[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 27, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22237-22240]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09454]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-580-919, A-583-876, A-549-850]
Certain Epoxy Resins From Taiwan: Amended Final Antidumping Duty
Determination; Certain Epoxy Resins From the Republic of Korea, Taiwan,
and Thailand: Antidumping 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 antidumping duty (AD) orders on
certain epoxy resins (epoxy resins) from the Republic of Korea (Korea),
Taiwan, and Thailand. In addition, Commerce is amending its final
determination with respect to epoxy resins from Taiwan to correct a
ministerial error.
DATES: Applicable May 27, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Delgado (Korea) at (202) 482-
1468; Eric Chen (Taiwan) at (202) 482-2860; and John Frye (Thailand) at
(202) 482-3035, AD/CVD Operations, Offices III, IX, and V,
respectively, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of
1930, as amended (the Act), on April 3, 2025, Commerce published its
affirmative final determinations in the less-than-fair-value (LTFV)
investigations of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.\1\ The
U.S. Epoxy Resin Producers Ad Hoc Coalition (the petitioner) and Nan Ya
Plastics Corporation (Nan Ya) timely alleged that
[[Page 22238]]
Commerce made ministerial errors in the Taiwan Final Determination.\2\
Section 351.224(f) of Commerce's regulations define ministerial errors
as errors in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function,
clerical errors resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the
like, and any other type of unintentional error which Commerce
considers ministerial. We reviewed the allegations and determined that
we made a ministerial error in the Taiwan Final Determination. See
``Amendment to the Taiwan Final Determination'' section below for
further discussion.
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\1\ See Certain Epoxy Resins from South Korea: Final Affirmative
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Negative
Determination of Critical Circumstances, 90 FR 14623 (April 3,
2025); see also Certain Epoxy Resins from Taiwan: Final Affirmative
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 90 FR 14611 (April
3, 2025) (Taiwan Final Determination); and Certain Epoxy Resins from
Thailand: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less-Than-Fair
Value and Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 90
FR 14621 (April 3, 2025).
\2\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Petitioner's Submission of
Ministerial Error Comments,'' dated April 7, 2025 (Petitioner's
Allegation); see also Nan Ya's Letter, ``Final Determination
Ministerial Error Comments,'' dated April 7, 2025 (Nan Ya's
Allegation).
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On May 19, 2025, pursuant to section 735(d) of the Act, the ITC
notified Commerce of its final affirmative determinations that an
industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of LTFV
imports of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand within the
meaning of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act.\3\
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\3\ See ITC's Letter, ``Investigation Nos. 701-TA-716-719 and
731-TA-1683-1687 (Final),'' dated May 19, 2025 (ITC Notification
Letter).
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Scope of the Orders
The merchandise covered by these orders is epoxy resins from Korea,
Taiwan, and Thailand. For a complete description of the scope of the
orders, see the appendix to this notice.
Amendment to the Taiwan Final Determination
On April 7, 2025, the petitioner and Nan Ya submitted timely
ministerial error allegations in the Taiwan Final Determination.\4\
Commerce reviewed the record and, on April 28, 2025, agreed that the
petitioner's allegation constituted a ministerial error within the
meaning of section 735(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(f).\5\
Specifically, Commerce determined that it had erred in using an
incorrect date format in the margin calculation program when correcting
the payment date for a specific U.S. sale based on the findings at
verification, as the petitioner alleged; however, Commerce also
determined that, because Nan Ya's allegation regarding the
implementation of partial adverse facts available for Nan Ya's U.S.
packing costs pertained to a methodological decision, it was not a
ministerial error.\6\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce is
amending the Taiwan Final Determination to reflect the correction of
the ministerial error, as described in the Ministerial Error
Memorandum. Correcting this error changes Nan Ya's final dumping
margin, as well as the cash deposit rate for all other producers and
exporters not individually examined. The amended estimated weighted-
average dumping margins for Taiwan are listed in the ``Estimated
Weighted-Average Dumping Margins'' section, below.
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\4\ See Petitioner's Allegation; see also Nan Ya's Allegation.
\5\ See Memorandum, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of
Certain Epoxy Resins from Taiwan: Analysis of Ministerial Error
Allegations,'' dated April 28, 2025 (Ministerial Error Memorandum).
\6\ Id.
