[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10150-10151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03473]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-484-803]


Large Diameter Welded Pipe From Greece: Initiation of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Review

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating a changed 
circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on large 
diameter welded pipe from Greece.

DATES: Applicable February 21, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brittany Bauer, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3860.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 2, 2019, Commerce published the AD order on large diameter 
welded pipe from Greece.\1\ On January 3, 2020, Corinth Pipeworks Pipe 
Industry S.A. (Corinth), a Greek producer of large diameter welded 
pipe, filed a CCR request, including as an attachment the CCR request 
filed in the companion Indian cases by nine members of the domestic 
industry, including the petitioners from the underlying investigations 
(individually and as members of the American Line Pipe Producers 
Association) and Welspun Global Trade LLC.\2\ In that CCR request, the 
domestic industry requested that Commerce initiate CCRs to revoke, in 
part, the AD and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on large diameter 
welded pipe from India, with respect to certain large diameter welded 
pipe products within four specific groups of grades, outside diameters, 
and wall thicknesses.\3\ Corinth stated that, because the domestic 
industry expressed no interest in these products from India, and 
because the same groups of products are produced and exported from 
Greece, the domestic industry's statement of no interest should also 
apply to large diameter welded pipe from Greece.\4\ Corinth requests 
that we change the scope of the AD order on large diameter pipe from 
Greece by adding the exclusion language provided in the Attachment to 
this notice.
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    \1\ See Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece: Amended Final 
Affirmative Antidumping Determination and Antidumping Duty Order, 84 
FR 18769 (May 2, 2019) (Order).
    \2\ See Corinth's Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from 
Greece: Request for Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation, In 
Part,'' dated January 3, 2020 (Corinth CCR Request).
    \3\ Id. at Exhibits 2 to 5. Exhibit 2 is the Petitioner's 
Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from India: Petitioners' 
Request for Changed Circumstances Review and Partial Revocation,'' 
dated October 18, 2019 (Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request).
    \4\ Id. at 5-8 and Exhibits 1 and 2 (citing Large Diameter 
Welded Pipe from India: Initiation and Expedited Preliminary Results 
of Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances 
Reviews, 84 FR 69356 (December 18, 2019) (Indian Welded Pipe CCR).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order is welded carbon and alloy 
steel line pipe (other than stainless steel pipe), more than 406.4 mm 
(16 inches) in nominal outside diameter (large diameter welded line 
pipe), regardless of wall thickness, length, surface finish, grade, end 
finish, or stenciling. Large diameter welded pipe may be used to 
transport oil, gas, slurry, steam, or other fluids, liquids, or gases.
    Large diameter welded line pipe is used to transport oil, gas, or 
natural gas liquids and is normally produced to the American Petroleum 
Institute (API) specification 5L. Large diameter welded line pipe can 
be produced to comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or 
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards, or 
can be non-graded material. All line pipe meeting the physical 
description set forth above, including any dual- or multiple-certified/
stenciled pipe with an API (or comparable) welded line pipe 
certification/stencil, is covered by the scope of the order.
    Subject merchandise also includes large diameter welded line pipe 
that has been further processed in a third country, including but not 
limited to coating, painting, notching, beveling, cutting, punching, 
welding, or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of the order if performed in the country of 
manufacture of the in-scope large diameter welded line pipe.
    Excluded from the scope of the order is structural pipe, which is 
produced only to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 
standards A500, A252, or A53, or other relevant domestic 
specifications, or comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or 
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards. 
Also excluded is large diameter welded pipe produced only to 
specifications of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for water 
and sewage pipe.
    The large diameter welded line pipe that is subject to this order 
is currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS) under subheadings 7305.11.1030, 7305.11.1060, 
7305.11.5000, 7305.12.1030, 7305.12.1060, 7305.12.5000, 7305.19.1030, 
7305.19.1060, and 7305.19.5000. Merchandise currently classifiable 
under subheadings 7305.31.4000, 7305.31.6090, 7305.39.1000 and 
7305.39.5000 and that otherwise meets the above scope language is also 
covered. While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this order is 
dispositive.

Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review

    Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.216(d), Commerce will conduct a CCR of an AD 
or CVD order when it receives information which shows changed 
circumstances sufficient to warrant such a review. Section 782(h)(2) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i) provide that Commerce may revoke an 
order (in whole or in part) if it determines that producers accounting 
for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product 
have no further interest in the order, in whole or in part. For the 
reasons discussed below, we find that such sufficient information 
exists to warrant initiation of a CCR.
    The ten domestic producers who filed the request on the Indian 
orders asserted that they account for ``substantially all'' \5\ of the 
domestic production of large diameter welded pipe.\6\ Because there is 
no record information that contradicts this claim, in accordance with 
section 751(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i), we find that the 
ten domestic producers comprise

[[Page 10151]]

substantially all of the production of the domestic like product.
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    \5\ In its administrative practice, Commerce has interpreted 
``substantially all'' to mean at least 85 percent of the total 
production of the domestic like product covered by the order. See, 
e.g., Supercalendered Paper from Canada: Final Results of Changed 
Circumstances Review and Revocation of Countervailing Duty Order, 83 
FR 32268 (July 12, 2018).
    \6\ See Corinth CCR Request at Exhibit 2; see also Indian Welded 
Pipe CCR, 84 FR at 69357.
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    Because this CCR request was filed less than 24 months after the 
date of publication of notices of the final determinations in the 
investigations, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.216(c), Commerce must determine 
whether ``good cause'' exists to initiate this CCR. We find that the 
ten domestic producers' affirmative statement of no interest with 
respect to certain specific large diameter welded pipe products, 
coupled with the circumstances described below, constitute good cause 
for the initiation of this review.\7\ Specifically, the domestic 
industry stated on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR that it 
does not currently produce the particular large diameter welded pipe 
products subject to this CCR request.\8\ Furthermore, the domestic 
producers also stated on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR that 
the investment needed for the industry to produce these products far 
exceeds the potential benefit of such an investment, given that the 
U.S. market for deep offshore projects, i.e., the primary market for 
the large diameter welded pipe product groups at issue, is relatively 
small.\9\ In addition, the domestic producers provided an explanation 
on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR indicating that the 
commercial reality of welded pipe production has changed since the 
Orders were put in place.\10\
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    \7\ See, e.g., Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from 
Japan: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Review, and Intent to Revoke Order in Part, 82 FR 821 (January 4, 
2017) (finding that ``Petitioners' affirmative statement of no 
interest in the order . . . constitutes good cause for the conduct 
of this review.'').
    \8\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
    \9\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
    \10\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
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    On February 5, 2020, we informed counsel to the domestic industry 
of the CCR request and notified them of the timing for initiation of a 
review.\11\ Counsel to the domestic industry stated that they did not 
intend to file comments prior to the deadline for initiation.\12\
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    \11\ See Memorandum, ``Phone Call with the Petitioner's Counsel 
in Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece,'' dated February 5, 2020.
    \12\ Id.
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Public Comment

    We are inviting interested parties to file comments and new factual 
information not later than 14 days after the date of publication of 
this notice. Rebuttal comments and factual information may be filed not 
later than seven days after the due date for affirmative comments. 
Specifically, we are requesting that domestic interested parties who 
expressed no interest regarding certain products in the AD and CVD 
orders on large diameter welded pipe from India provide comments with 
respect to those statements in the context of this case, and identify 
any considerations that distinguish those factors from the AD order on 
large diameter welded pipe from Greece. All submissions must be filed 
electronically using Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at http://access.trade.gov, and to all parties in the 
Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Commerce building. An 
electronically filed document must be received successfully in its 
entirety in ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date set forth 
in this notice.
    Commerce intends to publish in the Federal Register a notice of 
preliminary results of the antidumping duty changed circumstances 
review, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4) and 351.221(c)(3)(i), 
which will set forth Commerce's preliminary factual and legal 
conclusions. Commerce will issue its final results of the review in 
accordance with the time limits set forth in 19 CFR 351.216(e).

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice is published in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 
777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(c)(3).

    Dated: February 13, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Attachment

Proposed Revision to the Scope of the Order

    Excluded from the scope of the antidumping duty order are large 
diameter welded pipe products in the following combinations of grades, 
outside diameters, and wall thicknesses:
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 18'' outside diameter, 0.688'' or 
greater wall thickness;
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 20'' outside diameter, 0.688'' or 
greater wall thickness;
     Grade X60, X65, X70, or X80, 22'' outside diameter, 
0.750'' or greater wall thickness; and
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 24'' outside diameter, 0.750'' or 
greater wall thickness.
[FR Doc. 2020-03473 Filed 2-20-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P