[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 243 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81877-81879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27791]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-489-822]


Welded Line Pipe From the Republic of Turkey: Preliminary 
Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, in Part, and 
Preliminary Deferral of Administrative Review, in Part; 2018-2019

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that Cimtas Boru Imalatlari ve Ticaret, Ltd. Sti. (Cimtas), the sole 
mandatory respondent and only company with suspended entries during the 
period of review (POR), did not have reviewable sales during the POR. 
We are preliminarily deferring, in part, Cimtas's sales reporting until 
a subsequent review period and are preliminarily rescinding, in part, 
this administrative review with respect to the remaining 18 companies. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable December 17, 2020.

[[Page 81878]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alice Maldonado, 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) 482-4682.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 6, 2019, Commerce published in the Federal Register a 
notice of opportunity to request an administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on welded line pipe from the Republic of Turkey 
(Turkey) for the period December 1, 2018, through November 30, 2019.\1\ 
In December 2019, Commerce received a timely request, in accordance 
with section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), 
to conduct an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
welded line pipe from Turkey from California Steel Industries, TMK 
IPSCO, Welspun Tubular LLC USA, and Maverick Tube Corporation 
(collectively, the petitioners).\2\ Based on this request, on February 
6, 2020, in accordance with 751(a)(1) of the Act, Commerce published in 
the Federal Register a notice of initiation listing 19 companies for 
which the petitioners requested an administrative review.\3\ On 
February 24, 2020, Commerce selected Cimtas, the only company with 
suspended entries of welded line pipe from Turkey during the POR, for 
individual examination and issued the antidumping duty questionnaire to 
the company.\4\
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    \1\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative 
Review, 84 FR 66880 (December 6, 2019).
    \2\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Welded Line Pipe from the 
Republic of Turkey: Request for Administrative Review,'' dated 
December 27, 2019.
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 85 FR 6896 (February 6, 2020); see also 
Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Reviews, 85 FR 13860, 13868 (March 10, 2020) for correction of the 
spelling of certain company names.
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``2018-2019 Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Duty Order on Welded Line Pipe from Turkey: Respondent 
Selection,'' dated February 24, 2020.
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    On April 24, 2020, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative 
reviews by 50 days, and, on July 21, 2020, Commerce tolled deadlines 
for preliminary and final results in administrative reviews by an 
additional 60 days,\5\ thereby extending the deadline for withdrawing 
requests for review until June 25, 2020, and the deadline for these 
preliminary results until December 21, 2020.
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews in Response to 
Operational Adjustments Due to COVID-19,'' dated April 24, 2020; see 
also Memorandum, ``Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews,'' dated July 21, 2020.
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    On August 20, 2020, the petitioners withdrew their request for an 
administrative review for the 19 companies for which they had requested 
a review.\6\
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    \6\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Welded Line Pipe from the 
Republic of Turkey: Withdrawal of Request for Administrative 
Review,'' dated August 20, 2020.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the order are circular welded carbon and 
alloy steel (other than stainless steel) pipe of a kind used for oil or 
gas pipelines (welded line pipe), not more than 24 inches in nominal 
outside diameter, regardless of wall thickness, length, surface finish, 
end finish, or stenciling. Welded line pipe is normally produced to the 
American Petroleum Institute (API) specification 5L, but can be 
produced to comparable foreign specifications, to proprietary grades, 
or can be non-graded material. All pipe meeting the physical 
description set forth above, including multiple-stenciled pipe with an 
API or comparable foreign specification line pipe stencil is covered by 
the scope of this order.
    The welded line pipe that is subject to the order is currently 
classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under subheadings 7305.11.1030, 7305.11.5000, 7305.12.1030, 
7305.12.5000, 7305.19.1030, 7305.19.5000, 7306.19.1010, 7306.19.1050, 
7306.19.5110, and 7306.19.5150. The subject merchandise may also enter 
in HTSUS 7305.11.1060 and 7305.12.1060. While the HTSUS subheadings are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description 
of the scope of the order is dispositive.

