[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 114 (Monday, June 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25234-25236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-11052]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-533-929]
Ceramic Tile From India: Countervailing Duty Order
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 the countervailing duty order on
ceramic tile from India.
DATES: Applicable June 16, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Natasia Harrison at (202) 482-1240 or
Jinny Ahn at (202) 482-0339, AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and
Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On April 23, 2025, Commerce published its affirmative final
determination in the countervailing duty investigation of ceramic tile
from India.\1\ On June 9, 2025, the ITC notified Commerce of its final
affirmative determination, pursuant to section 705(d) of the Act, that
an industry in the United States is threatened with material injury by
reason of imports of ceramic tile from India that Commerce
[[Page 25235]]
has determined are subsidized by the government of India.\2\
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\1\ See Ceramic Tile from India: Final Affirmative
Countervailing Duty Determination and Final Affirmative Critical
Circumstances Determination, in Part, 90 FR 17036 (April 23, 2025)
(Final Determination).
\2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification Letter: Investigation No.
701-TA-720 (Final),'' dated June 9, 2025 (ITC Notification Letter).
See also Ceramic Tile from India, Investigation Nos. 701-TA-72o
(Final), USITC Pub. 5630 (June 2025) (ITC Final Report), at 1.
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Scope of the Order
The product covered by this order is ceramic tile from India. For a
complete description of the scope of this order, see the appendix to
this notice.
Countervailing Duty Order
Based on the above-referenced affirmative final determination by
the ITC that an industry in the United States is threatened with
material injury by reason of imports of such merchandise from India,\3\
and, in accordance with sections 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is
issuing this countervailing duty order.
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\3\ See ITC Notification Letter.
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According to section 706(b)(2) of the Act, countervailing duties
shall be assessed on subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the
ITC's notice of final determination if that determination is based upon
the threat of material injury, other than threat of material injury as
described in section 706(b)(l) of the Act. Section 706(b)(l) of the Act
states, ``{i{time} f the Commission, in its final determination under
section 705(b), finds material injury or threat of material injury
which, but for the suspension of liquidation under section 703(d)(2),
would have led to a finding of material injury, then entries of the
merchandise subject to the countervailing duty order, the liquidation
of which has been suspended under section 703(d)(2), shall be subject
to the imposition of countervailing duties under section 701(a).'' In
addition, section 706(b)(2) of the Act requires Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) to refund any cash deposits of estimated
countervailing duties posted before the date of publication of the
ITC's final affirmative determination, if the ITC's final determination
is based on threat other than the threat described in section 706(b)(1)
of the Act. The ITC's final determination with regard to imports of
ceramic tile from India is based on the threat of material injury and
is not accompanied by a finding that injury would have resulted but for
the imposition of suspension of liquidation of entries since the
publication of Commerce's Preliminary Determination \4\ in the Federal
Register, section 706(b)(2) of the Act applies.\5\ As such, Commerce
will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation of entries
of ceramic tile from India entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption prior to the publication of the ITC's notice of final
determination in the Federal Register. Further, Commerce will also
instruct CBP to refund any cash deposit with respect to entries of
ceramic tile from India entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption before the date of publication of the ITC's notice of final
determination in the Federal Register.
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\4\ See Ceramic Tile from India: Preliminary Affirmative
Countervailing Duty Determination, Preliminary Affirmative Critical
Circumstances Determination, in Part, and Alignment of Final
Determination With the Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 89 FR
79245 (September 27, 2024) (Preliminary Determination).
\5\ See ITC Final Report at 34, Fn 217.
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Critical Circumstances
Having made a determination that an industry in the United States
is threatened with material injury by reason of imports of ceramic tile
from India, the ITC did not reach the issue of critical circumstances
regarding subject imports from India.\6\
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\6\ See Ceramic Tile from India, Investigation No. 701-TA-720
(Final), dated June 9, 2025 (ITC Final Report).
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Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits
In accordance with section 706 of the Act, we will direct CBP to
suspend liquidation of entries of ceramic tile from India effective on
the date of publication of the ITC's notice of final determination in
the Federal Register. We will also direct CBP to assess, upon further
instruction by Commerce, pursuant to section 706(a)(l) of the Act,
countervailing duties for each entry of the subject merchandise in an
amount based on the net countervailable subsidy rates for the subject
merchandise. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in
effect until further notice.
