[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]
[[Page 41376]]
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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.
[[Page 41377]]
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