[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 138 (Thursday, July 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58331-58333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15747]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-153, C-533-918]


Certain Paper Shopping Bags From the People's Republic of China 
and India: Countervailing Duty Orders

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

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade 
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing countervailing duty orders on 
certain paper shopping bags (paper bags) from the People's Republic of 
China (China) and India.

DATES: Applicable July 18, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Copyak (China) or Paul Kebker 
(India), AD/CVD Operations, Offices IX and IV, Enforcement and 
Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 
(202) 482-3642 and (202) 482-2254, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (the Act), on May 24, 2024, Commerce published its affirmative 
final determinations that countervailable subsidies are being provided 
to producers and exporters of paper bags from China and India.\1\ On 
July 5, 2024, the ITC notified Commerce of its final

[[Page 58332]]

affirmative determinations that an industry in the United States is 
materially injured by reason of subsidized imports of paper bags from 
China and India, within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act.\2\ Further, the ITC determined that critical circumstances do not 
exist with respect to imports of paper bags from China and India.
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    \1\ See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People's Republic 
of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 89 FR 
45829 (May 24, 2024); see also Certain Paper Shopping Bags from 
India: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final 
Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, in part, 89 FR 
45834 (May 24, 2024).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determinations,'' dated July 5, 2024; see also Paper Shopping Bags 
from Cambodia, China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, 
and Vietnam, 89 FR 56776 (July 10, 2024).
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Scope of the Orders

    The products covered by these orders are paper bags from China and 
India. For a complete description of the scope of the orders, see the 
appendix to this notice.

Orders

    As stated above, on July 5, 2024, the ITC notified Commerce of its 
final determinations that an industry in the United States is 
materially injured within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act by reason of subsidized imports of paper bags from China and India. 
Therefore, in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is 
issuing these countervailing duty orders. Moreover, because the ITC 
determined that imports of paper bags from China and India are 
materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such 
merchandise from China and India, entered or withdrawn from warehouse 
for consumption, are subject to the assessment of countervailing 
duties.
    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce 
intends to direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess, 
upon further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on 
unliquidated entries of paper bags from China and India entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after November 6, 2023, 
the date of the publication of the Preliminary Determinations,\3\ but 
will not include entries occurring after the expiration of the 
provisional measures and before the publication in the Federal Register 
of the ITC's final injury determination under section 705(b) of the 
Act, as further described in the ``Provisional Measures'' section of 
this notice.
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    \3\ See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People's Republic 
of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Countervailable 
Subsidies, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical 
Circumstances, and Alignment of Final Determination with Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination, 88 FR 76180 (November 6, 2023); see 
also Certain Paper Shopping Bags from India: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Countervailable Subsidies, Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Critical Circumstances in Part, and Alignment of 
Final Determination with the Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 
88 FR 76185 (November 6, 2023) (collectively, Preliminary 
Determinations).
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce intends to 
instruct CBP to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation on all 
entries of paper bags from China and India, effective on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination in the 
Federal Register, and to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, 
pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of the Act, countervailing duties for 
each entry of subject merchandise in an amount based on the net 
countervailable subsidy rates below. On or after the date of 
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination in the 
Federal Register, we will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits on 
entries of subject merchandise as indicated below. These instructions 
suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further notice. The 
all-others rate applies to all producers or exporters not specifically 
listed below, as appropriate.

Estimated Countervailable Subsidy Rates

    The estimated countervailable subsidy rates are as follows:

                                  China
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                                                                 rate
                      Exporter/producer                        (percent
                                                                  ad
                                                               valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bagitan Packaging...........................................      172.36
Changzhou Anjucheng.........................................      172.36
Courage Packaging...........................................      172.36
Dongzheng PaperBag (DaLian) Factory.........................       40.76
Evertrust Packaging.........................................      172.36
Fujian Nanwang Environment Protection Scien-tech Co., Ltd.         42.36
 \4\........................................................
Geotegrity EcoPack..........................................      172.36
GrandIntelligent............................................      172.36
Li & Fung...................................................      172.36
Qingdao Chenyu Packaging Co., Ltd...........................      172.36
Shanghai Macolink Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd..........      172.36
Shanghai Sanxi Paper Co., Ltd...............................      172.36
Xiamen C&D Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd............................      172.36
Xiamen Champion FMCG........................................      172.36
Xiamen New Idea Packaging Co., Ltd..........................      172.36
Xiamen Wonderful Bag Import and Export Co., Ltd.............      172.36
All Others..................................................       41.46
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                  India
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                                                                 rate
                      Exporter/producer                        (percent
                                                                  ad
                                                               valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aeroplast Packaging Solution Private Limited \5\............        4.81
Velvin Paper Products \6\...................................        2.38
All Others..................................................        3.39
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Provisional Measures 4 5 6
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    \4\ Fujian Nanwang is cross-owned with the following companies: 
Zhuhai Zhongyue Paper Cup Container Co., Ltd.; Anhui Nanwang 
Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.; Xianghe Nanwang 
Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.; and Hubei Nanwang 
Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
    \5\ Aeroplast Packaging Solution Private Limited is cross-owned 
with the following companies: Aero Business Solutions Private 
Limited; and Aero Plast Limited.
    \6\ Velvin Paper Products is cross-owned with Velvin Packaging 
Solutions Private Limited.
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    Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months. Commerce published the Preliminary 
Determinations on November 6, 2023.\7\ As such, the four-month period 
beginning on the date of the publication of the Preliminary 
Determinations ended on March 4, 2024.
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    \7\ See Preliminary Determinations.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we 
instructed CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to 
liquidate, without regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated 
entries of paper bags from China and India entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption, on or after March 5, 2024, the date on 
which the provisional measures expired, until and through the day 
preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final injury 
determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation and 
the collection of cash deposits will resume on the date of publication 
of the ITC's final determination in the Federal Register.

