[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 32 (Thursday, February 16, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10090-10092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03300]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-886]


Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Determination of No Shipments and Rescission of 
Review in Part; 2021-2022

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds 
that Dongguan Nozawa Plastics Products Co., Ltd. and United Power 
Packaging, Ltd. (collectively, Nozawa) had no shipments of polyethylene 
retail carrier bags (PRCBs) from the People's Republic of China (China) 
during the period of review (POR), August 1, 2021, through July 31, 
2022. In addition, Commerce is rescinding this administrative review, 
in part, for Crown Polyethylene Products (International) Ltd. (Crown), 
for which the review request was withdrawn. We invite interested 
parties to comment on these preliminary results of review.

DATES: Applicable February 16, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Williams, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5166.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On August 9, 2004, Commerce published in the Federal Register the 
antidumping duty order on PRCBs from China.\1\ On August 2, 2022, 
Commerce published in the Federal Register a notice of opportunity to 
request an administrative review of the Order.\2\ On August 31, 2022, 
the petitioners \3\ timely requested an administrative review of the 
Order with respect to Nozawa and Crown.\4\ Commerce received no other 
requests for an administrative review of the Order. On October 11, 
2022, pursuant to section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), Commerce initiated this 
administrative review.\5\ On November 29, 2022, the petitioners timely 
withdrew their request for an administrative review of Crown.\6\
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    \1\ See Antidumping Duty Order: Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags 
from the People's Republic of China, 69 FR 48201 (August 9, 2004) 
(Order).
    \2\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity To Request Administrative 
Review, 87 FR 47187 (August 2, 2022).
    \3\ The petitioners are the Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bag 
Committee and its individual members, Hilex Poly Co., LLC and 
Superbag Corporation.
    \4\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags 
from the People's Republic of China: Request for Administrative 
Review,'' dated August 31, 2022.
    \5\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 87 FR 61278 (October 11, 2022).
    \6\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags 
from the People's Republic of China: Partial Withdrawal of Request 
for Administrative Review,'' dated November 29, 2022.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the Order are PRCBs which may be referred 
to as t-shirt sacks, merchandise bags, grocery bags, or checkout bags. 
The subject merchandise is defined as non-sealable sacks and bags with 
handles (including drawstrings), without zippers or integral extruded 
closures, with or without gussets, with or without printing, of 
polyethylene film having a thickness no greater than 0.035 inch (0.889 
mm) and no less than 0.00035 inch (0.00889 mm), and with no length or 
width shorter than 6 inches (15.24 cm) or longer than 40 inches (101.6 
cm). The depth of the bag may be shorter than 6 inches but not longer 
than 40 inches (101.6 cm).
    PRCBs are typically provided without any consumer packaging and 
free of charge by retail establishments, e.g., grocery, drug, 
convenience, department, specialty retail, discount stores, and 
restaurants, to their customers to package and carry their purchased 
products. The scope of the Order excludes (1) polyethylene bags that 
are not printed with logos or store names and that are closeable with 
drawstrings made of polyethylene film and (2) polyethylene bags that 
are packed in consumer packaging with printing that refers to specific 
end-uses other than packaging and carrying merchandise from retail 
establishments, e.g., garbage bags, lawn bags, trash-can liners.
    Imports of the subject merchandise are currently classifiable under 
statistical category 3923.21.0090 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS). This subheading also covers products that 
are outside the scope of the Order. Furthermore, although the HTSUS 
subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, our 
written description of the scope of the Order is dispositive.

Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or in part, if the party that requested 
a review withdraws its request within 90 days of the date of 
publication of the notice of initiation. Because the petitioners timely 
withdrew their review request for Crown, and no other party requested 
an administrative review of Crown, we are rescinding the administrative 
review of Crown, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1).

Preliminary Determination of No Shipments

    On November 9, 2022, Nozawa timely filed a letter certifying that 
it had no U.S. exports, sales, or entries of subject merchandise to the 
United States during the POR.\7\ We requested that U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) report any information contradicting Nozawa's 
claim of no shipments \8\ and in response to our query, CBP confirmed 
Nozawa's claim of no shipments of subject merchandize during the 
POR.\9\ Therefore, we preliminarily determine that Nozawa had no 
shipments of subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. 
Consistent with Commerce's practice, we will complete the review of 
Nozawa and issue

