[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 234 (Thursday, December 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85214-85216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26861]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-991]


Chlorinated Isocyanurates From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Results of the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review 
and Rescission of Review, in Part; 2021

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds 
that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and 
exporters of chlorinated isocyanurates (chlorinated isos) from the 
People's Republic of China (China) during the period of review (POR), 
January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021. Interested parties are 
invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable December 7, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Miranda Bourdeau or Eliza DeLong, 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) 482-2021 or (202) 
482-3878, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On November 13, 2014, Commerce published the countervailing duty 
order on chlorinated isos in the Federal Register.\1\ On January 3, 
2023, Commerce published a notice of initiation of an administrative 
review of the Order.\2\ On June 30, 2023, Commerce extended the time 
period for issuing these preliminary results until November 30, 2023, 
in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (the Act).\3\
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    \1\ See Chlorinated Isocyanurates from the People's Republic of 
China: Countervailing Duty Order, 79 FR 67424 (November 13, 2014) 
(Order).
    \2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 50 (January 3, 2023).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,'' dated June 
30, 2023.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\ 
A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included at the appendix to this notice. The Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via 
Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review of 
Chlorinated Isocyanurates from the People's Republic of China and 
Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part; 2021,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order \5\
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    \5\ See Chlorinated Isocyanurates from the People's Republic of 
China: Countervailing Duty Order, 79 FR 67424 (November 13, 2014) 
(Order).
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    The products covered by the Order are chlorinated isos. For a 
complete description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.

[[Page 85215]]

Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), Commerce will rescind an 
administrative review when there are no reviewable suspended entries. 
Based on our analysis of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
information, we preliminarily determine that Henan Zerui New Material, 
Jinchang International Forwarding, Qingdao Fortune Logistics Co., Ltd., 
Qingdao Kingnod Group Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Sumiso International 
Logis had no entries of subject merchandise during the POR. On November 
16, 2023, we notified parties that we intended to rescind this 
administrative review with respect to these companies.\6\ No parties 
commented on the notification of intent to rescind the review, in part. 
We are, therefore, rescinding the administrative review of these 
companies. For additional information regarding this determination, see 
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Notice of Intent to Rescind Review, in 
Part,'' dated November 16, 2023.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(A) of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found 
countervailable, we preliminarily find that there is a subsidy, i.e., a 
financial contribution that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, 
and that the subsidy is specific.\7\
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    \7\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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    Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied, in part, 
on facts available and, because it finds that the Government of China 
did not act to the best of its ability to respond to Commerce's 
requests for information, it drew an adverse inference where 
appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available.\8\ 
For further information, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum at the 
section titled, ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse 
Inferences.''
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    \8\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Company Not Selected for Individual Review

    The Act and Commerce's regulations do not directly address the 
subsidy rate to be applied to companies not selected for individual 
examination where Commerce limits its examination in an administrative 
review pursuant to section 777A(e)(2) of the Act. However, Commerce 
normally determines the rates for non-selected companies in reviews in 
a manner that is consistent with section 705(c)(5) of the Act, which 
provides instructions for calculating the all-others rate in an 
investigation. Section 777A(e)(2) of the Act provides that ``the 
individual countervailable subsidy rates determined under subparagraph 
(A) shall be used to determine the all-others rate under section 
705(c)(5) {of the Act{time} .'' Section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act states 
that for companies not investigated, in general, we will determine an 
all-others rate by weight-averaging the countervailable subsidy rates 
established for each of the companies individually investigated, 
excluding zero and de minimis rates or any rates based solely on the 
facts available.
    Accordingly, to determine the rate for companies not selected for 
individual examination, Commerce's practice is to weight average the 
net subsidy rates for the selected mandatory respondents, excluding 
rates that are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts available. 
We preliminarily determine that Heze Huayi Chemical Co., Ltd. (Heze 
Huayi) and Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co., Ltd. (Kangtai) received 
countervailable subsidies that are above de minimis and are not based 
entirely on facts available. Therefore, we preliminarily determine to 
apply the weighted average of the net subsidy rates calculated for Heze 
Huayi and Kangtai using publicly-ranged sales data submitted by those 
respondents to the non-selected company. The company for which a review 
was requested, and which was not selected as a mandatory respondents or 
found to be cross-owned with a mandatory respondent, is Sincere 
Cooperation Material.