Critical Circumstances

    Regarding the ITC's negative critical circumstances determination 
on imports of paper bags from China and India, we intend to instruct 
CBP to lift suspension and to refund any cash deposits made to secure 
the payment of estimated countervailing duties with respect to entries 
of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after August 8, 2023 (i.e., 90 days prior to the date 
of the publication of the Preliminary

[[Page 58333]]

Determinations), but before November 6, 2023 (i.e., the date of 
publication of the Preliminary Determinations).

Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the 
Federal Register.\8\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published the 
Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\9\ The Final Rule and 
Procedural Guidance provide that Commerce will maintain an annual 
inquiry service list for each order or suspended investigation, and any 
interested party submitting a scope ruling application or request for 
circumvention inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request 
on the persons on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as 
well as any companion order covering the same merchandise from the same 
country of origin.
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    \8\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \9\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
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    In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in 
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an 
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and 
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at https://access.trade.gov, within five business days of publication of the 
notice of the order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in 
ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type 
called ``AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \10\
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    \10\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment 
Specific Information (SSI) field which will display the month in 
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was 
published in the Federal Register, also known as the anniversary 
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that 
was published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant 
segment and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January 
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry 
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will 
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
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    Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry 
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the 
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30 
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of 
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one 
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead 
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce 
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days 
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance,\11\ the new annual 
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when 
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is 
published.
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    \11\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR 53206.
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    Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as 
needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of 
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and 
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or 
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the 
ACCESS website.

Special Instructions for Petitioners and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \12\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioner and the Governments of China and India should 
submit their initial entries of appearance after publication of this 
notice in order to appear in the first annual inquiry service lists for 
these orders. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.225(n)(3), the petitioner and the 
Governments of China and India will not need to resubmit their entries 
of appearance each year to continue to be included on the annual 
inquiry service list. However, the petitioner and the Governments of 
China and India are responsible for making amendments to their entries 
of appearance during the annual update to the annual inquiry service 
list in accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \12\ See Final Rule, 86 FR 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the countervailing duty orders with respect 
to paper bags from China and India pursuant to section 706(d) of the 
Act. Interested parties can find a list of countervailing duty orders 
at https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    These orders are issued and published in accordance with section 
706(a) and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: July 11, 2024.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Orders

    The products within the scope of these orders are paper shopping 
bags with handles of any type, regardless of whether there is any 
printing, regardless of how the top edges are finished (e.g., 
folded, serrated, or otherwise finished), regardless of color, and 
regardless of whether the top edges contain adhesive or other 
material for sealing closed. Subject paper shopping bags have a 
width of at least 4.5 inches and depth of at least 2.5 inches.
    Paper shopping bags typically are made of kraft paper but can be 
made from any type of cellulose fiber, paperboard, or pressboard 
with a basis weight less than 300 grams per square meter (GSM).
    A non-exhaustive illustrative list of the types of handles on 
shopping bags covered by the scope include handles made from any 
materials such as twisted paper, flat paper, yarn, ribbon, rope, 
string, or plastic, as well as die-cut handles (whether the punchout 
is fully removed or partially attached as a flap).
    Excluded from the scope are:
     Paper sacks or bags that are of a 1/6 or 1/7 barrel 
size (i.e., 11.5-12.5 inches in width, 6.5-7.5 inches in depth, and 
13.5-17.5 inches in height) with flat paper handles or die-cut 
handles;
     Paper sacks or bags with die-cut handles, a grams per 
square meter paper weight of less than 86 GSM, and a height of less 
than 11.5 inches; and
     Paper sacks or bags (i) with non-paper handles made 
wholly of woven ribbon or other similar woven fabric20 and (ii) that 
are finished with folded tops or for which tied knots or t-bar 
aglets (made of wood, metal, or plastic) are used to secure the 
handles to the bags.
    The above-referenced dimensions are provided for paper bags in 
the opened position. The height of the bag is the distance from the 
bottom fold edge to the top edge (i.e., excluding the height of 
handles that extend above the top edge). The depth of the bag is the 
distance from the front of the bag edge to the back of the bag edge 
(typically measured at the bottom of the bag). The width of the bag 
is measured from the left to the right edges of the front and back 
panels (upon which the handles typically are located).
    This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
4819.30.0040 and 4819.40.0040. The HTSUS subheadings are provided 
for convenience and customs purposes only; the written description 
of the scope is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2024-15747 Filed 7-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P