[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41376-41377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10327]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-840]


Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From India: Notice of Initiation 
and Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances 
Review

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating a 
changed circumstances review (CCR) to determine if Varma Marine Private 
Limited (Varma) is the successor-in-interest to Varma Marine in the 
context of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain frozen warmwater 
shrimp (shrimp) from India. We preliminarily determine that Varma is 
the successor-in-interest to Varma Marine.

DATES: Applicable May 13, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Whitley Herndon, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office IX, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-6274.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On February 1, 2005, Commerce published in the Federal Register the 
order on shrimp from India.\1\ On March 19, 2024, Varma requested that, 
pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), 19 CFR 351.216, and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3), Commerce conduct 
an expedited CCR \2\ to determine that Varma is the successor-in-
interest to Varma Marine and, accordingly, assign to it the cash 
deposit rate for Varma Marine.\3\ In its submission, Varma stated that, 
in 2023, Varma and Varma Marine signed a takeover agreement to transfer 
all of Varma Marine's assets and liabilities to Varma.\4\ Thus, Varma 
operates as essentially the same business entity as Varma Marine with 
respect to the production and sale of subject merchandise.
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    \1\ See Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order: Certain Frozen Warmwater 
Shrimp from India, 70 FR 5147 (February 1, 2005) (Order).
    \2\ See Varma's Letter, ``Varma Marine Private Limited's Request 
for a Changed Circumstances Review in Certain Frozen Warmwater 
Shrimp from India, Case No. A-533-840,'' dated March 19, 2024 
(Varma's CCR Request).
    \3\ In the 2021-2022 review, the last completed segment of this 
proceeding which covered Varma Marine, Commerce assigned Varma 
Marine a cash deposit rate of 3.88 percent. See Certain Frozen 
Warmwater Shrimp from India: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; 2021-2022, 88 FR 60431 (September 1, 2023).
    \4\ See Varma's CCR Request.
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise subject to the order is certain frozen warmwater 
shrimp. For a complete description of the scope of the Order, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\5\
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of Changed Circumstances Review; Certain Frozen Warmwater 
Shrimp from India,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, 
this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Initiation and Preliminary Results of CCR

    Pursuant to section 751(b)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216(d), 
Commerce will conduct a CCR upon receipt of information concerning, or 
a request from, an interested party for a review of an AD order which 
shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review of the 
order. The information submitted by Varma supporting its claim that it 
is the successor-in-interest Varma Marine demonstrates changed 
circumstances sufficient to warrant a review.\6\ Therefore, in 
accordance with section 751(b)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216(d), 
we are initiating a CCR based upon the information contained in Varma's 
submission.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.216(d).
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    Section 351.221(c)(3)(ii) of Commerce's regulations permits 
Commerce to combine the notice of initiation of a CCR and the notice of 
preliminary results if Commerce concludes that expedited action is 
warranted.\7\ In this instance, because the record contains information 
necessary to make a preliminary finding, we find that expedited action 
is warranted and have combined the notice of initiation and the notice 
of preliminary results.\8\
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    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.221(c)(3)(ii); see also Certain Pasta from 
Italy: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty 
Changed Circumstances Review, 80 FR 33480, 33480-41 (June 12, 2015) 
(Pasta from Italy Preliminary Results), unchanged in Certain Pasta 
from Italy: Final Results of Changed Circumstances Review, 80 FR 
48807 (August 14, 2015) (Pasta from Italy Final Results).
    \8\ See, e.g., Pasta from Italy Preliminary Results, 80 FR at 
33480-41, unchanged in Pasta from Italy Final Results, 80 FR at 
48807.
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    In this CCR, pursuant to section 751(b) of the Act, Commerce 
conducted a successor-in-interest analysis. In making a successor-in-
interest determination, Commerce examines several factors, including, 
but not limited to, changes in the following: (1) management; (2) 
production facilities; (3) supplier relationships; and (4) customer 
base.\9\ While no single factor or combination of factors will 
necessarily provide a dispositive indication of a successor-in-interest 
relationship, generally, Commerce will consider the new company to be 
the successor to the previous company if the new company's resulting 
operation is not materially dissimilar to that of its predecessor.\10\ 
Thus, if the record evidence demonstrates that, with respect to the 
production and sale of the subject merchandise, the new company 
operates as the same business entity as the predecessor company, 
Commerce may assign the new company the cash deposit rate of its 
predecessor.\11\
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    \9\ See, e.g., Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from India: 
Initiation and Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed 
Circumstances Review, 81 FR 75376 (October 31, 2016) (Shrimp from 
India 2016 CCR Preliminary Results), unchanged in Certain Frozen 
Warmwater Shrimp from India: Notice of Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 81 FR 90774 (December 15, 2016) 
(Shrimp from India 2016 CCR Final Results).
    \10\ See, e.g., Shrimp from India 2016 CCR Preliminary Results, 
81 FR at 75377, unchanged in Shrimp from India 2016 CCR Final 
Results, 81 FR at 90774.
    \11\ Id.; see also Notice of Final Results of Changed 
Circumstances Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: 
Polychloroprene Rubber from Japan, 67 FR 58, 59 (January 2, 2002); 
Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof from France: Final Results of 
Changed-Circumstances Review, 75 FR 34688, 34689 (June 18, 2010); 
and Circular Welded Non-Alloy Steel Pipe from the Republic of Korea; 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances 
Review, 63 FR 14679 (March 26, 1998), unchanged in Circular Welded 
Non-Alloy Steel Pipe from Korea; Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Changed Circumstances Review, 63 FR 20572 (April 27, 1998), in which 
Commerce found that a company which only changed its name and did 
not change its operations is a successor-in-interest to the company 
before it changed its name.
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    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.216, we preliminarily determine that 
Varma is the successor-in-interest to Varma Marine. Varma submitted 
record evidence which indicates that Varma operates as essentially the 
same business entity as Varma Marine with respect to the subject 
merchandise.\12\
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    \12\ See Varma's CCR Request.
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    For the complete successor-in-interest analysis, refer to the 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of the topics 
discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as an 
appendix to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a 
public document and is made available to the public 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 is available at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

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Public Comment

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii), interested parties may 
submit case briefs not 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 no later than five days after the date for filing 
case briefs, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1). 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.\13\ All briefs must be filed electronically using 
ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received successfully 
in its entirety in ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the established 
deadline.
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    \13\ 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 proceeding, we instead request that 
interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, 
executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\14\ Further, 
we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary 
of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We 
intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the 
comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that 
will accompany the final results of this CCR. We request that 
interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the 
public 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).\15\
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    \14\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \15\ See Administrative Protective Order, Service, and Other 
Procedures in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings; Final 
Rule, 88 FR 67069 (September 29, 2023).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via ACCESS, within 30 
days of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the 
following information: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone 
number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of issues to be 
discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, Commerce will inform 
parties of the time and date for the hearing.

Final Results of Review

    Consistent with 19 CFR 351.216(e), we intend to issue the final 
results of this CCR no later than 270 days after the date on which this 
review was initiated, or within 45 days if all parties agree to our 
preliminary finding.
    This notice is published in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 
777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216(b), 351.221(b) and 351.221(c)(3).

    Dated: May 3, 2024.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the 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. Successor-in-Interest Determination
    V. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2024-10327 Filed 5-10-24; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P