[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23969-23971]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07281]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-533-870]


Certain New Pneumatic Off-The-Road Tires From India: Preliminary 
Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2022

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies were provided to producers 
and/or exporters of certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires (OTR 
tires) from India, during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2022, 
through December 31, 2022. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable April 5, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Austin Davison or Mark Hoadley, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-2811 and (202) 482-3148, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 9, 2023, Commerce published the initiation of this 
administrative review of the countervailing duty order on OTR tires 
from India.\1\ The mandatory company respondents are ATC Tires Private 
Limited (ATC) and Balkrishna Industries Ltd. On November 9, 2023, 
Commerce extended the time limit for these preliminary results to March 
29, 2024.\2\
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 29885 (May 9, 2023).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Review,'' dated November 9, 2023.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of the review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\3\ A 
list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included as Appendix I 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 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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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Administrative Review of the Countervailing Duty 
Order on Off-the-Road Tires from India; 2022,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the order is OTR tires. OTR tires are 
tires with an off road tire size designation. The tires included in the 
scope may be either tube-type or tubeless, radial, or non-radial, 
regardless of whether for original equipment manufacturers or the 
replacement market. For a complete description of the scope of this 
order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this administrative review in accordance 
with section 751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the 
Act). For each of the subsidy programs preliminarily found to be 
countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a 
subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution from an authority that gives 
rise to a benefit to the recipient and that the

[[Page 23970]]

subsidy is specific.\4\ For a full description of the methodology 
underlying Commerce's preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.
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    \4\ 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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Companies Not Selected for Individual Examination

    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.\5\ We preliminarily determine that ATC received 
countervailable subsidies that are above de minimis and are not based 
entirely on facts available. Therefore, we preliminarily determine to 
apply the net subsidy rates calculated for ATC. The companies for which 
a review was requested, which were not selected as mandatory 
respondents or found to be cross-owned with a mandatory respondent, are 
listed in Appendix II.
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    \5\ See, e.g., Certain Pasta from Italy: Final Results of the 
13th (2008) Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 75 FR 37386, 
37387 (June 29, 2010).
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Preliminary Results of Review

    Commerce preliminarily determines the net countervailable subsidy 
rates exist for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022:
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    \6\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce preliminarily finds ATC Tires AP Private Ltd to be cross-
owned with ATC.
    \7\ See Appendix II for the list of these companies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Subsidy
                                                                 rate
                          Company                            (percent ad
                                                               valorem)
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ATC Tires Private Limited \6\..............................         1.83
Balkrishna Industries Ltd..................................       * 0.43
Companies Not Selected for Individual Review \7\...........         1.83
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* de minimis.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis 
performed to interested parties for these preliminary results within 
five days of any 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).
    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. Commerce will 
notify interested parties of the deadline for submission of case 
briefs. 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.\8\ 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.\9\
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    \8\ 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 Service Final Rule).
    \9\ See 19 CFR 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.\10\ 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).\11\
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    \10\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \11\ See APO and Service Final 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, filed electronically via 
ACCESS. Hearing requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, 
and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of 
the issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be 
limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An 
electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in 
its entirety by Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5 p.m. 
Eastern Time, within 30 days of the publication date of this notice. If 
a request for a hearing is made, parties will be notified of the time 
and date of the hearing.\12\
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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Final Results of Review

    Unless the deadline is extended, Commerce intends to issue the 
final results of this administrative review, which will include the 
results of Commerce's analysis of the issues raised in the case briefs, 
within 120 days after the date of the preliminary results, pursuant to 
section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

Assessment Rates

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), Commerce preliminarily 
assigned a subsidy rate in the amount for the producers/exporters shown 
above. Upon completion of the administrative review, consistent with 
section 751(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.212(b)(2), Commerce shall 
determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, 
countervailing duties on all appropriate entries covered by this 
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

    In accordance with section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, Commerce also

[[Page 23971]]

intends upon publication of the final results, to instruct CBP to 
collect cash deposits of the estimated countervailing duties in the 
amounts calculated in the final results of this review for the 
respective companies listed above with regard to 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. If 
the rate calculated in the final results is zero or de minimis, no cash 
deposit will be required on shipments of the 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, CBP will continue to collect cash 
deposits of estimated countervailing duties at the all-others rate or 
the most recent company-specific rate applicable to the company, as 
appropriate. These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall 
remain in effect until further notice.

Notification to Interested Parties

    These preliminary results of review are issued and published in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.213 and 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: March 29, 2024.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Rate for Non-Examined Companies
V. Subsidies Valuation
VI. Interest Rate Benchmarks, Discount Rates, and Benchmarks for 
Measuring the Adequacy of Remuneration
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Recommendation

Appendix II--List of Companies Not Selected for Individual Review

1. Aakriti Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd.
2. Apollo Tyres Ltd.
3. Asian Tire Factory Limited.
4. Asiatic Tradelinks Private Limited.
5. Cavendish Industries Ltd.
6. Ceat Ltd.
7. Celite Tyre Corporation.
8. Emerald Resilient Tyre Manufacturer.
9. Forech India Private Limited.
10. HRI Tires India.
11. Innovative Tyres & Tubes Limited.
12. JK Tyre & Industries Ltd.
13. John Deere India Pvt. Ltd.
14. K.R.M. Tyres.
15. Mahansaria Tyres Private Limited.
16. MRF Limited.
17. MRL Tyres Limited (Malhotra Rubbers Ltd.).
18. Neosym Industry Limited.
19. OTR Laminated Tyres (I) Pvt. Ltd.
20. Royal Tyres Private Limited.
21. Rubberman Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
22. Speedways Rubber Company.
23. Sun Tyre And Wheel Systems.
24. Sundaram Industries Private Limited.
25. Superking Manufacturers (Tyre) Pvt., Ltd.
26. TVS Srichakra Limited.
27. Ultra Mile.

[FR Doc. 2024-07281 Filed 4-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P