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Orders
As stated above, based on the ITC's affirmative final
determinations that an industry in the United States is materially
injured within the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act by
reason of LTFV imports of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and
Thailand,\7\ in accordance with section 735(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce
is issuing these AD orders. Moreover, because the ITC determined that
imports of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are materially
injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of subject merchandise
from Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
for consumption, are subject to the assessment of antidumping duties.
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\7\ See ITC Notification Letter.
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Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act,
Commerce intends to direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to
assess, upon further instructions by Commerce, antidumping duties equal
to the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds the
export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise, on all
relevant entries of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand,
which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or
after November 13, 2024, the date of publication of the Preliminary
Determinations,\8\ but will not include entries after the expiration of
the provisional measures period and before publication of the ITC's
final injury determinations under section 735(d) of the Act, as further
described in the ``Provisional Measures'' section of this notice.
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\8\ See Certain Epoxy Resins from the Republic of Korea:
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value, Preliminary Negative Critical Circumstances Determination,
Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional
Measures, 89 FR 89605 (November 13, 2024); Certain Epoxy Resins from
Taiwan: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than
Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of
Provisional Measures, 89 FR 89591 (November 13, 2024); and Certain
Epoxy Resins from Thailand: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of
Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Negative Determination of
Critical Circumstances, Postponement of Final Determination, and
Extension of Provisional Measures, 89 FR 89608 (November 13, 2024)
(collectively, Preliminary Determinations).
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits
Except as noted in the ``Provisional Measures'' section of this
notice, in accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce
intends to instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation on all
relevant entries of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until
further notice.
Commerce will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins indicated in the tables
below. Effective on the date of publication in the Federal Register of
the notice of the ITC's final affirmative injury determinations, CBP
will require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit
estimated customs duties on subject merchandise, a cash deposit equal
to the rates listed in the table below. The all-others rate applies to
all producers or exporters not specifically listed, as appropriate.
Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins
The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:
Korea
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Cash deposit rate
Dumping margins (adjusted for
Exporter/producer (percent) subsidy offsets)
(percent)
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Kukdo Chemical Co., Ltd./Kukdo 5.68 5.62
Finechem.....................
Kumho P&B Chemicals Inc....... 7.60 7.59
[[Page 22239]]
All Others.................... 6.37 6.33
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Taiwan
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Dumping margins
Exporter/producer (percent)
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Chang Chun Plastics Co., Ltd........................ 10.93
Nan Ya Plastics Corporation......................... 28.13
All Others.......................................... 19.21
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Thailand
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Dumping margins
Exporter/producer (percent)
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Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) Limited........... 5.25
All Others.......................................... 5.25
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Provisional Measures
Section 733(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in
effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise request
that Commerce extend the four-month period to no more than six months.
At the request of exporters that account for a significant proportion
of exports of epoxy resins from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, Commerce
extended the four-month period to six months in each of these
investigations.
The extended provisional measures period, beginning on the date of
publication of the Preliminary Determinations on November 13, 2024,\9\
ended on May 11, 2025. Therefore, in accordance with section 733(d) of
the Act and our practice,\10\ Commerce will instruct CBP to terminate
the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to
antidumping duties, unliquidated entries of epoxy resins from Korea,
Taiwan, and Thailand entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption on or after May 12, 2025, the date on which the provisional
measures expired, until and through the day preceding the date of
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determinations 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
determinations in the Federal Register.
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\9\ Id..
\10\ See, e.g., Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from
India, India, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea
and Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination for
India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390, 48392
(July 25, 2016).
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Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists
On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the
Federal Register.\11\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published
the Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\12\ 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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\11\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement
of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September
20, 2021) (Final Rule).
\12\ 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.'' \13\
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\13\ 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
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,\14\ 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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\14\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR at 53206.
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Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as
[[Page 22240]]
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. Changes or
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the
ACCESS website at https://access.trade.gov.
Special Instructions for the Petitioner 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.'' \15\ Accordingly, as stated
above, the petitioner and foreign governments should submit their
initial entry 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 foreign
governments will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each
year to continue to be included on the annual inquiry service list.
However, the petitioners and foreign governments 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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\15\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties
This notice constitutes the AD orders with respect to epoxy resins
from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand pursuant to section 736(a) of the Act.
Interested parties can find a list of AD and countervailing duty orders
currently in effect at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings.
