[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 43 (Monday, March 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13302-13304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04725]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-351-854]


Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet From Brazil: Final Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) continues to determine 
that imports of common alloy aluminum sheet (aluminum sheet) from 
Brazil are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at 
less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of investigation (POI), 
January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019.

DATES: Applicable March 8, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kyle Clahane, 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) 482-5449.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On October 15, 2020, Commerce published in the Federal Register its 
preliminary affirmative determination in the LTFV investigation of 
aluminum sheet from Brazil, in which we also postponed the final 
determination until March 1, 2021.\1\ We invited interested parties to 
comment on the Preliminary Determination. We received no comments on 
the Preliminary Determination.
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    \1\ See Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet from Brazil: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 
Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional 
Measures, 85 FR 65363 (October 15, 2020) (Preliminary 
Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by this investigation are common alloy 
aluminum sheet from Brazil. For a complete description of the scope of 
this investigation, see the Appendix.

Scope Comments

    During the course of this investigation, Commerce received scope 
comments from interested parties. Commerce issued a Preliminary Scope 
Decision Memorandum to address these comments.\2\ We received comments 
from interested parties on the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, 
which we address in the Final Scope Decision Memorandum.\3\ Commerce is 
not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Preliminary 
Determination. See the Appendix for the final scope of the 
investigation.
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    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet from Bahrain, 
Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, 
Republic of Korea, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, 
Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for 
the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated October 6, 2020 (Preliminary 
Scope Decision Memorandum).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet from Bahrain, 
Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, 
Korea, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, 
and Turkey: Scope Comments Final Decision Memorandum,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Final Scope 
Decision Memorandum).
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Verification

    Commerce was unable to conduct on-site verification of the 
information relied upon in making its final determination in this 
investigation. However, we took additional steps in lieu of an on-site 
verification to verify the information relied upon in making this final 
determination, in accordance with section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act).\4\
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    \4\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Remote Verification--Request for 
Documentation,'' dated November 17, 2020; see also Novelis do Brasil 
Ltda's (Novelis Brasil's) Letter, ``Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet from 
Brazil: Novelis do Brasil Ltda's Verification Questionnaire 
Response,'' dated November 24, 2020 (Verification Questionnaire 
Response).
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    We continue to find that imports of aluminum sheet from Brazil are 
being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV for the 
POI. Because we received no comments, we hereby incorporate by 
reference our reasoning in the Preliminary Determination, and no 
separate decision memorandum accompanies this Federal Register notice.
    However, based on our review and analysis of the information 
received in lieu of on-site verification, we made certain changes to 
the margin calculation for mandatory respondent, Novelis do Brasil Ltda 
(Novelis Brasil).\5\ As a result of these changes, Commerce also 
revised the all-others rate and the rate assigned to Companhia 
Brasileira de Aluminio (CBA). See below for further discussion.
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Analysis Memorandum for the Final 
Determination of the Less-than-Fair-Value Investigation of Common 
Alloy Aluminum Sheet from Brazil: Novelis do Brasil Ltda.,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice (Final Analysis Memorandum).
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Use of Adverse Facts Available

    In the Preliminary Determination, Commerce found that the mandatory 
respondent, CBA, failed to comply with Commerce's multiple requests for 
information, which significantly impeded the investigation. Further, 
Commerce found that CBA failed to cooperate to the best of its ability 
in this investigation. Therefore, in the Preliminary Determination, 
pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, Commerce assigned CBA a 
rate based on adverse facts available (AFA). No interested party 
commented on this determination, and so there is no basis for us to 
revisit our determination to apply AFA to this company. Accordingly, we 
continue to find that the application of AFA pursuant to sections 
776(a) and (b) of the Act is warranted in determining CBA's weighted-
average margin. Consistent with the Preliminary Determination, Commerce 
has assigned to CBA the highest transaction-specific margin calculated 
for Novelis Brasil, which is 137.06 percent.\6\ Because this rate is 
not secondary information, but rather is based on information obtained 
in the

[[Page 13303]]

course of the investigation, Commerce need not corroborate this rate 
pursuant to section 776(c) of the Act.
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    \6\ See Final Analysis Memorandum. As a result of minor 
corrections received in Novelis Brasil's Verification Questionnaire 
Response, Novelis Brasil's highest transaction-specific margin 
changed from 136.78 percent in the Preliminary Determination to 
137.06 percent in the final determination. Because we continue to 
use Novelis Brasil's highest transaction-specific margin as the AFA 
rate for CBA, for the final determination, we have updated the rate 
assigned to CBA accordingly.
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All-Others Rate

    Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin for all other producers and exporters 
not individually investigated shall be equal to the weighted average of 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for 
exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding rates that 
are zero, de minimis, or determined entirely under section 776 of the 
Act. Commerce assigned a rate based entirely on facts available under 
section 776 of the Act to CBA. Therefore, the only rate that is not 
zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts otherwise available, is 
the rate calculated for Novelis Brasil. Consequently, consistent with 
the Preliminary Determination, the rate calculated for Novelis Brasil 
is assigned as the rate for all other producers and exporters pursuant 
to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act.

