[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 235 (Friday, December 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70443-70444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26773]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-489-824]


Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes From 
Turkey: Notice of Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed 
Circumstances Review

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

SUMMARY: In response to a request for a changed circumstances review 
(CCR), the Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating a CCR of the 
antidumping duty (AD) order on heavy walled rectangular welded carbon 
steel pipes and tubes (HWR pipes and tubes) from Turkey. We 
preliminarily determine that Ozdemir Boru Profil Sanayi ve Ticaret 
Sirketi (A.S.) (Ozdemir AS) is the successor-in-interest to Ozdemir 
Boru Profil Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ozdemir Ltd. Sti.). 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable December 10, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samantha Kinney or Alexis Cherry, 
Office VIII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-2285 and (202) 482-0607, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 13, 2016, Commerce issued an AD order on imports of 
HWR pipes and tubes from Turkey.\1\ Pursuant to the Order, Commerce 
excluded Ozdemir Ltd. Sti. from the Order for entries of HWR pipes and 
tubes that were produced and exported by Ozdemir Ltd. Sti.\2\ In the 
most recently completed administrative review covering the period 
September 1, 2017, through August 31, 2018, we assigned Ozdemir Ltd. 
Sti. a weighted-average dumping margin of 35.66 percent for entries of 
HWR pipes and tubes where Ozdemir Ltd. Sti. was not both the producer 
and exporter of subject merchandise.\3\ On November 2, 2021, Ozdemir AS 
requested that Commerce conduct an expedited CCR of the Order to 
determine that Ozdemir AS is the successor-in-interest to Ozdemir Ltd. 
Sti.\4\ In this submission, Ozdemir AS addressed the basic factors 
Commerce analyzes with respect to successor-in-interest determinations 
in the AD context and provided supporting documentation.\5\ Commerce 
received no comments from interested parties on Ozdemir's CCR 
Submission.
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    \1\ See Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and 
Tubes from the Republic of Korea, Mexico, and the Republic of 
Turkey: Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 62865 (September 13, 2016) 
(Order).
    \2\ Id.
    \3\ See Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and 
Tubes from the Republic of Turkey: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review and Final Determination of No Shipments; 2017-
2018, 84 FR 64455 (November 22, 2019).
    \4\ See Ozdemir AS's Letter, ``Request for Changed Circumstances 
Reviews,'' dated November 2, 2021 (Ozdemir's CCR Submission). In 
this submission, Ozdemir AS also requested that Commerce conduct an 
expedited CCR of the companion countervailing duty (CVD) order on 
HWR pipes and tubes from Turkey. Commerce intends to address the CCR 
request with respect to the CVD order in a separate Federal Register 
notice.
    \5\ Id.
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the Order is certain heavy walled 
rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes of rectangular (including 
square) cross section, having a nominal wall thickness of not less than 
4 mm. The merchandise includes, but is not limited to, the American 
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A-500, grade B specifications, 
or comparable domestic or foreign specifications.
    Included products are those in which: (1) Iron predominates, by 
weight, over each of the other contained elements; (2) the carbon 
content is 2 percent or less, by weight; and (3) none of the elements 
below exceeds the quantity, by weight, respectively indicated:
     2.50 percent of manganese, or
     3.30 percent of silicon, or
     1.50 percent of copper, or
     1.50 percent of aluminum, or
     1.25 percent of chromium, or
     0.30 percent of cobalt, or
     0.40 percent of lead, or
     2.0 percent of nickel, or
     0.30 percent of tungsten, or
     0.80 percent of molybdenum, or
     0.10 percent of niobium (also called columbium), or
     0.30 percent of vanadium, or
     0.30 percent of zirconium.
    The subject merchandise is currently provided for in item 
7306.61.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS). Subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS 7306.61.3000. 
While the HTSUS subheadings and ASTM specification are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope 
of this Order is dispositive.

Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review

    Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.216, Commerce will conduct a CCR upon a 
request from an interested party for a review of an AD order which 
shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review of the 
order.\6\ The information submitted by Ozdemir AS supporting its claim 
that Ozdemir AS is the successor-in-interest to Ozdemir Ltd. Sti. 
demonstrates changed circumstances sufficient to initiate a review.\7\
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.216(c).
    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.216(d).
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    The information submitted by Ozdemir AS demonstrates that its 
request is based solely on a change in corporate classification from a 
limited liability company (limited sirketi) to a joint stock company 
(anonim sirketi), effective September 24, 2021.\8\ Moreover, the 
evidence submitted in support of Ozdemir's request demonstrates that 
Ozdemir AS is otherwise the same business entity as Ozdemir Ltd. Sti. 
Therefore, in accordance with the above-referenced regulation, Commerce 
is initiating a CCR to determine whether Ozdemir AS is the successor-
in-interest to Ozdemir Ltd. Sti.
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    \8\ See Ozdemir's CCR Submission at 4.
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Preliminary Results

