[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 134 (Friday, July 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45138-45140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14892]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-145]


Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof From the People's 
Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order

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 an antidumping duty order on 
certain freight rail couplers and parts thereof (freight rail couplers) 
from the People's Republic of China (China).

DATES: Applicable July 14, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Drew Jackson or Zachary Shaykin, AD/
CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4406 or (202) 
482-2638, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), On May 30, 2023, Commerce published in the 
Federal Register its affirmative final determination in the less-than-
fair-value (LTFV) investigation of freight rail couplers from China.\1\ 
On July 3, 2023, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determination, 
pursuant to section 735(d) of the Act, 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 freight rail 
couplers from China, and that critical circumstances do not exist with 
respect to dumped imports of freight rail couplers from China.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from the 
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales 
at Less-Than-Fair Value and Final Affirmative Determination of 
Critical Circumstances, 88 FR 34485 (May 30, 2023) (Final 
Determination).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, Notification of ITC Final Determinations, 
dated July 3, 2023.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by this order are freight rail couplers from 
China. For a complete description of the scope of this order, see the 
appendix to this notice.

Antidumping Duty Order

    On July 3, 2023, in accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, the 
ITC notified Commerce of its final determination that an industry in 
the United States is materially injured within the meaning of section 
735(b)(1)(A)(1) of the Act by reason of imports of freight rail 
couplers from China.\3\ Therefore, Commerce is issuing this antidumping 
duty order in accordance with sections 735(c)(2) and 736 of the Act. 
Because the ITC determined that imports of freight rail couplers from 
China are materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of 
such merchandise from China, 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 will 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 freight rail couplers from China. Antidumping 
duties will be assessed on unliquidated entries of freight rail 
couplers from China, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on 
or after March 13, 2023, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination in the Federal Register.\4\
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    \4\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from the 
People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Critical Circumstances, 88 FR 15372 (March 13, 
2023) (Preliminary Determination).
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 736 of the Act, Commerce will instruct 
CBP to continue to suspend liquidation on all relevant entries of 
freight rail couplers from China. These instructions suspending 
liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.
    Commerce will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins indicated in the tables 
below. Accordingly, effective on the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of the notice of the ITC's final affirmative injury 
determination, CBP will require, at the same time as importers would 
normally deposit estimated duties on subject merchandise, a cash 
deposit equal to the rates listed below. Commerce determined that all 
exporters of Chinese freight rail couplers are part of the China-wide 
entity.\5\ Accordingly, the China-wide entity rate listed below applies 
to all exporters.
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    \5\ See Final Determination.
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Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins

    The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:
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    \6\ The estimated weighted-average dumping margin listed in the 
Preliminary Determination did not reflect an adjustment for export 
subsidies found in the companion countervailing duty investigation 
of freight rail couplers from China. Commerce will instruct CBP to 
refund the difference between the unadjusted estimated weighted-
average dumping margin collected as cash deposits (i.e., 169.90 
percent) after the publication of the Preliminary Determination and 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margin adjusted for export 
subsidy offset(s) (i.e., 139.49).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Estimated
                                                              weighted-
                                                               average
                                                 Estimated     dumping
                                                 weighted-      margin
               Exporter/producer                  average      adjusted
                                                  dumping     for export
                                                   margin      subsidy
                                                 (percent)    offset(s)
                                                              (percent)
                                                                 \6\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
China-Wide Entity.............................      169.90       139.49
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Critical Circumstances

    With respect to the ITC's negative critical circumstances 
determination on imports of freight rail couplers, Commerce intends to 
instruct CBP to lift suspension and to refund any cash deposits made to 
secure the payment of estimated antidumping duties with respect to 
entries of the subject merchandise from China entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after December 13, 2022 (i.e., 90 
days prior to the date of the publication of the Preliminary 
Determination), but before March 13, 2023 (i.e., the date of 
publication of the Preliminary Determination).