Final Determination

    The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio............................      137.06
Novelis do Brasil Ltda......................................       49.61
All Others..................................................       49.61
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Disclosure

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed for Novelis Brasil 
in this final determination within five days of the date of publication 
of this notice to parties in this proceeding in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b).\7\
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    \7\ Because Commerce is continuing to apply AFA to CBA in this 
investigation, in accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are 
no calculations to disclose for CBA.
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of aluminum sheet from 
Brazil, as described in the appendix of this notice, which are entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after October 15, 
2020, the date of publication in the Federal Register of the 
affirmative Preliminary Determination.
    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(d), we will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit for such 
entries of merchandise equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margin as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for the respondents listed 
above will be equal to the respondent-specific estimated weighted-
average dumping margin determined in this final determination; (2) if 
the exporter is not a respondent identified above but the producer is, 
then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the respondent-specific 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer 
of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other 
producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin. These suspension-of-liquidation 
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
International Trade Commission (ITC) of the final affirmative 
determination of sales at LTFV. Because Commerce's final determination 
is affirmative, in accordance with section 735(b)(2) 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 or sales (or the likelihood of 
sales) for importation of sheet no later than 45 days after this final 
determination. If the ITC determines that such injury does not exist, 
this proceeding will be terminated, and all cash deposits posted will 
be refunded and suspension of liquidation will be lifted. If the ITC 
determines that such injury does exist, Commerce will issue an 
antidumping duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by Commerce, antidumping 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

    This notice will serve as a final reminder to the parties subject 
to administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of return or 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 and this notice are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(c).

    Dated: March 1, 2021.
Christian Marsh,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix--Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are common alloy 
aluminum sheet, which is a flat-rolled aluminum product having a 
thickness of 6.3 mm or less, but greater than 0.2 mm, in coils or 
cut-to-length, regardless of width. Common alloy sheet within the 
scope of this investigation includes both not clad aluminum sheet, 
as well as multi-alloy, clad aluminum sheet. With respect to not 
clad aluminum sheet, common alloy sheet is manufactured from a 1XXX-
, 3XXX-, or 5XXX-series alloy as designated by the Aluminum 
Association. With respect to multi-alloy, clad aluminum sheet, 
common alloy sheet is produced from a 3XXX-series core, to which 
cladding layers are applied to either one or both sides of the core. 
The use of a proprietary alloy or non-proprietary alloy that is not 
specifically registered by the Aluminum Association as a discrete 
1XXX-, 3XXX-, or 5XXX-series alloy, but that otherwise has a 
chemistry that is consistent with these designations, does not 
remove an otherwise in-scope product from the scope.
    Common alloy sheet may be made to ASTM specification B209-14 but 
can also be made to other specifications. Regardless of 
specification, however, all common alloy sheet meeting the scope 
description is included in the scope. Subject merchandise includes 
common alloy sheet that has been further processed in a third 
country, including but not limited to annealing, tempering, 
painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, punching, and/or slitting, 
or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of these investigations if performed in 
the country of manufacture of the common alloy sheet.
    Excluded from the scope of this investigation is aluminum can 
stock, which is suitable for use in the manufacture of aluminum 
beverage cans, lids of such cans, or tabs used to open such cans. 
Aluminum can stock is produced to gauges that range from 0.200 mm to 
0.292 mm, and has an H-l9, H-41, H-48, or H-391 temper. In addition, 
aluminum can stock has a lubricant applied to the flat surfaces of 
the can stock to facilitate its movement through machines used in 
the manufacture of beverage cans. Aluminum can stock is properly 
classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

[[Page 13304]]

United States (HTSUS) subheadings 7606.12.3045 and 7606.12.3055.
    Where the nominal and actual measurements vary, a product is 
within the scope if application of either the nominal or actual 
measurement would place it within the scope based on the definitions 
set for the above.
    Common alloy sheet is currently classifiable under HTSUS 
subheadings 7606.11.3060, 7606.11.6000, 7606.12.3096, 7606.12.6000, 
7606.91.3095, 7606.91.6095, 7606.92.3035, and 7606.92.6095. Further, 
merchandise that falls within the scope of this investigation may 
also be entered into the United States under HTSUS subheadings 
7606.11.3030, 7606.12.3015, 7606.12.3025, 7606.12.3035, 
7606.12.3091, 7606.91.3055, 7606.91.6055, 7606.92.3025, 
7606.92.6055, 7607.11.9090. Although the HTSUS subheadings are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2021-04725 Filed 3-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P