    When it concludes that expedited action is warranted, Commerce may 
publish the notice of initiation and preliminary results of a CCR 
concurrently.\9\ Commerce has combined the notice of initiation and 
preliminary results in successor-in-interest cases when sufficient 
documentation has been provided supporting the request to make a 
preliminary determination.\10\ In this instance, because we have on the 
record information to support the request for a preliminary 
determination and no other interested party comments, we find that 
expedited action is warranted, and we are combining the notice of 
initiation and the notice of preliminary results of review, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii).
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    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii).
    \10\ See, e.g., Multilayered Wood Flooring from the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews, 82 FR 9561 
(February 7, 2017), unchanged in Multilayered Wood Flooring from the 
People's Republic of China: Final Results of Changed Circumstances 
Reviews, 82 FR 14691 (March 22, 2017).
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AD Methodology

    In a CCR, we generally consider a company to be the successor to 
another

[[Page 70444]]

company for AD cash deposit purposes if the operations of the successor 
are not materially dissimilar from those of its predecessor.\11\ In 
making this determination, Commerce examines a number of factors 
including, but not limited to, changes in: (1) Management; (2) 
production facilities; (3) suppliers; and (4) customer base.\12\ While 
no single factor or combination of factors is dispositive, Commerce 
will generally consider one company to be the successor to another if 
its resulting operation is essentially the same as that of its 
predecessor.\13\ Thus, if the evidence demonstrates that, with respect 
to the production and sale of the subject merchandise, the new company 
operates as the same business entity as the prior company, Commerce 
will assign the new company the cash deposit rate of its 
predecessor.\14\
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    \11\ Id.
    \12\ See, e.g., Initiation and Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review: Multilayered Wood 
Flooring from the People's Republic of China, 79 FR 48117, 48118 
(August 15, 2014), unchanged in Multilayered Wood Flooring from the 
People's Republic of China: Final Results of Changed Circumstances 
Review, 79 FR 58740 (September 30, 2014).
    \13\ Id.
    \14\ See, e.g., Initiation and Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review: Crystalline Silicon 
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the 
People's Republic of China, 81 FR 76561 (November 3, 2016), 
unchanged in Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not 
Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: Final 
Results of Changed Circumstances Review, 81 FR 91909 (December 19, 
2016).
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    In its CCR submission, Ozdemir AS provided evidence demonstrating 
that Ozdemir AS's operations are not materially dissimilar from those 
of Ozdemir Ltd. Sti. Specifically, Ozdemir AS has the same shareholders 
and same management team as Ozdemir Ltd. Sti.\15\ Further, Ozdemir AS 
submitted capacity records showing that its production facilities, 
capacities, number of employees, machinery, and equipment are the same 
as its predecessor's.\16\ Finally, Ozdemir AS submitted evidence that 
there have been no material changes to the company's suppliers or 
customer base.\17\ Based on the foregoing, we preliminarily determine 
that Ozdemir AS is the successor-in-interest to Ozdemir Ltd. Sti.
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    \15\ See Ozdemir's CCR Submission at 3-4 and Exhibit 3.
    \16\ Id. at 4-5 and Exhibits 4-5.
    \17\ Id. at Exhibits 8-9.
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    Should our final results remain unchanged from these preliminary 
results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assign 
entries of subject merchandise that are not both produced and exported 
by Ozdemir AS the AD cash deposit rate applicable to Ozdemir Ltd. Sti., 
effective as of the date of publication of the final results. Entries 
that are both produced and exported by Ozdemir AS will be excluded from 
the Order.

Public Comment

    Any interested party may request a hearing within 14 days of 
publication of this notice, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.310(c). 
Interested parties may submit case briefs not later than 14 days after 
the date of publication of this notice.\18\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to 
issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than seven 
days after the case briefs.\19\ Parties who submit case briefs or 
rebuttal briefs in this CCR are requested to submit with each argument: 
(1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and 
(3) a table of authorities.\20\ All comments are to be filed 
electronically using ACCESS, available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov, and must also be served on interested parties. An 
electronically filed document must be received successfully in its 
entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day it is due.\21\ 
Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain requirements for 
serving documents containing business proprietary information, until 
further notice.\22\
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    \18\ Commerce is exercising its discretion under 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(1)(ii) to alter the time limit for the filing of case 
briefs.
    \19\ Commerce is exercising its discretion under 19 CFR 
351.309(d)(1) to alter the time limit for the filing of rebuttal 
briefs.
    \20\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \21\ See 19 CFR 351.303(b).
    \22\ 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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    Consistent with 19 CFR 351.216(e), we intend to issue the final 
results of this CCR no later than 270 days after the date on which this 
review was initiated or within 45 days of publication of these 
preliminary results, if all parties agree to our preliminary findings.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing this initiation and preliminary 
results notice in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(c)(3).

    Dated: December 6, 2021.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, Performing the 
Non-Exclusive Functions and Duties of The Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2021-26773 Filed 12-9-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P