[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 85 (Friday, May 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25400-25402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09408]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-489-838]
Certain Quartz Surface Products From the Republic of Turkey:
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final
Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, In Part
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 certain quartz surface products (quartz surface products) from the
Republic of Turkey (Turkey).
DATES: Applicable May 1, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Berger or Peter Zukowski,
AD/CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-2483
or (202) 482-0189, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On October 11, 2019, Commerce published the Preliminary
Determination of the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation, which
aligned the final determination in this CVD investigation with the
final determination in the companion antidumping duty (AD)
investigation of quartz surface products from Turkey.\1\
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\1\ See Certain Quartz Surface Products from the Republic of
Turkey: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination,
Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, and
Alignment of Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty
Determination, 84 FR 54843 (October 11, 2019) (Preliminary
Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum
(PDM).
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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, are discussed in the
Issues and Decision
[[Page 25401]]
Memorandum, which is hereby adopted by this notice.\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 https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete
version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and
electronic versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical
in content.
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\2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decisions Memorandum for the
Final Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of
Certain Quartz Surface Products from Turkey,'' dated concurrently
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decisions
Memorandum).
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Period of Investigation
The period of investigation is January 1, 2018 through December 31,
2018.
Scope of the Investigation
The products covered by this investigation are quartz surface
products from Turkey. For a complete description of the scope of this
investigation, see Appendix I.
Scope Comments
On December 4, 2019, we issued a Preliminary Scope Memorandum.\3\
We received no scope case briefs from interested parties. Therefore,
Commerce has made no changes to the scope of this investigation since
the Preliminary Determination.
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\3\ See Memorandum, ``Certain Quartz Surface Products from India
and Turkey: Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,'' dated December
4, 2019.
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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 Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues
that parties raised is attached to this notice as Appendix II.
Methodology
Commerce conducted this investigation in accordance with section
701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each of the
subsidy programs found countervailable, Commerce determines that there
is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that
gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is
specific.\4\ For a full description of the methodology underlying our
final determination, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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\4\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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Verification
As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, in December 2019, we
conducted verification of the information submitted by the Government
of Turkey \5\ and the mandatory respondent, Belenco Di[scedil] Ticaret
A.[Scedil]. (Belenco), for use in Commerce's final determination. We
used standard verification procedures, including an examination of
relevant accounting records and original source documents provided by
the respondents.\6\
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\5\ See Memorandum, ``Verification of the Questionnaire
Responses of the Republic of Turkey,'' dated January 23, 2020.
\6\ See Memorandum, ``Verification of the Questionnaire
Responses of Belenco Di[scedil] Ticaret A [Scedil].,'' dated January
23, 2020.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
Based on our review and analysis of the comments received from
parties and our verification findings, we made certain changes to the
subsidy rate calculations for Belenco. For a discussion of these
changes, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, In Part
In accordance with section 703(e)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce
preliminarily determined that critical circumstances existed for all
imports of quartz surface products from Turkey.\7\ Upon further
analysis of the data following the Preliminary Determination, we are
modifying our findings for the final determination.\8\ Specifically, in
accordance with section 705(a)(2) of the Act, we find that critical
circumstances do not exist with respect to imports from Belenco. We
continue to find, as we did in the Preliminary Determination, that
critical circumstances exist with respect to imports from all other
companies. For a full description of the methodology and results of
Commerce's analysis, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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\7\ See Preliminary Determination.
\8\ See Issues and Decisions Memorandum at 2-3.
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All-Others Rate
We continue to assign the countervailable subsidy rate calculated
for Belenco as the all-others rate applicable to all exporters and/or
producers not individually examined.\9\
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\9\ See Preliminary Determination.
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Final Determination
In accordance with section 705(c)(1)(B)(i)(I) of the Act, we
calculated an individual estimated subsidy rate for Belenco. We
determine the total estimated net countervailable subsidy rate to be:
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Subsidy
Producer/exporter rate (%)
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Belenco Di[scedil] Ticaret A.[Scedil]. and Peker Y[uuml]zey 2.43
Tasar[inodot]lar[inodot] Sanayi ve Tic. A.[Scedil].\10\....
All Others.............................................. 2.43
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Disclosure
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\10\ As discussed in the Preliminary Determination, Commerce
found the following company to be cross-owned with Belenco Dis
Ticaret AS: Peker Y[uuml]zey Tasar[inodot]lar[inodot] Sanayi ve Tic.
A.[Scedil]. No party commented on this finding in the case briefs.
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We intend to disclose to interested parties the calculations and
analysis performed in this final determination within five days of the
date of the publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR
351.224(b).
Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation
As a result of our Preliminary Determination, and pursuant to
sections 703(d)(I)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, Commerce instructed U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries
of subject merchandise, as described in the scope of the investigation
section, that was entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption
on or after August 13, 2019, which is 90 days prior to the publication
of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register. In accordance
with section 703(d) of the Act, we issued instructions to CBP to
discontinue the suspension of liquidation for countervailing duty (CVD)
purposes for subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
on or after February 8, 2020 but to continue the suspension of
liquidation of all entries from August 13, 2019 through February 7,
2020.
Because we find critical circumstances do not exist for Belenco, we
will direct CBP to terminate the retroactive suspension of liquidation
ordered at the Preliminary Determination and release any cash deposits
that were required prior to October 11, 2019, the date of publication
of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register, consistent
with section 705(c)(3) of the Act.
If the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final
affirmative injury determination, we will issue a CVD order, reinstate
the suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of the Act, and will
require a cash
[[Page 25402]]
deposit of estimated countervailing duties 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.
ITC Notification
In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the
ITC of our determination. Because the final determination in this
proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with section 705(b) 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 quartz surface
products from Turkey no later than 45 days after our final
determination. If the ITC determines that material injury or threat of
material injury does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and
all cash deposits will be refunded. If the ITC determines that material
injury or threat of material injury does exist, Commerce will issue a
CVD 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, as discussed
above in the ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' section.
Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders
In the event the ITC issues a final negative injury determination,
this notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an APO of
their responsibility concerning the destruction of proprietary
information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR
351.305(a)(3). Timely written notification of the 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 violation subject to sanction.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).
Dated: April 27, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by the investigation is certain quartz
surface products. Quartz surface products consist of slabs and other
surfaces created from a mixture of materials that includes
predominately silica (e.g., quartz, quartz powder, cristobalite,
glass powder) as well as a resin binder (e.g., an unsaturated
polyester). The incorporation of other materials, including, but not
limited to, pigments, cement, or other additives does not remove the
merchandise from the scope of the investigation. However, the scope
of the investigation only includes products where the silica content
is greater than any other single material, by actual weight. Quartz
surface products are typically sold as rectangular slabs with a
total surface area of approximately 45 to 60 square feet and a
nominal thickness of one, two, or three centimeters. However, the
scope of this investigation includes surface products of all other
sizes, thicknesses, and shapes. In addition to slabs, the scope of
this investigation includes, but is not limited to, other surfaces
such as countertops, backsplashes, vanity tops, bar tops, work tops,
tabletops, flooring, wall facing, shower surrounds, fire place
surrounds, mantels, and tiles. Certain quartz surface products are
covered by the investigation whether polished or unpolished, cut or
uncut, fabricated or not fabricated, cured or uncured, edged or not
edged, finished or unfinished, thermoformed or not thermoformed,
packaged or unpackaged, and regardless of the type of surface
finish.
In addition, quartz surface products are covered by the
investigation whether or not they are imported attached to, or in
conjunction with, non-subject merchandise such as sinks, sink bowls,
vanities, cabinets, and furniture. If quartz surface products are
imported attached to, or in conjunction with, such non-subject
merchandise, only the quartz surface product is covered by the
scope.
Subject merchandise includes material matching the above
description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise
fabricated in a third country, including by cutting, polishing,
curing, edging, thermoforming, attaching to, or packaging with
another product, or any other finishing, packaging, or fabrication
that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of
the investigation if performed in the country of manufacture of the
quartz surface products.
The scope of the investigation does not cover quarried stone
surface products, such as granite, marble, soapstone, or quartzite.
Specifically excluded from the scope of the investigation are
crushed glass surface products. Crushed glass surface products must
meet each of the following criteria to qualify for this exclusion:
(1) The crushed glass content is greater than any other single
material, by actual weight; (2) there are pieces of crushed glass
visible across the surface of the product; (3) at least some of the
individual pieces of crushed glass that are visible across the
surface are larger than 1 centimeter wide as measured at their
widest cross-section (``Glass Pieces''); and (4) the distance
between any single Glass Piece and the closest separate Glass Piece
does not exceed three inches.
The products subject to the scope are currently classified in
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under
the following subheading: 6810.99.0010. Subject merchandise may also
enter under subheadings 6810.11.0010, 6810.11.0070, 6810.19.1200,
6810.19.1400, 6810.19.5000, 6810.91.0000, 6810.99.0080,
6815.99.4070, 2506.10.0010, 2506.10.0050, 2506.20.0010,
2506.20.0080, and 7016.90.1050. The HTSUS subheadings set forth
above are provided for convenience and U.S. Customs purposes only.
The written description of the scope 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. Final Determination of Critical Circumstances
VI. Subsidies Valuation Information
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Analysis of Comments
Comment 1: Whether Commerce Should Apply Adverse Facts Available
(AFA) to the Local Fair Support Program
Comment 2: Whether Commerce Should Countervail the Value-Added
Tax (VAT) Exemption Granted Under the Regional Investment Incentive
Scheme (RIIS)
IX. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2020-09408 Filed 4-30-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P