[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 134 (Monday, July 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41957-41960]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15078]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-026, C-570-027]


Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products From the People's 
Republic of China: Affirmative Final Determination of Circumvention 
Involving the United Arab Emirates

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports 
of certain corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE), completed in the 
United Arab Emirates (UAE) using carbon hot-rolled steel (HRS) and/or 
cold-rolled steel (CRS) flat products manufactured in the People's 
Republic of China (China), are circumventing the antidumping duty (AD) 
and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on CORE from China.

DATES: Applicable July 13, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eva Kim or Jeff Pedersen, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-8283 and (202) 482-2769, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 18, 2020, Commerce published the Preliminary 
Determination \1\ of circumvention of the China CORE Orders.\2\ A 
summary of 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.\3\ 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/. The signed and the electronic versions of 
the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \1\ See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of 
Circumvention Involving the United Arab Emirates, 85 FR 8841 
(February 18, 2020) (Preliminary Determination) and accompanying 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \2\ See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from India, 
Italy, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and 
Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination for 
India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390 (July 25, 
2016); see also Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from 
India, Italy, Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China: 
Countervailing Duty Order, 81 FR 48387 (July 25, 2016) 
(collectively, China CORE Orders).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Anti-Circumvention Inquiries Involving the United Arab Emirates of 
the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders on Certain Corrosion-
Resistant Steel Products from the People's Republic of China,'' 
dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues 
and Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Orders

    The products covered by these orders are certain flat-rolled steel 
products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant 
metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel- or iron-
based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished, 
laminated, or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in 
addition to the metallic coating. For a complete description of the 
scope of the orders, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiries

    These anti-circumvention inquiries cover CORE completed in the UAE 
from HRS and/or CRS substrate input manufactured in China and 
subsequently exported to the United States (merchandise subject to 
these inquiries). This final ruling applies to all shipments of 
merchandise subject to these inquiries entered on or after the date of 
the initiation of these inquiries.\4\ Importers and exporters of CORE 
produced in the UAE using: (1) HRS manufactured in the UAE or other 
third countries, (2) CRS manufactured in the UAE using HRS produced in 
the UAE or other third countries, or (3) CRS manufactured in other 
third countries, must certify that the HRS and/or CRS processed into 
CORE in the UAE did not originate in China, as provided for in the 
certifications attached to this Federal Register notice. Otherwise, 
their merchandise will be subject to AD and CVD requirements.
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    \4\ See Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation of Anti-Circumvention Inquiries on the 
Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders, 84 FR 43585 (August 
21, 2019) (Initiation Notice) and accompanying Memorandum, ``Certain 
Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from the People's Republic of 
China: Initiation of Anti-Circumvention Inquiries on the Antidumping 
Duty and Countervailing Duty Orders,'' dated August 12, 2019 
(Initiation Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting these anti-circumvention inquiries in 
accordance with section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act). Because China is a non-market economy, within the meaning of 
section 771(18) of the Act,\5\ Commerce calculated the value of 
Chinese-origin input costs using prices of factors of production and 
market economy values, as discussed in section 773(c) of the Act. 
Additionally, because an interested party (i.e., Asian Ispat FZ LLC.) 
did not cooperate to the best of its ability in responding to 
Commerce's

[[Page 41958]]

requests for information, we have based parts of our determination on 
the facts available, with adverse inferences, pursuant to sections 
776(a) and (b) of the Act. See Preliminary Decision Memorandum for a 
full description of the methodology. We have continued to apply this 
methodology for our final determination.
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    \5\ See Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Aluminum Foil 
from the People's Republic of China: Affirmative Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less-Than-Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination, 82 FR 50858, 50861 (November 2, 2017), and 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum at ``China's Status as 
a Non-Market Economy,'' unchanged in Certain Aluminum Foil from the 
People's Republic of China: Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value, 83 FR 9282 (March 5, 2018).
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in 
these inquiries are addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. A 
list of the issues raised is attached to this notice as Appendix I.
    Based on our analysis of the comments received from interested 
parties and our findings at verification, we made no revisions to the 
Preliminary Determination with regard to our analysis under the anti-
circumvention factors of section 781(b) of the Act. Additionally, based 
on our analysis of the comments received from interested parties, we 
have made certain changes to the language in the certifications to 
provide guidance on who should complete the exporter certification, and 
to improve the identification of parties involved in the sale.\6\
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    \6\ See Comment 5 of the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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Final Affirmative Determination of Circumvention

