[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54534-54535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19393]



[[Page 54534]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-010, C-570-011]


Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products From the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Reviews, and Consideration of Revocation of the Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Orders in Part

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

SUMMARY: On March 16, 2020, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) 
received a request for revocation, in part, of the antidumping duty 
(AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on crystalline silicon 
photovoltaic products from the People's Republic of China (China) with 
respect to certain off-grid portable small panels. We preliminarily 
find that producers accounting for substantially all of the domestic 
production of the products to which the Solar Products Orders pertain 
lack interest in the relief provided by those orders with respect to 
certain off-grid portable small panels; therefore, we intend to revoke, 
in part, the Solar Products Orders with respect to such panels. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable September 2, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Thomas Hanna, 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) 482-0835.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On February 18, 2015, Commerce published AD and CVD orders on 
certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from China.\1\ On 
March 16, 2020, Memory Experts Inc., dba PowerTraveller (Memory 
Experts), an importer of the subject merchandise, requested, through 
changed circumstances reviews, revocation of the Solar Products Orders 
with respect to certain off-grid portable small panels pursuant to 
section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) and 
19 CFR 351.216(b).\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products from 
the People's Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order; and Amended 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Countervailing Duty Order, 80 FR 8592 (February 18, 2015) (Solar 
Products Orders).
    \2\ See Memory Experts' Letter, ``Crystalline Silicon 
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled into Modules from the 
People's Republic of China; Memory Experts Inc., dba 
PowerTraveller's Request for a Changed Circumstances Review,'' dated 
March 16, 2020 (Memory Experts' Request).
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    On June 12, 2020, we published the Initiation Notice for these 
changed circumstances reviews in the Federal Register.\3\ We invited 
interested parties to submit comments concerning industry support for 
the revocation, in part, of the Solar Products Orders, as well as 
comments and/or factual information regarding these changed 
circumstances reviews. We received no comments.
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    \3\ See Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Notice of Initiation of Changed 
Circumstances Reviews, and Consideration of Revocation of the 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders in Part, 85 FR 35902 
(June 12, 2020) (Initiation Notice).
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Scope of the Solar Products Orders

    The merchandise covered by these orders is modules, laminates and/
or panels consisting of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether 
or not partially or fully assembled into other products, including 
building integrated materials. For purposes of these orders, subject 
merchandise includes modules, laminates and/or panels assembled in 
China consisting of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells produced in 
a customs territory other than China.
    Subject merchandise includes modules, laminates and/or panels 
assembled in China consisting of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells 
of thickness equal to or greater than 20 micrometers, having a p/n 
junction formed by any means, whether or not the cell has undergone 
other processing, including, but not limited to, cleaning, etching, 
coating, and/or addition of materials (including, but not limited to, 
metallization and conductor patterns) to collect and forward the 
electricity that is generated by the cell.
    Excluded from the scope of these orders are thin film photovoltaic 
products produced from amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride 
(CdTe), or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). Also excluded from 
the scope of these orders are modules, laminates and/or panels 
assembled in China, consisting of crystalline silicon photovoltaic 
cells, not exceeding 10,000 mm\2\ in surface area, that are permanently 
integrated into a consumer good whose function is other than power 
generation and that consumes the electricity generated by the 
integrated crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. Where more than one 
module, laminate and/or panel is permanently integrated into a consumer 
good, the surface area for purposes of this exclusion shall be the 
total combined surface area of all modules, laminates and/or panels 
that are integrated into the consumer good.
    Further, also excluded from the scope of these orders are any 
products covered by the existing antidumping and countervailing duty 
orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not 
assembled into modules, laminates and/or panels, from China.\4\
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    \4\ See Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not 
Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: Amended 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and 
Antidumping Duty Order, 77 FR 73018 (December 7, 2012); Crystalline 
Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, 
from the People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order, 77 
FR 73017 (December 7, 2012).
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    Additionally, excluded from the scope of these orders are solar 
panels that are: (1) Less than 300,000 mm\2\ in surface area; (2) less 
than 27.1 watts in power; (3) coated across their entire surface with a 
polyurethane doming resin; and (4) joined to a battery charging and 
maintaining unit (which is an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) box 
that incorporates a light emitting diode (LED)) by coated wires that 
include a connector to permit the incorporation of an extension cable. 
The battery charging and maintaining unit utilizes high-frequency 
triangular pulse waveforms designed to maintain and extend the life of 
batteries through the reduction of lead sulfate crystals. The above-
described battery charging and maintaining unit is currently available 
under the registered trademark ``SolarPulse.''
    Merchandise covered by these orders is currently classified in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under 
subheadings 8501.61.0000, 8507.20.8030, 8507.20.8040, 8507.20.8060, 
8507.20.8090, 8541.40.6015, 8541.40.6020, 8541.40.6030, 8541.40.6035 
and 8501.31.8000. These HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience 
and customs purposes; the written description of the scope of these 
orders is dispositive.\5\
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    \5\ See Solar Products Orders.
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Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances Reviews and Intent To 
Revoke the Solar Products Orders, in Part

    Section 782(h)(2) of the Act gives Commerce the authority to revoke 
an order if producers accounting for substantially all of the 
production of the domestic like product have expressed a lack of 
interest in the order. Section 351.222(g) of Commerce's regulations 
provides that Commerce will conduct a changed circumstances review 
under 19 CFR 351.216, and may revoke an order

