[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 38 (Monday, February 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12313-12316]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03934]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-906, C-533-907]


Sodium Nitrite From India: Antidumping Duty and Countervailing 
Duty Orders

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

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade 
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing antidumping duty (AD) and 
countervailing duty (CVD) orders on sodium nitrite from India.

DATES: Applicable February 27, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Martin or Joy Zhang, AD/CVD 
Operations, Offices III and IV, Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-3936 and (202) 482-1168, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with sections 705(d) and 735(d) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), on January 6, 2023, Commerce published its 
affirmative final determination of sales at less than fair value (LTFV) 
and its affirmative final determination that countervailable subsidies 
are being provided to producers and exporters of sodium nitrite from 
India.\1\
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    \1\ See Sodium Nitrite from India: Final Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 88 FR 1052 (January 
6, 2023); see also Sodium Nitrite from India: Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, 88 FR 1042 (January 6, 2023).
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    On February 21, 2023, pursuant to sections 705(d) and 735(d) of the 
Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative determinations 
that an industry in the United States is materially injured by reason 
of LTFV imports and subsidized imports of sodium nitrite from India, 
within the meaning of sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of 
the Act.\2\
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    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determinations,'' dated February 21, 2023 (ITC Notification Letter).
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Scope of the Orders

    The products covered by these orders are sodium nitrite from India. 
For a full description of the scope of the orders, see the appendix to 
this notice.

AD Order

    Based on the above-referenced affirmative final determinations by 
the

[[Page 12314]]

ITC that an industry in the United States is materially injured within 
the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act by reason of LTFV 
imports of sodium nitrite from India \3\ in accordance with sections 
735(c)(2) and 736 of the Act, Commerce is issuing this antidumping duty 
order. Moreover, because the ITC determined that imports of sodium 
nitrite from India are materially injuring a U.S. industry, 
unliquidated entries of such merchandise from India, entered or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, are subject to the assessment 
of antidumping duties.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act, 
Commerce intends to direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, antidumping duties equal 
to the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds the 
export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise for all 
relevant entries of sodium nitrite from India. Antidumping duties will 
be assessed on unliquidated entries of sodium nitrite from India 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
August 17, 2022, the date of publication of the AD Preliminary 
Determination,\4\ but will not include entries occurring after the 
expiration of the provisional measures period and before publication of 
the ITC's final injury determination, as further described below.
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    \4\ See Sodium Nitrite from India: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of 
Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 87 FR 
50604 (August 17, 2022) (AD Preliminary Determination).
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation--AD

    Except as noted in the ``Provisional Measures--AD'' section of this 
notice, in accordance with section 736 of the Act, Commerce intends to 
instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation on all relevant entries 
of sodium nitrite from India. These instructions suspending liquidation 
will remain in effect until further notice.
    Commerce also intends to instruct CBP to require cash deposits 
equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margins indicated in 
the table below, adjusted by the relevant subsidy offsets. Accordingly, 
effective on the date of publication in the Federal Register of the 
notice of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination, CBP must 
require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated 
customs duties on subject merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the 
rates listed in the table below.

Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins

    The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            Estimated
                                            weighted-  Cash deposit rate
                                             average     (adjusted for
            Exporter/producer                dumping        subsidy
                                             margin        offset(s))
                                            (percent)      (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deepak Nitrite Limited...................       44.82              42.76
All Others...............................       44.82              42.76
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Provisional Measures--AD

    Section 733(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a 
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise request 
that Commerce extend the four-month period to no more than six months. 
At the request of exporters that account for a significant proportion 
of sodium nitrite from India, Commerce extended the four-month period 
to six months in this AD investigation. Commerce published the AD 
Preliminary Determination on August 17, 2022.\5\ Therefore, the 
extended provisional measures period, beginning on the date of 
publication of the AD Preliminary Determination, ended on February 12, 
2023. Pursuant to section 737(b) of the Act, the collection of cash 
deposits at the rates listed above will begin on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination. Therefore, in 
accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act and our practice, we will 
instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to 
liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, unliquidated entries 
of sodium nitrite from India, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after February 13, 2023, the first day provisional 
measures were no longer in effect, until and through the day preceding 
the date of publication of the ITC's final injury determination in the 
Federal Register.
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    \5\ Id.
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CVD Order