    We determine that exports to the United States of CORE completed in 
the UAE from HRS and/or CRS substrate manufactured in China are 
circumventing the China CORE Orders. We therefore find it appropriate 
to determine that merchandise subject to these inquiries should be 
considered to be within the scope of the China CORE Orders, and to 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of any entries of CORE completed in the UAE using 
HRS and/or CRS substrate manufactured in China.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    As stated above, Commerce has made an affirmative determination of 
circumvention of the China CORE Orders by exports to the United States 
of CORE completed in the UAE using Chinese-origin HRS and/or CRS 
substrate. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.225(1)(3), Commerce will 
direct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation and to require a cash 
deposit of estimated duties on unliquidated entries of CORE completed 
in the UAE using Chinese-origin HRS and/or CRS substrate that were 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
August 12, 2019, the date of initiation of these anti-circumvention 
inquiries.
    The suspension of liquidation and cash deposit instructions will 
remain in effect until further notice.
    CORE produced in the UAE from HRS or CRS substrate that is not of 
Chinese-origin is not subject to these inquiries. However, imports of 
such merchandise are subject to certification requirements, and cash 
deposits may be required if the certification requirements are not 
satisfied. Accordingly, if an importer imports CORE produced in the UAE 
and claims that the CORE was produced from non-Chinese HRS or CRS 
substrate, in order not to be subject to AD and/or CVD requirements, 
the importer and exporter are required to meet the certification and 
documentation requirements described in Appendices II, III, and IV. The 
party that made the sale to the United States should fill out the 
exporter certification.
    In order to prevent evasion, Commerce will instruct CBP that in the 
situation where parties have not maintained the requisite certification 
regarding the origin of the substrate for an entry, CBP should suspend 
the entry and collect cash deposits at the AD rate established for the 
China-wide entity (199.43 percent) and the CVD rate established for all 
other Chinese producers and/or exporters (39.05 percent) pursuant to 
the China CORE Orders.\7\
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    \7\ See China CORE Orders, 81 FR at 48389 and 48393.
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    Further, for this final determination, we continue to determine 
that the following company is not eligible for the certification 
process: Asian Ispat FZ LLC. \8\ Accordingly, importers of CORE from 
the UAE produced and/or exported by this ineligible company are 
similarly ineligible for the certification process with regard to 
imports of CORE produced by or sourced from this company. Additionally, 
exporters are not eligible to certify shipments of merchandise produced 
by the above-listed company. Accordingly, CBP shall suspend the entry 
and collect cash deposits for entries of merchandise produced and/or 
exported by Asian Ispat FZ LLC at the AD rate established for the 
China-wide entity (199.43 percent) and the CVD rate established for all 
other Chinese producers and/or exporters (39.05 percent) pursuant to 
the China CORE Orders.
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    \8\ See Preliminary Determination, 85 FR at 8842, and 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 28.
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Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Order

    This notice will serve as the only reminder to all parties subject 
to administrative protective order (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 return/destruction of APO materials or conversion to 
judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with 
the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
section 781(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225(f).

    Dated: July 6, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Orders
IV. Scope of the Anti-Circumvention Inquiries
V. Statutory Framework
VI. Statutory Analysis
VII. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Whether the Order on Chinese CORE Has Been 
Circumvented
    Comment 2: Application of NME Methodology
    Comment 3: HTS Classification of Cold-Rolled Steel
    Comment 4: Whether UIS Should Be Subject to the Certification 
Process
    Comment 5: Whether the Certifications Should Be Modified to 
Include Duferco's Situation
    Comment 6: Clarification of Response Reported in Verification 
Report
VIII. Recommendation

Appendix II

Certification Requirements

    If an importer imports certain corrosion-resistant steel 
products (CORE) from the United Arab Emirates and claims that the 
CORE was not produced from hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel 
substrate (substrate) manufactured in the People's Republic of China 
(China), the importer is required to complete and maintain the 
importer certification attached hereto as Appendix III and all 
supporting documentation. Where the importer uses a broker to 
facilitate the entry process, it should obtain the entry summary 
number from the broker. Agents of the importer, such as brokers, 
however, are not permitted to make this certification on behalf of 
the importer.
    The exporter of such merchandise is required to complete and 
maintain the exporter certification, attached as Appendix

[[Page 41959]]

