[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 98 (Monday, May 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27829-27832]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10913]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-897]


Utility Scale Wind Towers From India: Preliminary 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) preliminarily determines 
that utility scale wind towers (wind towers) from India are being, or 
are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(LTFV). The period of investigation is July 1, 2019, through June 30, 
2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination.

DATES: Applicable May 24, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terre Keaton Stefanova or Amaris Wade, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1280 or (202) 482-3874, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 27830]]

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce 
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on November 
16, 2020.\1\ For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\2\ A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary 
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 http://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/.
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    \1\ See Utility Scale Wind Towers from India, Malaysia, and 
Spain: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 85 FR 
73023 (November 16, 2020) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Utility 
Scale Wind Towers from India,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby 
adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are utility scale wind 
towers from India. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I to this notice.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\3\ we 
set aside a period of time in the Initiation Notice for parties to 
raise issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\4\ We did not 
receive comments concerning the scope of the investigation of wind 
towers as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Therefore, Commerce is 
not preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice. See the scope in Appendix I to this notice.
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    \3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \4\ See Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 73024.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce 
preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign a dumping 
margin to Vestas Wind Technology India Private Limited (Vestas India) 
in this investigation because Vestas India failed to file a complete 
response to Commerce's supplemental section D questionnaire by the 
established deadline. As a result, for the reasons discussed in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce is unable to rely on Vestas 
India's reported cost data to calculate a margin. Commerce also 
preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign a dumping 
margin to the companies which did not provide timely responses to the 
quantity and value (Q&V) questionnaires during the respondent selection 
process.\5\ Further, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act, Commerce is 
preliminarily determining that Vestas India and the companies which did 
not provide timely responses to the Q&V questionnaire each failed to 
cooperate to the best of its ability to comply with Commerce's requests 
for information. Therefore, Commerce is using an adverse inference when 
selecting from among the facts otherwise available when determining the 
preliminary margins assigned to these companies, in accordance with 
section 776(b) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \5\ These non-responsive companies are: Acciona Wind Power India 
Pvt. Ltd.; Nordex India Pvt. Ltd.; Prommada Hindustan Private Ltd.; 
Vinayaka Energy Tek; and Zeeco India Pvt. Ltd.
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All-Others Rate

    Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that, in 
the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated 
all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually 
examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for 
exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero 
and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under 
section 776 of the Act.
    Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins established for all exporters and 
producers individually examined are zero, de minimis, or determined 
based entirely on facts otherwise available, Commerce may use any 
reasonable method to establish the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margin for all other producers or exporters. Commerce preliminarily 
determined the estimated weighted-average dumping margin for the 
individually-examined respondent entirely under section 776 of the Act.
    In the Petition, the petitioner \6\ provided only one dumping 
margin, which was based on a price-to-constructed-value comparison.\7\ 
Therefore, in the absence of another weighted-average dumping margin on 
the record of this investigation, we are preliminarily assigning the 
sole dumping margin in the Initiation Notice (i.e., 54.03 percent) as 
the all-others rate.\8\
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    \6\ The petitioner is the Wind Tower Trade Coalition, whose 
members are Arcosa Wind Towers Inc. and Broadwind Towers, Inc.
    \7\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Utility Scale Wind Towers from 
India, Malaysia and Spain: Petitions for the Imposition of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duties,'' dated September 30, 2020 
(Petition); see also Antidumping Investigation Initiation 
Checklist--Utility Scale Wind Towers from India (November 9, 2020).
    \8\ See, e.g., Mattresses from Malaysia: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of 
Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 85 FR 
69574 (November 3, 2020), unchanged in Mattresses from Malaysia: 
Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 86 
FR 15901 (March 25, 2021); and Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from 
Mexico: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value, 84 FR 25738 (June 4, 2019), unchanged in Refillable 
Stainless Steel Kegs from Mexico: Final Affirmative Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Affirmative Determination of 
Critical Circumstances, 84 FR 42894 (August 19, 2019); see also 
Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 73026.
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Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
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    \9\ See Memorandum, ``Export Subsidies Found in the Companion 
Countervailing Duty Investigation,'' dated concurrently with this 
notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Cash deposit rate
                                      Dumping margin      (adjusted for
         Exporter/producer              (percent)       subsidy offsets)
                                                         \9\  (percent)
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Vestas Wind Technology India                    54.03              50.65
 Private Limited..................
Acciona Wind Power India Pvt. Ltd.              54.03              50.65
Nordex India Pvt. Ltd.............              54.03              50.65