[[Page 10091]]

appropriate instructions to CBP based on the final results of 
review.\10\
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    \7\ See Nozawa's Letter, ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from 
the People's Republic of China: No Shipment Certification,'' dated 
November 9, 2022.
    \8\ See CBP message number 2334401 dated November 28, 2022, 
available at https://aceservices.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb/.
    \9\ See Memorandum, ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from the 
People's Republic of China; No Shipment Inquiry for Dongguan Nozawa 
Plastics Products Co., Ltd. and United Power Packaging, Ltd. during 
the Period 08/01/2021 through 07/31/2022,'' dated January 30, 2023.
    \10\ See, e.g., Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Thailand; 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 
Partial Rescission of Review, Preliminary Determination of No 
Shipments; 2012-2013, 79 FR 15951, 15952 (March 24, 2014), unchanged 
in Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Thailand: Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, Final Determination of No 
Shipments, and Partial Rescission of Review; 2012-2013, 79 FR 51306, 
51307 (August 28, 2014).
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China-Wide Entity

    Commerce's policy regarding conditional review of the China-wide 
entity applies to this administrative review.\11\ Under this policy, 
the China-wide entity will not be under review unless a party 
specifically requests, or Commerce self-initiates, a review of the 
entity. Because no party requested a review of the China-wide entity, 
and because we did not self-initiate a review, the China-wide entity 
rate (i.e., 77.57 percent) \12\ is not subject to change as a result of 
this review.
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    \11\ See Antidumping Proceedings: Announcement of Change in 
Department Practice for Respondent Selection in Antidumping Duty 
Proceedings and Conditional Review of the Nonmarket Economy Entity 
in NME Antidumping Duty Proceedings, 78 FR 65963 (November 4, 2013).
    \12\ See Order, 69 FR at 48203.
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations 
performed in connection with the preliminary results within five days 
of the public announcement, or if there is no public announcement, 
within five days of the date of publication of this notice in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce did not 
calculate a weighted-average dumping margin for any company in this 
review, nor for the China-wide entity, there are no calculations to 
disclose.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii), interested parties may submit 
case briefs, filed electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's 
Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service 
System (ACCESS), no later than 30 days after the date of publication of 
this notice. ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case 
briefs, may be filed not later than seven days after the date for 
filing case briefs.\13\ Note that Commerce has temporarily modified 
certain of its requirements for serving documents containing business 
proprietary information, until further notice.\14\ Parties submitting 
case or rebuttal briefs 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.\15\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1); see also Temporary Rule Modifying 
AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006, 17007 
(March 26, 2020) (``To provide adequate time for release of case 
briefs via ACCESS, {Enforcement and Compliance{time}  intends to 
schedule the due date for all rebuttal briefs to be 7 days after 
case briefs are filed (while these modifications remain in 
effect).'').
    \14\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 
10, 2020).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via 
ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and 
telephone number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of 
issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to 
those raised in the respective case or rebuttal briefs. An 
electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in 
its entirety by Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 
p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this 
notice.
    Unless extended, Commerce intends to issue the final results of 
this administrative review, including the results of its analysis of 
the issues raised in any written briefs, not later than 120 days after 
the date of publication of this notice pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) 
of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results of this review, Commerce will 
determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate 
entries covered by this review.\16\ Because Commerce is rescinding this 
administrative review with respect to Crown, Commerce will instruct CBP 
to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of PRCBs from 
China from Crown during the POR at rates equal to the cash deposit rate 
of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or 
withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(1)(i).
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    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
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    With respect to Nozawa if we continue to find that Nozawa had no 
shipments of subject merchandise in the final results, then following 
the issuance of the final results of review, Commerce will instruct CBP 
to liquidate any suspended entries that entered under Nozawa's case 
number (i.e., at the rate applicable to Nozawa) at the China-wide 
rate.\17\
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    \17\ See Non-Market Economy Antidumping Proceedings: Assessment 
of Antidumping Duties, 76 FR 65694, 65695 (October 24, 2011).
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    Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier 
than 35 days after the date of publication of the final results of this 
review in the Federal Register. If a timely summons is filed at the 
U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will 
direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties 
to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired (i.e., within 
90 days of publication).

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this review for shipments of the 
subject merchandise from China entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the publication date, as provided by 
section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) for previously investigated or 
reviewed Chinese and non-Chinese exporters that received a separate 
rate in a prior segment of this proceeding, the cash deposit rate will 
continue to be the existing exporter-specific rate; (2) for all Chinese 
exporters of subject merchandise that have not been found to be 
entitled to a separate rate, the cash deposit rate will be that for the 
China-wide entity (i.e., 77.57 percent); and (3) for all non-Chinese 
exporters of subject merchandise which have not received their own 
rate, the cash deposit rate will be the rate applicable to the Chinese 
exporter(s) that supplied that non-Chinese exporter (or, if 
unidentified, that of the China-wide entity). These deposit 
requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further 
notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this POR. Failure to comply with this 
requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement 
of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double 
antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

    Commerce is issuing and publishing these preliminary results in 
accordance

[[Page 10092]]

with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.213(h)(1) and 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: February 10, 2023.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2023-03300 Filed 2-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P