[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 219 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78308-78310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25201]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-201-857]
Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof From Mexico:
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 Mexico.
DATES: Applicable November 15, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Hall-Eastman, AD/CVD
Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1468
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of
1930, as amended (the Act), on September 21, 2023, Commerce published
its affirmative final determination in the less-than-fair-value (LTFV)
investigation of freight rail couplers from Mexico.\1\ On November 6,
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 of freight rail couplers from Mexico.\2\
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\1\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from
Mexico: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value and Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 88
FR 61653 (September 21, 2023) (Final Determination).
\2\ See ITC's Letter, Investigation No. 731-TA-1593 (Final),
dated November 6, 2023.
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Scope of the Order
The products covered by this order are freight rail couplers from
Mexico. For a complete description of the scope of the order, see the
appendix to this notice.
Antidumping Duty Order
On November 6, 2023, in accordance with sections 735(b)(1)(A)(i)
and 735(d) of the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final
determination that an industry in the United States is materially
injured by reason of imports of freight rail couplers from Mexico.
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 Mexico are
materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such
merchandise from Mexico, entered or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, are subject to the assessment of antidumping duties.
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 Mexico. With the
exception of entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional
measures period and before publication of the ITC's final affirmative
injury determination, as further described below, antidumping duties
will be assessed on unliquidated entries of freight rail couplers from
Mexico, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or
after May 3, 2023, the date of publication of the Preliminary
Determination.\3\
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\3\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from
Mexico: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than
Fair Value Preliminary Negative Determination of Critical
Circumstances, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of
Provisional Measures, 88 FR 27864 (May 3, 2023) (Preliminary
Determination).
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits
Except as noted in the ``Provisional Measures'' section of this
notice, 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 Mexico. These instructions suspending
liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.
Commerce will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to
the amounts indicated 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 this subject
merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the cash deposit rates listed in
the table below. The all-others rate applies to all producers or
exporters not specifically listed, as appropriate.
Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins
The estimated weighted-average dumping margins for this antidumping
order are as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Exporter/producer dumping
margin
(percent)
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ASF-K de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V........................... 48.10
All Others.................................................. 48.10
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Provisional Measures
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
[[Page 78309]]
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 freight rail couplers from Mexico, Commerce extended the
four-month period to six months. Commerce's Preliminary Determination
was published on May 3, 2023.\4\ Commerce's Final Determination was
extended and was published on September 15, 2023.\5\
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\4\ Id.
\5\ See Final Determination.
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The extended provisional measures period, beginning on the date of
publication of the Preliminary Determination, ended on October 29,
2023. Therefore, in accordance with section 733(d) of the Act and our
practice,\6\ Commerce will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of
liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties,
unliquidated entries of freight rail couplers from Mexico entered or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption after October 29, 2023, the
final day on which the provisional measures were in effect, until and
through the day preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final
affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of
liquidation and the collection of cash deposits will resume on the date
of publication of the ITC's final determination in the Federal
Register.
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\6\ See, e.g., Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from
India, India, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea
and Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination for
India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390, 48392
(July 25, 2016).
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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.\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
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. 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 Mexico pursuant to section 736(a) of the
Act. Interested parties can find a list of antidumping duty orders
currently in effect at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings.
This order is published in accordance with section 736(a) of the
Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).
Dated: November 8, 2023.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy 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.
[[Page 78310]]
Subject freight railcar couplers and parts are included within
the scope whether finished or unfinished, whether imported
individually or with other subject or non-subject parts, whether
assembled or unassembled, whether mounted or unmounted, or if joined
with non-subject merchandise, such as other non-subject 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 non-subject 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 non-subject 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.
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. 2023-25201 Filed 11-14-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P