Preliminary Partial Rescission of Administrative Review

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested 
the review withdraws the request within 90 days of the date of 
publication of notice of initiation of the requested review. The 
aforementioned withdrawal request was untimely submitted; therefore, we 
are not rescinding this administrative review based on this request. 
Nonetheless, the record of this administrative review indicates that, 
of the 19 companies subject to review, Cimtas is the only company with 
suspended entries of subject merchandise during the period of 
review.\7\ It is Commerce's practice to rescind an administrative 
review pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3) when there are no reviewable 
entries of subject merchandise during the POR subject to the 
antidumping duty order for which liquidation is suspended.\8\ At the 
end of the administrative review, the suspended entries are liquidated 
at the assessment rate computed for the review period.\9\ Therefore, 
for an administrative review to be conducted, there must be a 
reviewable, suspended entry to be liquidated at the newly calculated 
assessment rate. Accordingly, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), we have 
preliminarily determined to rescind this administrative review with 
respect to the 18 companies listed in the appendix to this notice that 
have no reviewable, suspended entries of subject merchandise during the 
POR.
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    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Release of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection Entry Data,'' dated February 6, 2020.
    \8\ See, e.g., Forged Steel Fittings from Taiwan: Rescission of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2018-2019, 85 FR 71317, 
71318 (November 9, 2020); see also Certain Circular Welded Non-Alloy 
Steel Pipe from Mexico: Rescission of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; 2016-2017, 83 FR 54084 (October 26, 2018).
    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
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Partial Deferral of Administrative Review

    For the reasons discussed in the accompanying proprietary analysis 
memorandum, we preliminarily determine that there are no reviewable 
sales to an unaffiliated U.S. customer related to Cimtas's POR entries 
of welded line pipe.\10\ Therefore, because there are no reviewable 
sales during this POR, we are deferring Cimtas's reporting of its sales 
to the appropriate subsequent review, contingent upon a request for 
review of Cimtas.
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    \10\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of 
Welded Line Pipe from the Republic of Turkey: Business Proprietary 
Information (BPI) Related to the Preliminary Results,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice.
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Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. Interested parties 
may submit case briefs to Commerce no later than 30 days after the date 
of publication of this notice.\11\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than seven days after 
the deadline for case briefs.\12\ Commerce has modified certain

[[Page 81879]]

of its requirements for serving documents containing business 
proprietary information until further notice.\13\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal 
briefs in this investigation 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.
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c).
    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \13\ See 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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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain 
the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of 
participants, whether any participant is a foreign national, and a list 
of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, 
Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a date and time to be 
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and 
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
    An electronically-filed document must be received successfully in 
its entirety via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS) by 
5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the established deadline.

Final Results

    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of its analysis of issues raised in any 
written briefs, not later than 120 days after the date of publication 
of this notice, unless otherwise extended.\14\
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    \14\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.
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Assessment

    If Commerce proceeds to a final rescission of this administrative 
review, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
to liquidate any suspended entries for the 18 companies listed in 
Appendix I at the rate in effect at the time of entry. We intend to 
issue liquidation instructions to CBP 15 days after publication of the 
final results of this review. If Commerce proceeds to a final deferral 
with respect to Cimtas's suspended entries during the POR, they will 
remain suspended until parties have an opportunity to request a review 
of the antidumping duty order of welded line pipe from Turkey for the 
period December 1, 2019, through November 30, 2020. If Commerce does 
not receive a timely request to review Cimtas for the period December 
1, 2019, through November 30, 2020, Commerce will instruct CBP to 
assess antidumping duties on and liquidate Cimtas' suspended entries 
during the POR at the cash deposit rate in effect at the time of entry. 
If Commerce receives a timely request to review Cimtas for the period 
December 1, 2019, through November 30, 2020, Cimtas's suspended entries 
during the POR will remain suspended until the completion of the review 
and will be liquidated based on the final results for Cimtas.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    If Commerce proceeds to a final rescission, in part, and final 
deferral, in part, of this administrative review, no cash deposit rates 
will change. Accordingly, the current cash deposit requirements shall 
remain in effect until further notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a 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 review period. Failure to comply 
with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely written 
notification of the return/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 which is 
subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(d).

    Dated: December 11, 2020.
James Maeder,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations.

Appendix

Borusan Istikbal Ticaret
Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Cayirova Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Emek Boru Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Erbosan Erciyas Tube Industry and Trade Co. Inc.
Erciyas Celik Boru Sanayii A.S.
Guven Celik Boru Sanayii ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti.
Has Altinyagmur celik Boru Sanayii ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti.
HDM Steel Pipe Industry & Trade Co. Ltd.
Metalteks Celik Urunleri Sanayii
MMZ Onur Boru Profil Uretim Sanayii ve Ticaret A.S.
Noksel Steel Pipe Co. Inc.
Ozbal Celik Boru
Toscelik Profile and Sheet Industry, Co.
Tosyali Dis Ticaret A.S.
Umran Celik Boru Sanayii
YMS Pipe & Metal Sanayii A.S.
Yucel Boru Ithalat-Ihracat ve Pazarlama A.S.

[FR Doc. 2020-27791 Filed 12-16-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P