[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 96 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27382-27384]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10672]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-552-830]


Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts Thereof From the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports 
of certain walk-behind lawn mowers and parts thereof (lawn mowers) from 
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) are being, or are likely to 
be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The 
period of investigation (POI) is October 1, 2019, through March 31, 
2020.

DATES: Applicable May 20, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Schmitt or Mark Flessner, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4880 or (202) 482-6312, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On December 30, 2020, Commerce published its Preliminary 
Determination of sales at LTFV of lawn mowers from Vietnam.\1\ For a 
complete description of the events that followed the Preliminary 
Determination, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.\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/.
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    \1\ See Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts Thereof From 
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of 
Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 85 FR 
86534 (December 30, 2020) (Preliminary Determination), and 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Affirmative Determination in the Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts Thereof 
from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,'' dated concurrently with, 
and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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Scope Comments

    On February 16, 2021, we received timely filed scope case briefs 
from Ningbo Daye Garden Machinery Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Daye) \3\ and MTD 
Products, Inc. (the petitioner).\4\ On February 23, 2021, we received 
timely filed rebuttal scope case briefs from Briggs & Stratton, LLC 
(Briggs & Stratton) \5\ and the petitioner.\6\ For a summary of the 
scope briefs and rebuttal scope briefs submitted to the record for this 
investigation, and accompanying discussion and analysis of the scope 
briefs and rebuttal scope briefs timely received, see the Final Scope 
Determination Memorandum.\7\ As a result of our analysis of these scope 
briefs and rebuttal scope briefs, we have made no changes to the scope 
language published in the Preliminary Determination.
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    \3\ See Ningbo Daye's Letter, ``Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers 
and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China and the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Case Nos. A-570-129, C-570-130, and 
A-552-830: Scope Case Brief,'' dated February 16, 2021.
    \4\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts 
Thereof from Vietnam: Letter in lieu of Scope Case Brief,'' dated 
February 16, 2021.
    \5\ See Briggs & Stratton's Letter, ``Certain Walk-Behind Lawn 
Mowers and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China and the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Petitioner's Rebuttal Brief on Scope 
Issues,'' dated February 23, 2021.
    \6\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts 
Thereof from Vietnam: Letter in lieu of Scope Rebuttal Brief,'' 
dated February 23, 2021.
    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Investigations of Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers and Parts Thereof 
from the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for the Final 
Determinations,'' dated concurrently with this memorandum.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain walk-behind 
lawn mowers and parts thereof from Vietnam. For a complete description 
of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

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).\8\
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    \8\ See Commerce's Letter to Ducar, dated February 2, 2021; see 
also Ducar's Letter, ``Certain Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers from Vietnam: 
`Verification' Supplemental Questionnaire--Response,'' dated 
February 9, 2021.
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All 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 raised in the Issues and Decision Memorandum is 
attached to this notice as Appendix II.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of the comments received, we made certain 
changes to the margin calculation. For a discussion of these changes, 
see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

Separate Rate Companies

    No party commented on our preliminary separate rate determination 
with respect to the mandatory respondent, Ducar Technology Co., Ltd. 
(Ducar).\9\ Thus, there is no basis to reconsider our preliminary 
determination with respect to separate rate status, and we have 
continued to grant Ducar a separate rate in this final determination.
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    \9\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at 13.
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Vietnam-Wide Entity Rate and the Use of Adverse Facts Available (AFA)

    Commerce continues to find that the use of facts available is 
warranted in determining the rate of the Vietnam-wide entity pursuant 
to sections 776(a)(1) and (a)(2)(A)-(C) of the Act. As discussed in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum, Commerce finds that the use of AFA is 
warranted with respect to the Vietnam-wide entity because the

[[Page 27383]]

Vietnam-wide entity did not cooperate to the best of its ability to 
comply with our requests for information and, accordingly, we applied 
adverse inferences in selecting from the facts available, pursuant to 
section 776(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308(a). For the final 
determination, as AFA, we are assigning to the Vietnam-wide entity the 
highest transaction-specific dumping margin calculated for Ducar, 
176.37 percent. Because this constitutes primary information, the 
statutory corroboration requirement in section 776(c) of the Act does 
not apply.

