in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: December 10, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Affiliation
V. Discussion of the Methodology
VI. Currency Conversion
VII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2019-27161 Filed 12-16-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P