IV, and is further required to provide the importer a copy of that 
certification and all supporting documentation. The party that made 
the sale to the United States should fill out the exporter 
certification.
    For any such certifications completed on the date of publication 
of this final determination through 20 days after the date of 
publication, exporters and importers should use the certifications 
attached to the Preliminary Determination. For any such 
certifications completed on or after 21 days after the date of 
publication of this final determination, exporters and importers 
should use the certifications contained below that have changed from 
the certifications issued with the Preliminary Determination.
    For entries on or after the date of publication of this notice 
in the Federal Register, for which certifications are required, 
importers should complete the required certification at or prior to 
the date of entry summary, and exporters should complete the 
required certification and provide it to the importer at or prior to 
the date of shipment. For all such entries made within the first 20 
days after publication of this notice, exporters and importers 
should use the certifications attached to the Preliminary 
Determination. For all entries made on or after 21 days after 
publication of this notice, exporters and importers should use the 
certifications contained below that have changed from the 
certifications issued with the Preliminary Determination.
    The importer and exporter are also required to maintain 
sufficient documentation supporting their certifications. The 
importer will not be required to submit the certifications or 
supporting documentation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
as part of the entry process at this time. However, the importer and 
the exporter will be required to present the certifications and 
supporting documentation to Commerce and/or CBP, as applicable, upon 
request by the respective agency. Additionally, the claims made in 
the certifications and any supporting documentation are subject to 
verification by Commerce and/or CBP. The importer and exporter are 
required to maintain the certifications and supporting documentation 
for the later of: (1) A period of five years from the date of entry 
or (2) a period of three years after the conclusion of any 
litigation in United States courts regarding such entries.
    In the situation where no certification is maintained for an 
entry, and AD/CVD orders from China potentially apply to that entry, 
Commerce intends to instruct CBP to suspend the entry and collect 
cash deposits at the applicable rates from the China CORE Orders 
(i.e., the AD rate established for the China-wide entity (199.43 
percent) and the CVD rate established for all other Chinese 
producers and/or exporters (39.05 percent)).\9\
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    \9\ See China CORE Orders, 81 FR at 48389 and 48393.
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Appendix III

Importer Certification

    I hereby certify that:
    (A) My name is {IMPORTING COMPANY OFFICIAL'S NAME{time}  and I 
am an official of {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time} , located at 
{ADRESS OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time} .
    (B) I have direct personal knowledge of the facts regarding the 
importation into the Customs territory of the United States of the 
corrosion resistant steel products produced in the United Arab 
Emirates that entered under entry number(s), identified below, and 
which are covered by this certification. ``Direct personal 
knowledge'' refers to facts the certifying party is expected to have 
in its own records. For example, the importer should have direct 
personal knowledge of the importation of the product (e.g., the name 
of the exporter) in its records.
    (C) If the importer is acting on behalf of the first U.S. 
customer, complete this paragraph, if not put ``NA'' at the end of 
this paragraph: The corrosion resistant steel products covered by 
this certification were imported by {NAME OF IMPORTING 
COMPANY{time}  on behalf of {NAME OF U.S. CUSTOMER{time} , located 
at {ADDRESS OF U.S. CUSTOMER{time} .
    (D) The corrosion resistant steel products covered by this 
certification were shipped to {NAME OF PARTY TO WHOM MERCHANDISE WAS 
FIRST SHIPPED IN THE UNITED STATES{time} , located at {ADDRESS OF 
SHIPMENT{time} .
    (E) I have personal knowledge of the facts regarding the 
production of the corrosion resistant steel products identified 
below. ``Personal knowledge'' includes facts obtained from another 
party (e.g., correspondence received by the importer (or exporter) 
from the producer regarding the country of manufacture of the 
imported products).
    (F) The corrosion resistant steel products covered by this 
certification were not manufactured using hot-rolled steel and/or 
cold-rolled steel substrate produced in China.
    (G) This certification applies to the following entries (repeat 
this block as many times as necessary):

Entry Summary #:
Entry Summary Line Item #:
Foreign Seller:
Foreign Seller's address:
Foreign Seller's Invoice #:
Foreign Seller's Invoice Line Item #:
Producer:
Producer's Address:
    (H) I understand that {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time}  is 
required to maintain a copy of this certification and sufficient 
documentation supporting this certification (i.e., documents 
maintained in the normal course of business, or documents obtained 
by the certifying party, for example, mill certificates, production 
records, invoices, etc.) for the later of: (1) A period of five 
years from the date of entry or (2) a period of three years after 
the conclusion of any litigation in the United States courts 
regarding such entries.
    (I) I understand that {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time}  is 
required to provide this certification and supporting records, upon 
request, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and/or the 
Department of Commerce (Commerce).
    (J) I understand that {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time}  is 
required to maintain a copy of the exporter's certification 
(attesting to the production and/or export of the imported 
merchandise identified above), and any supporting records provided 
by the exporter to the importer, for the later of: (1) A period of 
five years from the date of entry or (2) a period of three years 
after the conclusion of any litigation in United States courts 
regarding such entries.
    (K) I understand that {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time} is 
required, upon request, to provide a copy of the exporter's 
certification and any supporting records provided by the exporter to 
the importer, to CBP and/or Commerce.
    (L) I understand that the claims made herein, and the 
substantiating documentation, are subject to verification by CBP 
and/or Commerce.
    (M) I understand that failure to maintain the required 
certifications, and/or failure to substantiate the claims made 
herein, and/or failure to allow CBP and/or Commerce to verify the 
claims made herein, may result in a de facto determination that all 
entries to which this certification applies are within the scope of 
the antidumping/countervailing duty order on corrosion resistant 
steel products from China. I understand that such finding will 
result in:
    (i) Suspension of liquidation of all unliquidated entries (and 
entries for which liquidation has not become final) for which these 
requirements were not met;
    (ii) the requirement that the importer post applicable 
antidumping duty and/or countervailing duty cash deposits (as 
appropriate) equal to the rates determined by Commerce; and
    (iii) the revocation of {NAME OF IMPORTING COMPANY{time} 's 
privilege to certify future imports of corrosion resistant steel 
products from the United Arab Emirates as not manufactured using 
hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel substrate from China.
    (N) I understand that agents of the importer, such as brokers, 
are not permitted to make this certification.
    (O) This certification was completed at or prior to the date of 
entry summary.
    (P) I am aware that U.S. law (including, but not limited to, 18 
U.S.C. 1001) imposes criminal sanctions on individuals who knowingly 
and willfully make material false statements to the U.S. government.