Combination Rates

    Consistent with the Preliminary Determination and Policy Bulletin 
05.1,\10\ Commerce calculated combination (producer/exporter) rates for 
the single respondent eligible for a separate rate in this 
investigation, Ducar.
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    \10\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, 
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination 
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy 
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on 
Commerce's website at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Final Determination

    Commerce determines that the following estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      Estimated weighted-
           Producer                   Exporter          average dumping
                                                       margin (percent)
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Ducar Technology Co., Ltd....  Ducar Technology Co.,              148.35
                                Ltd.
Vietnam-Wide Entity \11\.....  .....................              176.37
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Disclosure
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    \11\ The Vietnam-wide entity includes Techtronic Cordless GP, a 
producer or exporter of merchandise under consideration that was 
issued, but did not respond to, Commerce's quantity and value 
questionnaire.
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    We intend to disclose to parties in this proceeding the 
calculations performed for this final determination within five days of 
any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within 
five days of the date of publication of the notice of final 
determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of lawn mowers from 
Vietnam, as described in the appendix to this notice, which were 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
December 30, 2020, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination of this investigation in the Federal Register. Pursuant 
to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act, upon the publication of this 
notice, Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to 
the weighted-average amount by which the normal value exceeds U.S. 
price as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for the exporter/producer 
combinations listed in the table above will be the rate identified in 
the table; (2) for all combinations of Vietnamese exporters/producers 
of subject merchandise that have not received their own separate rate 
above, the cash deposit rate will be the cash deposit rate established 
for the Vietnam-wide entity; and (3) for all non-Vietnamese exporters 
of subject merchandise which have not received their own separate rate 
above, the cash deposit rate will be the cash deposit rate applicable 
to the Vietnamese exporter/producer combination that supplied that non-
Vietnamese exporter. These suspension of liquidation instructions will 
remain in effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of the final affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. We will 
allow the ITC access to all privileged and business proprietary 
information in our files, provided the ITC confirms that it will not 
disclose such information, either publicly or under an administrative 
protective order (APO), without the written consent of the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. Because the final 
determination in this proceeding 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 of 
subject merchandise from Vietnam no later than 45 days after our 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. If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, 
Commerce will issue an AD 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.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an 
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 the 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 violation subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: May 14, 2021.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation consists of 
certain rotary walk-behind lawn mowers, which are grass-cutting 
machines that are powered by internal combustion engines. The scope 
of this investigation covers certain walk-behind lawn mowers, 
whether self-propelled or non-self-propelled, whether finished or 
unfinished, whether assembled or unassembled, and whether containing 
any additional features that provide for functions in addition to 
mowing.
    Walk-behind lawn mowers within the scope of this investigation 
are only those powered by an internal combustion engine with a power 
rating of less than 3.7 kilowatts. These internal combustion engines 
are

[[Page 27384]]

typically spark ignition, single or multiple cylinder, air cooled, 
internal combustion engines with vertical power take off shafts with 
a maximum displacement of 196cc. Walk-behind lawn mowers covered by 
this scope typically must be certified and comply with the Consumer 
Products Safety Commission Safety Standard For Walk-Behind Power 
Lawn Mowers under 16 CFR part 1205. However, lawn mowers that meet 
the physical descriptions above, but are not certified under 16 CFR 
part 1205 remain subject to the scope of this proceeding.
    The internal combustion engines of the lawn mowers covered by 
this scope typically must comply with and be certified under 
Environmental Protection Agency air pollution controls title 40, 
chapter I, subchapter U, part 1054 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations standards for small non-road spark-ignition engines and 
equipment. However, lawn mowers that meet the physical descriptions 
above but that do not have engines certified under 40 CFR part 1054 
or other parts of subchapter U remain subject to the scope of this 
proceeding.
    For purposes of this investigation, an unfinished and/or 
unassembled lawn mower means, at a minimum, a sub-assembly comprised 
of an engine and a cutting deck shell attached to one another. A 
cutting deck shell is the portion of the lawn mower--typically of 
aluminum or steel--that houses and protects a user from a rotating 
blade. Importation of the subassembly whether or not accompanied by, 
or attached to, additional components such as a handle, blade(s), 
grass catching bag, or wheel(s) constitute an unfinished lawn mower 
for purposes of this investigation. The inclusion in a third country 
of any components other than the mower subassembly does not remove 
the lawn mower from the scope. Lawn mowers that meet the physical 
description above are covered by the scope of this investigation 
regardless of the origin of its engine, unless such lawn mowers 
contain an engine that is covered by the scope of the ongoing 
proceedings on certain vertical shaft engines between 99cc and up to 
225cc, and parts thereof (small vertical engines) from China. If the 
proceedings on small vertical engines from China are terminated, the 
lawn mowers containing small vertical engines from China will be 
covered by the scope of this proceeding.
    The lawn mowers subject to this investigation are typically at 
subheading: 8433.11.0050. Lawn mowers subject to these 
investigations may also enter under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS) 8407.90.1010 and 8433.90.1090. The HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes only, 
and the written description of the merchandise under investigation 
is dispositive.

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Scope of the Investigation
VI. Vietnam-Wide Rate
VII. Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
VIII. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Surrogate Value for Drive Rod
    Comment 2: Surrogate Value for Rear Cover Shaft
    Comment 3: Surrogate Value for Side Deflector Pole
    Comment 4: Surrogate Value for Blade Adapter
    Comment 5: Surrogate Value for Blade Washer
IX. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2021-10672 Filed 5-19-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P