[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79277-79279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28101]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-523-813]


Polyethylene Terephthalate Sheet From the Sultanate of Oman: 
Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances Review and Intent To 
Revoke the Antidumping Duty Order

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On November 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce 
(Commerce) initiated a changed circumstances review (CCR) of the 
antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet from 
the Sultanate of Oman (Oman). We preliminarily determine that 
revocation of the order is warranted. Interested parties are invited to 
comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable December 27, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brittany Bauer, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3860.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On September 10, 2020, Commerce published the antidumping duty 
order on PET sheet from Oman.\1\ On October 26, 2022, the petitioners 
\2\ (i.e., domestic producers of subject merchandise) requested, 
through a CCR, revocation of the Order, pursuant to section 
751(b)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 
CFR 351.222(g)(1).\3\ Commerce published the notice of initiation of 
the CCR on November 18, 2022.\4\ Because the petitioners did not 
indicate whether they account for substantially all of the domestic 
production of PET sheet, in the Initiation Notice we invited interested 
parties to submit comments regarding industry support for the potential 
revocation, as well as comments and/or factual information regarding 
the CCR.
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    \1\ See Polyethylene Terephthalate Sheet from the Republic of 
Korea and the Sultanate of Oman: Antidumping Duty Orders, 85 FR 
55824 (September 10, 2020) (Order).
    \2\ The petitioners are Advanced Extrusion, Inc., Good Natured 
Products, IL dba Ex-Tech Inc., and Multi-Plastics Extrusions, Inc.
    \3\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Request for a `No Interest' 
Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation of the Order,'' dated 
October 26, 2022.
    \4\ See Polyethylene Terephthalate Sheet from the Sultanate of 
Oman: Notice of Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review and 
Consideration of Revocation of the Antidumping Duty Order, 87 FR 
69252 (November 18, 2022) (Initiation Notice).
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    On November 22, 2022, OCTAL Extrusion Corporation (OCTAL 
Extrusion), a U.S. producer of PET sheet, submitted comments in support 
of the revocation of the Order.\5\ We received no further comments on 
the Initiation Notice.
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    \5\ See OCTAL Extrusion's Letter, ``OCTAL Extrusion's Comments 
Supporting Revocation of AD Order,'' dated November 22, 2022 (OCTAL 
Extrusion's Letter).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the Order is raw, pretreated, or primed 
polyethylene terephthalate sheet, whether extruded or coextruded, in 
nominal thicknesses of equal to or greater than 7 mil (0.007 inches or 
177.8 [micro]m) and not exceeding 45 mil (0.045 inches or 1143 [mu]m) 
(PET sheet). The scope includes all PET sheet whether made from prime 
(virgin) inputs or recycled inputs, as well as any blends thereof. The 
scope includes all PET sheet meeting the above specifications 
regardless of width, color, surface treatment, coating, lamination, or 
other surface finish.
    The merchandise subject to the Order is properly classified under 
statistical reporting subheading 3920.62.0090 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description 
of the scope is dispositive.

Preliminary Results of the Changed Circumstances Review and Intent To 
Revoke the Order

    Pursuant to section 751(d)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.222(g), 
Commerce may revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, in 
whole or in part, based on a review under section 751(b) of the Act 
(i.e., a CCR). Section 751(b)(1) of the Act requires a CCR to be 
conducted upon receipt of a request which shows changed circumstances 
sufficient to warrant a review. Section 782(h)(2) of the Act gives 
Commerce the authority to revoke an order if producers accounting for 
substantially all of the production of the domestic like product have 
expressed a lack of interest in the order. Section 351.222(g) of 
Commerce's regulations provides that Commerce will conduct a CCR under 
19 CFR 351.216, and may revoke an order (in whole or in part), if it 
concludes that: (i) producers accounting for substantially all of the 
production of the domestic like product to which the order pertains 
have expressed a lack of interest in the relief provided by the order, 
in whole or

[[Page 79278]]