    As stated above, based on the above-referenced affirmative final 
determinations by the ITC that an industry in the United States is 
materially injured within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act by reason of subsidized imports of sodium nitrite from India,\6\ in 
accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is issuing this 
CVD order. Moreover, because the ITC determined that imports of sodium 
nitrite from India are materially injuring a U.S. industry, 
unliquidated entries of subject merchandise from India entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, are subject to the 
assessment of countervailing duties.
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    \6\ See ITC Notification Letter.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce 
intends to direct CBP to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, 
countervailing duties for all relevant entries of sodium nitrite from 
India, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption 
on or after June 21, 2022, the date of publication of the CVD 
Preliminary Determination, but will not include entries occurring after 
the expiration of the provisional measures period and before the 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination under section 
705(b) of the Act, as further described in the ``Provisional Measures--
CVD'' section of this notice.\7\
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    \7\ See Sodium Nitrite from India: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final 
Determination With the Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 87 FR 
36824 (June 21, 2022) (CVD Preliminary Determination).
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Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits--CVD

    Therefore, in accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce 
intends to instruct CBP to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation of 
sodium nitrite from India, effective on the date of publication of the 
ITC's final affirmative injury determination in the

[[Page 12315]]

Federal Register, and to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, 
pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of the Act, countervailing duties for 
each entry of subject merchandise in an amount based on the net 
countervailable subsidy rates below. On or after the date of 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination in the Federal 
Register, CBP must require, at the same time as importers would 
normally deposit estimated customs duties on this merchandise, a cash 
deposit equal to the rates listed in the table below. These 
instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further 
notice. The all-others rate applies to all producers or exporters not 
specifically listed below, as appropriate:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                            (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deepak Nitrite Limited..................................            2.40
All Others..............................................            2.40
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Provisional Measures--CVD

    Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months. Commerce published the CVD 
Preliminary Determination on June 21, 2022.\8\ As such, the four-month 
period beginning on the date of the publication of the CVD Preliminary 
Determination ended on October 18, 2022.
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    \8\ Id.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we 
instructed CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to 
liquidate, without regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated 
entries of sodium nitrite from India entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption, on or after October 19, 2022, the date on 
which the provisional measures expired, until and through the day 
preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final injury 
determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation will 
resume on the date of publication of the ITC's final determination in 
the Federal Register.

Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the final rule titled 
``Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Laws'' in the Federal Register.\9\ On September 
27, 2021, Commerce also published the notice titled ``Scope Ruling 
Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; and Informational Sessions'' 
in the Federal Register.\10\ The Final Rule and Procedural Guidance 
provide that Commerce will maintain an annual inquiry service list for 
each order or suspended investigation, and any interested party 
submitting a scope ruling application or request for circumvention 
inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request on the persons 
on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as well as any 
companion order covering the same merchandise from the same country of 
origin.\11\
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    \9\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \10\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \11\ Id.
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    In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in 
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an 
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and 
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at https://access.trade.gov, within five business days of publication of the 
notice of the order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in 
ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type 
called ``AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \12\
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    \12\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment 
Specific Information (SSI) field which will display the month in 
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was 
published in the Federal Register, also known as the anniversary 
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that 
was published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant 
segment and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January 
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry 
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will 
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
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    Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry 
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the 
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30 
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of 
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one 
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead 
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce 
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days 
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance,\13\ the new annual 
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when 
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is 
published.
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    \13\ See Procedural Guidance.
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    Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as 
needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of 
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and 
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or 
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the 
ACCESS website at https://access.trade.gov.

Special Instructions for Petitioners and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \14\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioner and Government of India should submit their 
initial entries of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service lists for these orders. 
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.225(n)(3), the petitioner and the Government of 
India will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each year 
to continue to be included on the annual inquiry service list. However, 
the petitioner and the Government of India are responsible for making 
amendments to their entries of appearance during the annual update to 
the annual inquiry service list in accordance with the procedures 
described above.
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    \14\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the AD and CVD orders with respect to 
sodium nitrite from India pursuant to sections 706(a) and 736(a) of the 
Act. Interested parties can find a list of orders currently in effect 
at https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    These orders are published in accordance with sections 706(a) and 
736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: February 21, 2023.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Orders

    The product covered by these orders is sodium nitrite in any 
form, at any purity level. In addition, the sodium nitrite covered 
by these orders may or may not contain an

[[Page 12316]]

anticaking agent. Examples of names commonly used to reference 
sodium nitrite are nitrous acid, sodium salt, anti-rust, diazotizing 
salts, erinitrit, and filmerine. Sodium nitrite's chemical 
composition is NaNO2, and it is generally classified 
under subheading 2834.10.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS). The American Chemical Society Chemical 
Abstract Service (CAS) has assigned the name ``sodium nitrite'' to 
sodium nitrite. The CAS registry number is 7632-00-0. For purposes 
of the scope of these orders, the narrative description is 
dispositive, not the tariff heading, CAS registry number or CAS 
name, which are provided for convenience and customs purposes.

[FR Doc. 2023-03934 Filed 2-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P