[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 135 (Monday, July 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57394-57395]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15446]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-122-857]


Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada: Notice of 
Initiation and Preliminary Results of 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 whether TRAPA Forest 
Products Ltd. (TRAPA) is the successor-in-interest to Trans-Pacific 
Trading Ltd. (Trans-Pacific) in the context of the antidumping duty 
(AD) order on certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from 
Canada. We preliminary determine that TRAPA is the successor-in-
interest to Trans-Pacific.

DATES: Applicable July 15, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Bolling, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3434.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 3, 2018, Commerce published in the Federal Register an 
AD order on softwood lumber from Canada.\1\ On April 11, 2024, TRAPA 
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 of the Order to determine that TRAPA 
is the successor-in-interest to Trans-Pacific and, accordingly, to 
assign it the cash deposit rate of Trans-Pacific. In its submission, 
TRAPA stated that in 2024, Trans-Pacific undertook a name change to 
TRAPA.\2\ On May 17, 2024, Commerce issued a supplemental questionnaire 
to TRAPA identifying certain areas for which we required additional 
information.\3\ On June 4, 2024, TRAPA amended its request for a CCR by 
providing the requested information.\4\
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    \1\ See Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: 
Antidumping Duty Order and Partial Amended Final Determination, 83 
FR 350 (January 3, 2018) (Order).
    \2\ See TRAPA's Letter, ``Request for an Expedited Changed 
Circumstances Review,'' dated April 11, 2024 (TRAPA CCR Request).
    \3\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Changed Circumstances Review: 
Supplemental Questionnaire,'' dated May 17, 2024.
    \4\ See TRAPA's Letter, ``Amended Request for Expedited Change 
Circumstance Review,'' dated June 4, 2024 (Amended CCR Request).
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by the Order is softwood lumber from Canada. 
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 of the Antidumping Duty 
Order on Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada,'' 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 TRAPA supporting its claim that it 
is the successor-in-interest to Trans-Pacific demonstrates changed 
circumstances sufficient to warrant such a review.\6\ Therefore, in 
accordance with section 751(b)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216(d) 
and (e), we are initiating a CCR based upon the information contained 
in TRAPAs' 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 is 
conducting 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 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 Final Results).
    \10\ See, e.g., Shrimp from India Preliminary Results, 81 FR at 
75377, unchanged in Shrimp from India 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 
TRAPA is the successor-in-interest to Trans-Pacific. Record evidence, 
as submitted by TRAPA, indicates that TRAPA operates as essentially the 
same business entity as Trans-Pacific with respect to the subject 
merchandise.\12\
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    \12\ See TRAPA CCR Request; and Amended CCR Request.
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    For the complete successor-in-interest analysis, including 
discussion of business proprietary information, see the accompanying 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of the topics discussed in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as the appendix to this 
notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is 
made available to the public via Enforcement and

[[Page 57395]]

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.

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 not later than five days after the date for filing 
case briefs.\13\ 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.\14\ All comments are to be 
filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed document 
must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. 
Eastern Time on the established deadline.\15\
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    \13\ 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).
    \14\ See 19 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.303(b).
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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 CCR, we instead request that 
interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, 
executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\16\ 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 CCR. 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).\17\
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    \16\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \17\ 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 via ACCESS within 30 
days of publication of this notice. Hearing requests should contain: 
(1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number 
participants; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. Oral 
presentations at the hearing will be limited to issues raised in the 
briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, parties will be notified of 
the time and date for the hearing, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.310(d).
    Consistent with 19 CFR 351.216(e), we will 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: July 8, 2024.
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. Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances 
Review
V. Successor-in-Interest Determination
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2024-15446 Filed 7-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P