The amended Taiwan final determination and these AD orders are
published in accordance with sections 735(e) and 736(a) of the Act and
19 CFR 351.224(e) and 19 CFR 351.211(b).
Dated: May 20, 2025.
Christopher Abbott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for
Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix
Scope of the Orders
The merchandise subject to these orders is fully or partially
uncured epoxy resins, also known as epoxide resins, polyepoxides,
oxirane resins, ethoxyline resins, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol,
(chloromethyl) oxirane, or aromatic diglycidyl, which are polymers
or prepolymers containing epoxy groups (i.e., three-membered ring
structures comprised of two carbon atoms and one oxygen atom). Epoxy
resins range in physical form from low viscosity liquids to solids.
All epoxy resins are covered by the scope of these orders
irrespective of physical form, viscosity, grade, purity, molecular
weight, or molecular structure, and packaging.
Epoxy resins may contain modifiers or additives, such as
hardeners, curatives, colorants, pigments, diluents, solvents,
thickeners, fillers, plasticizers, softeners, flame retardants,
toughening agents, catalysts, Bisphenol F, and ultraviolet light
inhibitors, so long as the modifier or additive has not chemically
reacted so as to cure the epoxy resin or convert it into a different
product no longer containing epoxy groups. Such epoxy resins with
modifiers or additives are included in the scope where the epoxy
resin component comprises no less than 30 percent of the total
weight of the product. The scope also includes blends of epoxy
resins with different types of epoxy resins, with or without the
inclusion of modifiers and additives, so long as the combined epoxy
resin component comprises at least 30 percent of the total weight of
the blend.
Epoxy resins that enter as part of a system or kit with
separately packaged co-reactants, such as hardeners or curing
agents, are within the scope. The scope does not include any
separately packaged co-reactants that would not fall within the
scope if entered on their own.
The scope includes merchandise matching the above description
that has been processed in a third country, including by
commingling, diluting, introducing, or removing modifiers or
additives, or performing any other processing that would not
otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the orders if
performed in the subject country.
The scope also includes epoxy resin that is commingled or
blended with epoxy resin from sources not subject to these orders.
Only the subject component of such commingled products is covered by
the scope of these orders. Excluded from the scope are phenoxy
resins, which are polymers with a weight greater than 11,000
Daltons, a Melt Flow Index (MFI) at 200 [deg]C (392 [deg]F) no less
than 4 grams and no greater than 70 grams per 10 min, Glass-
Transition Temperatures (Tg) no less than 80 [deg]C (176 [deg]F) and
no greater than 100 [deg]C (212 [deg]F), and which contain no epoxy
groups other than at the terminal ends of the molecule.
Excluded from the scope are certain paint and coating products,
which are blends, mixtures, or other formulations of epoxy resin,
curing agent, and pigment, in any form, packaged in one or more
containers, wherein (1) the pigment represents a minimum of 10
percent of the total weight of the product, (2) the epoxy resin
represents a maximum of 80 percent of the total weight of the
product, and (3) the curing agent represents 5 to 40 percent of the
total weight of the product.
Excluded from the scope are preimpregnated fabrics or fibers,
often referred to as ``pre-pregs,'' which are composite materials
consisting of fabrics or fibers (typically carbon or glass)
impregnated with epoxy resin.
Also excluded from the scope is Tetramethyl Bisphenol F
Diglycidyl Ether epoxy resin, also known as Tetramethyl Bisphenol F
-DGE Polymer (TMBPF-DGE), that (1) has the chemical name: phenol, 4,
4'-methylenebis[2,6-dimethyl-, polymer with 2-(chloromethyl)oxirane,
(2) falls under Chemical Abstract Services (CAS) Registry Number
113693-69-9, and (3) has an epoxy equivalent weight (EEW), also
referred to as the weight per epoxide (WPE), of no less than 200 and
no greater than 230 grams of epoxy resin per epoxy equivalent (g/eq
or GEW).\16\
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\16\ The bracket in this sentence is part of the chemical
formula and does not denote business proprietary information.
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This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheading
3907.30.0000. Subject merchandise may also be entered under
subheadings 3907.29.0000, 3824.99.9397, 3214.10.0020, 2910.90.9100,
2910.90.9000, 2910.90.2000, and 1518.00.4000. The HTSUS subheadings
are provided for convenience and customs purposes only; the written
description of the scope is dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2025-09454 Filed 5-23-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P