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

[[Page 45139]]

Federal Register.\7\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published the 
notice titled ``Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions'' in the Federal Register.\8\ 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.\9\
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    \7\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \8\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \9\ 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.'' \10\
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    \10\ 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, 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.
    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.'' \11\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioners and foreign governments should submit their 
initial entry of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service list for those orders for 
which they qualify as an interested party. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.225(n)(3), the petitioners and foreign governments will not need to 
resubmit their entries of appearance each year to continue to be 
included on the annual inquiry service list. However, the petitioners 
and foreign governments 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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    \11\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the antidumping duty order with respect to 
freight rail couplers from China pursuant to section 736(a) of the Act. 
Interested parties can find a list of antidumping duty orders currently 
in effect at https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    This antidumping duty order is published in accordance with section 
736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: July 7, 2023.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Order

    The scope of this order covers certain freight railcar couplers 
(also known as ``fits'' or ``assemblies'') and parts thereof. 
Freight railcar couplers are composed of two main parts, namely 
knuckles and coupler bodies but may also include other items (e.g., 
coupler locks, lock lift assemblies, knuckle pins, knuckle throwers, 
and rotors). The parts of couplers that are covered by the order 
include: (1) E coupler bodies, (2) E/F coupler bodies, (3) F coupler 
bodies, (4) E knuckles, and (5) F knuckles, as set forth by the 
Association of American Railroads (AAR). The freight rail coupler 
parts (i.e., knuckles and coupler bodies) are included within the 
scope of the order when imported separately. Coupler locks, lock 
lift assemblies, knuckle pins, knuckle throwers, and rotors are 
covered merchandise when imported in an assembly but are not covered 
by the scope when imported separately.
    Subject freight railcar couplers and parts are included within 
the scope whether finished or unfinished, whether imported 
individually or with other subject or nonsubject parts, whether 
assembled or unassembled, whether mounted or unmounted, or if joined 
with nonsubject merchandise, such as other nonsubject parts or a 
completed railcar. Finishing includes, but is not limited to, arc 
washing, welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, 
machining, and assembly of various parts. When a subject coupler or 
subject parts are mounted on or to other nonsubject merchandise, 
such as a railcar, only the coupler or subject parts are covered by 
the scope.
    The finished products covered by the scope of this order meet or 
exceed the AAR specifications of M-211, ``Foundry and Product 
Approval Requirements for the Manufacture of Couplers, Coupler 
Yokes, Knuckles, Follower Blocks, and Coupler Parts'' and/or AAR M-
215 ``Coupling Systems,'' or other equivalent domestic or 
international standards (including any revisions to the 
standard(s)).
    The country of origin for subject couplers and parts thereof, 
whether fully assembled, unfinished or finished, or attached to a 
railcar, is the country where the subject coupler parts were cast or 
forged. Subject merchandise includes coupler parts as defined above 
that have been further processed or further assembled, including 
those coupler parts attached to a railcar in third countries. 
Further processing includes, but is not limited to, arc washing, 
welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, painting, coating, 
priming, machining, and assembly of various parts. The inclusion, 
attachment, joining, or assembly of nonsubject parts with subject 
parts or couplers either in the country of manufacture of the in-
scope product or in a third country does not remove the subject 
parts or couplers from the scope.

[[Page 45140]]

    The couplers that are the subject of this order are currently 
classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) statistical reporting number 8607.30.1000. Unfinished 
subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS statistical reporting 
number 7326.90.8688. Subject merchandise attached to finished 
railcars may also enter under HTSUS statistical reporting numbers 
8606.10.0000, 8606.30.0000, 8606.91.0000, 8606.92.0000, 
8606.99.0130, 8606.99.0160, or under subheading 9803.00.50. Subject 
merchandise may also be imported under HTSUS statistical reporting 
number 7325.99.5000. These HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes only; the written description of 
the scope of this order is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2023-14892 Filed 7-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P