Signature--------------------------------------------------------------

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NAME OF COMPANY OFFICIAL

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TITLE

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DATE

Appendix IV

Exporter Certification

    Special Instructions: The party that made the sale to the United 
States should fill out the exporter certification.
    I hereby certify that:
    (A) My name is {COMPANY OFFICIAL'S NAME{time}  and I am an 
official of {NAME OF COMPANY{time} , located at {ADDRESS{time} ;
    (B) I have direct personal knowledge of the facts regarding the 
production and exportation of the corrosion resistant steel products 
identified below. ``Direct personal

[[Page 41960]]

knowledge'' refers to facts the certifying party is expected to have 
in its own books and records. For example, an exporter should have 
direct personal knowledge of the producer's identity and location.
    (C) The corrosion resistant steel products produced in the 
United Arab Emirates and covered by this certification were not 
manufactured using hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel 
substrate produced in China.
    (D) This certification applies to the following sales to {NAME 
OF U.S. CUSTOMER{time} , located at {ADDRESS OF U.S. 
CUSTOMER{time} . (repeat this block as many times as necessary):

Foreign Seller's Invoice # to U.S. Customer:
Foreign Seller's Invoice to U.S. Customer Line item #:
Producer Name:
Producer's Address:
Producer's Invoice # to Foreign Seller: (If the foreign seller and 
the producer are the same party, put NA here.)

    (E) The corrosion resistant steel products covered by this 
certification were shipped to {NAME OF U.S. PARTY TO WHOM 
MERCHANDISE WAS SHIPPED{time} , located at {U.S. ADDRESS TO WHICH 
MERCHANDISE WAS SHIPPED{time} .
    (F) I understand that {NAME OF EXPORTING COMPANY{time}  is 
required to maintain a copy of this certification and sufficient 
documentation supporting this certification (i.e., documents 
maintained in the normal course of business, or documents obtained 
by the certifying party, for example, mill certificates, production 
records, invoices, etc.) for the later of: (1) A period of five 
years from the date of entry or (2) a period of three years after 
the conclusion of any litigation in the United States courts 
regarding such entries.
    (G) I understand that {NAME OF EXPORTING COMPANY{time}  must 
provide a copy of this Exporter Certification to the U.S. importer 
by the date of shipment;
    (H) I understand that {NAME OF EXPORTING COMPANY{time}  is 
required to provide a copy of this certification and supporting 
records, upon request, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
and/or the Department of Commerce (Commerce).
    (I) I understand that the claims made herein, and the 
substantiating documentation, are subject to verification by CBP 
and/or Commerce.
    (J) I understand that failure to maintain the required 
certification, and/or failure to substantiate the claims made 
herein, and/or failure to allow CBP and/or Commerce to verify the 
claims made herein, may result in a de facto determination that all 
sales to which this certification applies are within the scope of 
the antidumping/countervailing duty order on corrosion resistant 
steel products from China. I understand that such finding will 
result in:
    (i) suspension of all unliquidated entries (and entries for 
which liquidation has not become final) for which these requirements 
were not met; and
    (ii) the requirement that the importer post applicable 
antidumping duty and/or countervailing duty cash deposits (as 
appropriate) equal to the rates as determined by Commerce; and
    (iii) the revocation of {NAME OF EXPORTING COMPANY{time} 's 
privilege to certify future exports of corrosion resistant steel 
products from the United Arab Emirates as not manufactured using 
hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel substrate from China.
    (K) This certification was completed at or prior to the date of 
shipment.
    (L) I am aware that U.S. law (including, but not limited to, 18 
U.S.C. 1001) imposes criminal sanctions on individuals who knowingly 
and willfully make material false statements to the U.S. government.

Signature--------------------------------------------------------------

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NAME OF COMPANY OFFICIAL

TITLE

DATE

[FR Doc. 2020-15078 Filed 7-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P