Preliminary Results of Review

    For the period January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021, we 
preliminarily find that the following net subsidy rates exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                            (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
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Heze Huayi Chemical Co., Ltd............................            3.98
Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co., Ltd.....................            3.96
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    Review-Specific Average Rate Applicable to the Following Company
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Sincere Cooperation Material............................            3.98
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Verification

    Commerce received a timely request from Bio-Lab, Inc., Clearon 
Corp., and Occidental Chemical Corporation (collectively, the 
petitioners) to verify the information submitted in this administrative 
review, pursuant to 19 CFR 307(b)(1)(iv).\9\ Commerce does not intend 
to verify the information submitted by the mandatory respondents in the 
course of this administrative review.
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    \9\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Request for Verification,'' dated 
April 13, 2023.
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Assessment Rate

    Consistent with section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, upon issuance of 
the final results, Commerce shall determine, and CBP shall assess, 
countervailing duties on all appropriate entries in accordance with the 
final results of this review. If the assessment rate calculated in the 
final results is zero or de minimis, we will instruct CBP to liquidate 
all appropriate entries without regard to countervailing duties. For 
the companies for which this review is rescinded, we will instruct CBP 
to assess countervailing duties on all appropriate entries at a rate 
equal to the cash deposit of estimated countervailing duties required 
at the time of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, 
during the period January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(c)(l)(i).
    For the companies remaining in the review, 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

    Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
instruct CBP to collect cash deposits of estimated countervailing 
duties in the amounts indicated above, except, where the rate 
calculated in the final results is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit 
will be required on shipments of subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of the final results of this review. For all non-reviewed 
firms, we will instruct CBP to continue to collect cash deposits of 
estimated countervailing duties at the most recent company-specific or 
all-others rate applicable to the company, as appropriate. These cash 
deposit instructions, when imposed, shall remain in effect until 
further notice.

[[Page 85216]]

Disclosure and Public Comment

    We will disclose to parties to this proceeding the calculations 
performed in reaching the preliminary results within five days of the 
date of publication of these preliminary results.\10\ Pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 
30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, 
limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later 
than five days after the date for filing case briefs.\11\ Interested 
parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding 
must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a 
table of authorities.\12\
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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Administrative Protective 
Order, Service, and Other Procedures in Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Proceedings, 88 FR 67069, 67077 (September 29, 
2023) (APO and Final Service Rule).
    \12\ See 19 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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    As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior 
proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an 
executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages 
total, including footnotes. In this review, we instead request that 
interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, 
executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\13\ Further, 
we request that interested parties limit their executive summary of 
each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We 
intend to use the executive summaries as the basis of the comment 
summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will 
accompany the final results in this administrative review. We request 
that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the 
executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain 
of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 
351.303(f).\14\
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    \13\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \14\ See APO and Final Service Rule.
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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, U.S. Department of Commerce 
within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. 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 and rebuttal briefs.\15\ Parties are reminded 
that all briefs and hearing requests must be filed electronically using 
ACCESS and received successfully in their entirety by 5:00 p.m. Eastern 
Time on the due date.
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    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.310.
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Final Results of Review

    Unless the deadline is extended pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of 
the Act, Commerce intends to issue the final results of this 
administrative review, including the results of our analysis of the 
issues raised by the parties in their comments, within 120 days after 
publication of these preliminary results.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This administrative review and notice are issued and published in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.213.

    Dated: November 30, 2023.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part
V. Rate for Non-Examined Companies
VI. Diversification of China's Economy
VII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
VIII. Subsidies Valuation
IX. Benchmarks
X. Analysis of Programs
XI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2023-26861 Filed 12-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P