in part; or (ii) if other changed circumstances sufficient to warrant 
revocation exist. Both the Act and Commerce's regulations require that 
``substantially all'' domestic producers express a lack of interest in 
the order for Commerce to revoke the order, in whole or in part.\6\ In 
its administrative practice, Commerce has interpreted ``substantially 
all'' to represent producers accounting for at least 85 percent of U.S. 
production of the domestic like product.\7\
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    \6\ See section 782(h) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g).
    \7\ See Honey from Argentina; Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews; Preliminary Intent to Revoke 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, 77 FR 67790, 67791 
(November 14, 2012), unchanged in Honey from Argentina; Final 
Results of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances 
Reviews; Revocation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, 
77 FR 77029 (December 31, 2012).
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    Commerce did not issue a combined notice of initiation and 
preliminary results in this CCR because the record was unclear as to 
whether the petitioners account for substantially all domestic 
production of PET sheet.\8\ Thus, Commerce did not determine in the 
Initiation Notice whether producers accounting for substantially all of 
the production of the domestic like product lacked interest in 
maintaining the Order. Instead, we invited interested parties to submit 
comments concerning domestic industry support with respect to the 
requested revocation of the Order.\9\ Although OCTAL Extrusion 
submitted comments in response to the initiation of this CCR, it did 
not comment on whether it, or the petitioners, account for 
substantially all domestic production of PET sheet.\10\ Commerce, 
therefore, received no additional comments on industry support aside 
from comments by a domestic producer of PET sheet, OCTAL Extrusion, in 
support of the revocation. As a result, we find that the domestic 
industry has expressed no opposition with respect to the proposed 
revocation of the Order.
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    \8\ See Initiation Notice.
    \9\ Id., 87 FR at 69253.
    \10\ See OCTAL Extrusion's Letter.
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    In light of the petitioners' statement of lack of interest, OCTAL 
Extrusion's comments in support of the revocation, and the absence of 
comments from any interested party addressing the issue of domestic 
industry support, we preliminarily conclude that producers accounting 
for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to 
which the Order pertains lack interest in the relief provided by the 
Order. Thus, we preliminarily determine that changed circumstances 
warrant revocation of the Order. We will consider comments from 
interested parties on these preliminary results before issuing the 
final results of this review.
    Accordingly, we are notifying the public of our intent to revoke 
the Order. If we make a final determination to revoke the Order, then 
section 751(d)(3) of the Act provides that ``{a{time}  determination 
under this section to revoke an order . . . shall apply with respect to 
unliquidated entries of the subject merchandise which are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date 
determined by the administering authority.'' Consequently, Commerce's 
general practice is to instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) to liquidate without regard to antidumping and countervailing 
duties, and to refund any estimated deposits of those duties, on all 
unliquidated entries of the merchandise covered by a revocation that 
are not covered by the final results of an administrative review or 
automatic liquidation.\11\ However, certain unliquidated entries are 
currently enjoined from liquidation by litigation. Thus, Commerce is 
also requesting comments from interested parties regarding the 
treatment of entries that are covered by this revocation request but 
remain enjoined due to an injunction issued in ongoing litigation.
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    \11\ See, e.g., Certain Pasta from Italy: Final Results of 
Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation, In 
Part, 76 FR 27634 (May 12, 2011); Stainless Steel Bar from the 
United Kingdom: Notice of Final Results of Changed Circumstances 
Review and Revocation of Order, in Part, 72 FR 65706 (November 23, 
2007); Notice of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed 
Circumstances Review and Revocation of Order In Part: Certain 
Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Germany, 71 FR 
66163 (November 13, 2006); Notice of Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews and Revocation of Orders in Part: 
Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Canada 
and Germany, 71 FR 14498 (March 22, 2006); and Notice of Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review, and 
Determination to Revoke Order in Part: Certain Cased Pencils from 
the People's Republic of China, 68 FR 62428 (November 4, 2003).
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Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
results, as well as the treatment of unliquidated entries covered by an 
injunction, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii). Written 
comments may be submitted to Commerce no later than 14 days after the 
date of publication of these preliminary results. Rebuttal comments, 
limited to issues raised in such comments, may be filed with Commerce 
no later than seven days after the initial comments are filed.\12\ Note 
that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of its requirements for 
serving documents containing business proprietary information, until 
further notice.\13\ All submissions must be filed electronically using 
Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov. An electronically-filed 
document must be received successfully in its entirety in ACCESS by 
5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date set forth in this notice.
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    \12\ Submissions of rebuttal factual information must comply 
with 19 CFR 351.301(b)(2); see also Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD 
Service Requirements Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 
85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020) (Temporary Rule).
    \13\ See Temporary Rule.
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Final Results of the Changed Circumstances Review

    Commerce's regulations provide that it will issue the final results 
of a CCR, which will include analysis of any written comments, no later 
than 270 days after the date on which a review was initiated, or within 
45 days if all parties to the proceeding agree to the outcome of the 
review.\14\ If, in the final result of this review, Commerce continues 
to determine that changed circumstances warrant the revocation of the 
Order, we intend to instruct CBP to liquidate without regard to 
antidumping duties, and to refund any deposits of estimated antidumping 
duties, on all unliquidated entries of the merchandise covered by the 
revocation that are not covered by the final results of an 
administrative review or automatic liquidation.\15\ The current 
requirement for cash deposit of estimated antidumping duties on all 
entries of subject merchandise will continue unless they are modified 
pursuant to the final results of this CCR.
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.216(e).
    \15\ As noted above, certain unliquidated entries are currently 
enjoined from liquidation by litigation, and parties may submit 
comments relating to Commerce's treatment of such entries.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    These preliminary results of review are being issued and published 
in accordance with sections 751(b) and 777(i) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.216, 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3), and 19 CFR 351.222.


[[Page 79279]]


    Dated: December 19, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2022-28101 Filed 12-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P