[[Page 27831]]

 
Prommada Hindustan Private Ltd....              54.03              50.65
Vinayaka Energy Tek...............              54.03              50.65
Zeeco India Pvt. Ltd..............              54.03              50.65
All Others........................              54.03              50.65
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 773(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will 
direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation 
of entries of subject merchandise, as described in Appendix I, entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
the publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    To determine the cash deposit rate, Commerce normally adjusts the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin by the amount of export 
subsidies determined in a companion countervailing duty (CVD) 
proceeding when CVD provisional measures are in effect. Accordingly, 
Commerce has made a preliminary affirmative determination for an export 
subsidy adjustment. Commerce has offset the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margin by the appropriate rate. Any such adjusted rates may be 
found in the chart of estimated weighted-average dumping margins in the 
``Preliminary Determination'' section above.
    Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation 
expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV 
investigation, Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting cash 
deposits at a rate equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins calculated in this preliminary determination unadjusted for 
export subsidies at the time the CVD provisional measures expire.
    These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect 
until further notice.

Disclosure

    Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations 
performed in connection with a preliminary 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 
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily determined 
Vestas India's dumping margin in this investigation based on AFA, in 
accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are no calculations to 
disclose.

Verification

    Because Vestas India did not act to the best of its ability to 
provide information Commerce requested and, as a result, we 
preliminarily determine that Vestas India was uncooperative, we will 
not conduct verification.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination no later than 30 days after the date of publication of 
the preliminary determination.\10\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than seven days after 
the deadline for case briefs.\11\ Commerce has modified certain of its 
requirements for service of documents containing business proprietary 
information, until further notice.\12\ 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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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for 
general filing requirements).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \12\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006 (March 26, 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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    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, and a list of the issues to be discussed. Oral 
presentations at the hearing will be limited to issues raised in the 
briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, parties will be notified of 
the time and date for the hearing.\13\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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Final Determination

    Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that 
Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the 
date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make 
its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date 
of this preliminary determination.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary 
determination. If the final determination is affirmative, the ITC will 
determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this 
preliminary determination or 45 days after the final determination 
whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material 
injury to, the U.S. industry.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: May 18, 2021.
Christian Marsh,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation consists of 
certain wind towers, whether or not tapered, and sections thereof. 
Certain wind towers support the nacelle and rotor blades in a wind 
turbine with a minimum rated electrical power generation capacity in 
excess of 100 kilowatts and with a minimum height of 50 meters 
measured from the base of the tower to the bottom of the nacelle 
(i.e., where the top of the tower and nacelle are joined) when fully 
assembled.
    A wind tower section consists of, at a minimum, multiple steel 
plates rolled into cylindrical or conical shapes and welded together 
(or otherwise attached) to form a steel shell, regardless of 
coating, end-finish,

[[Page 27832]]

painting, treatment, or method of manufacture, and with or without 
flanges, doors, or internal or external components (e.g., flooring/
decking, ladders, lifts, electrical buss boxes, electrical cabling, 
conduit, cable harness for nacelle generator, interior lighting, 
tool and storage lockers) attached to the wind tower section. 
Several wind tower sections are normally required to form a 
completed wind tower.
    Wind towers and sections thereof are included within the scope 
whether or not they are joined with non-subject merchandise, such as 
nacelles or rotor blades, and whether or not they have internal or 
external components attached to the subject merchandise.
    Specifically excluded from the scope are nacelles and rotor 
blades, regardless of whether they are attached to the wind tower. 
Also excluded are any internal or external components which are not 
attached to the wind towers or sections thereof, unless those 
components are shipped with the tower sections.
    Merchandise covered by this investigation is currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under subheading 7308.20.0020 or 8502.31.0000. Wind towers 
of iron or steel are classified under HTSUS 7308.20.0020 when 
imported separately as a tower or tower section(s). Wind towers may 
be classified under HTSUS 8502.31.0000 when imported as combination 
goods with a wind turbine (i.e., accompanying nacelles and/or rotor 
blades). While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience 
and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this 
investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Application of Facts Available, Use of Adverse Inferences, 
Corroboration, and Calculation of All-Others Rate
VI. MNC and PMS Allegations
VII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2021-10913 Filed 5-21-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P