[[Page 54535]]

(in whole or in part), if it concludes that: (i) Producers accounting 
for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to 
which the order pertains have expressed a lack of interest in the 
relief provided by the order, in whole or in part; or (ii) if other 
changed circumstances sufficient to warrant revocation exist. Thus, 
both the Act and Commerce's regulations require that ``substantially 
all'' domestic producers express a lack of interest in the order for 
Commerce to revoke the order, in whole or in part.\6\ Commerce has 
interpreted ``substantially all'' to represent producers accounting for 
at least 85 percent of U.S. production of the domestic like product.\7\
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    \6\ See Section 782(h) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g).
    \7\ See Honey from Argentina; Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews; Preliminary Intent to Revoke 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, 77 FR 67790, 67791 
(November 14, 2012)(Honey Preliminary CCR Results), unchanged in 
Honey from Argentina; Final Results of Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews; Revocation of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, 77 FR 77029 (December 
31, 2012).
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    Hanwha Q CELL USA, Inc. (Q CELL USA) and SunPower Manufacturing 
Oregon, LLC (SPMOR) submitted statements of lack of interest in the 
continued application of the Solar Products Orders with respect to 
certain off-grid portable small panels described below. However, these 
statements did not confirm that Q CELL USA and SPMOR account for 
substantially all domestic production of certain crystalline silicon 
photovoltaic products.\8\ Thus, Commerce did not determine at the time 
it initiated this changed circumstances review whether producers 
accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like 
product lacked interest. In the Initiation Notice, Commerce invited 
interested parties to comment on the issue of domestic industry support 
for a partial revocation of the Solar Products Orders with respect to 
such panels. Commerce received no comments.
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    \8\ See Initiation Notice.
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    In light of Memory Experts' Request, Q CELL USA and SPMOR's 
statement of lack of interest, and the absence of any interested party 
comments received during the comment period, we preliminarily conclude 
that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of 
the domestic like product to which the Solar Products Orders pertain 
lack interest in the relief provided by the Solar Products Orders with 
respect to certain off-grid portable small panels that are the subject 
of Memory Experts' Request. Thus, we determine that changed 
circumstances warrant revocation of the Solar Products Orders, in part, 
with respect to such panels.
    Accordingly, we are notifying the public of our intent to revoke 
the Solar Products Orders, in part, with respect to the following off-
grid portable small panels:
    (1) Off-grid crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels without a 
glass cover with the following characteristics:
    (a) Total power output of 500 watts or less per panel;
    (b) Maximum surface area of 8,000 cm\2\ per panel;
    (c) Unit does not include a built-in inverter;
    (d) Unit has visible parallel grid collector metallic wire lines 
every 2-40 millimeters across each solar panel (depending on model);
    (e) Solar cells are encased in laminated frosted PET material 
without stitching; \9\
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    \9\ Although the polyester material has stitching on the 
perimeter of the unit, the cells are not stitched into the PET 
material.
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    (f) The panel is encased in polyester fabric with visible stitching 
which includes a Velcro-type storage pocket and unit closure, or 
encased within a Neoprene clamshell (depending on model);
    (g) Includes LED indicator.
    We will consider comments from interested parties on these 
preliminary results before issuing the final results of this 
review.\10\
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    \10\ See, e.g., Honey Preliminary CCR Results, 77 FR 67790, 
67791 (November 14, 2012); Aluminum Extrusions from the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Reviews, and Intent to Revoke Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Orders in Part, 78 FR 66895 (November 7, 2013); and 19 CFR 
351.222(g)(3)(v).
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Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results in accordance with 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii). Written comments 
may be submitted no later than 14 days after the date of publication of 
these preliminary results. Rebuttals to written comments, limited to 
issues raised in such comments, may be filed no later than seven days 
after the due date for comments. All submissions must be filed 
electronically using Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS).\11\ An electronically 
filed document must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS, 
by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the due dates set forth in this notice. Note 
that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of its requirements for 
serving documents containing business proprietary information, until 
further notice.\12\
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    \11\ See generally 19 CFR 351.303.
    \12\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 29615 (May 18, 
2020); and Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements Due 
to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 
2020).
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    Commerce will issue the final results of these changed 
circumstances reviews, which will include its analysis of any written 
comments, no later than 270 days after the date on which this review 
was initiated.
    If, in the final results of these reviews, Commerce continues to 
determine that changed circumstances warrant the revocation of the 
Solar Products Orders, in part, we will instruct U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection to liquidate without regard to antidumping or 
countervailing duties, and to refund any estimated antidumping or 
countervailing duties on all unliquidated entries of the merchandise 
covered by the revocation that are not covered by the final results of 
an administrative review or automatic liquidation.
    The current requirement for cash deposits of estimated antidumping 
and countervailing duties on all entries of subject merchandise will 
continue unless until they are modified pursuant to the final results 
of these changed circumstances reviews.
    These preliminary results of reviews and notice are in accordance 
with sections 751(b) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216, 19 CFR 
351.221(c)(3), and 19 CFR 351.222.

    Dated: August 27, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2020-19393 Filed 9-1-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P