Commerce also intends, pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of the Act, to
instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the amounts as indicated
below. Accordingly, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's
final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register, CBP
will require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit
estimated customs duties on the subject merchandise, a cash deposit for
each entry of subject merchandise equal to the subsidy rates listed
below.\7\ The all-others rates apply to all producers or exporters not
specifically listed below, as appropriate.
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\7\ See section 706(a)(3) of the Act.
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Estimated Countervailable Subsidy Rates
The estimated countervailable subsidy rates are as follows:
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Subsidy rate
Company (percent ad
valorem)
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Antiqa Minerals......................................... 3.45
Win-Tel Ceramics Private Limited \8\.................... 3.06
All Others.............................................. 3.18
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Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists
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\8\ Commerce found Win-Tel Ceramics Private Limited to be cross-
owned with Theos Tiles LLP. See Preliminary Results PDM at 14-15,
unchanged in Final Determination.
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On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the final rule titled
``Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of Antidumping
and Countervailing Duty Laws'' in the Federal Register.\9\ On September
27, 2021, Commerce also published the notice titled ``Scope Ruling
Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; and Informational Sessions''
in the Federal Register.\10\ 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.\11\
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\9\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20,
2021) (Final Rule).
\10\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List;
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021)
(Procedural Guidance).
\11\ Id.
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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
[[Page 25236]]
under a specific segment type called ``AISL--Annual Inquiry Service
List.'' \12\
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\12\ 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,\13\ 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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\13\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR at 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. Changes or
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the
ACCESS website at https://access.trade.gov.
Special Instructions for 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.'' \14\ Accordingly, as stated
above, the petitioners and foreign government 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 foreign government
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 foreign government 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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\14\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties
This notice constitutes the countervailing duty order with respect
to ceramic tile from India pursuant to section 736(a) of the Act.
Interested parties can find a list of countervailing duty orders
currently in effect at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings.
This order is published in accordance with section 706(a) of the
Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).
Dated: June 11, 2025.
Steven Presing,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations.
Appendix
Scope of the Order
The merchandise covered by this order is ceramic flooring tile,
wall tile, paving tile, hearth tile, porcelain tile, mosaic tile,
flags, decorative tile, finishing tile, and the like (hereinafter
ceramic tile). Ceramic tiles are articles containing a mixture of
minerals including clay (generally hydrous silicates of alumina or
magnesium) that are fired so the raw materials are fused to produce
a tile that is less than 3.2 cm in thickness, exclusive of
decorative features. All ceramic tile is subject to the scope
regardless of end use, surface area, and weight, regardless of
whether the tile is glazed or unglazed, regardless of the water
absorption coefficient by weight, regardless of the extent of
vitrification, and regardless of whether or not the tile is on a
backing. Subject merchandise includes ceramic tile ``slabs'' or
``panels'' (tiles that are larger than 1 meter\2\ (11 ft\2\)).
Subject merchandise includes ceramic tile that undergoes minor
processing in a third country prior to importation into the United
States. Similarly, subject merchandise includes ceramic tile
produced that undergoes minor processing after importation into the
United States. Such minor processing includes, but is not limited
to, one or more of the following: beveling, cutting, trimming,
staining, painting, polishing, finishing, additional firing,
affixing a decorative surface to the tile, or any other processing
that would otherwise not remove the merchandise from the scope of
the investigation if performed in the country of manufacture of the
in-scope product.
Subject merchandise is currently classified in the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under the following
subheadings of heading 6907: 6907.21.1005, 6907.21.1011,
6907.21.1051, 6907.21.2000, 6907.21.3000, 6907.21.4000,
6907.21.9011, 6907.21.9051, 6907.22.1005, 6907.22.1011,
6907.22.1051, 6907.22.2000, 6907.22.3000, 6907.22.4000,
6907.22.9011, 6907.22.9051, 6907.23.1005, 6907.23.1011,
6907.23.1051, 6907.23.2000, 6907.23.3000, 6907.23.4000,
6907.23.9011, 6907.23.9051, 6907.30.1005, 6907.30.1011,
6907.30.1051, 6907.30.2000, 6907.30.3000, 6907.30.4000,
6907.30.9011, 6907.30.9051, 6907.40.1005, 6907.40.1011,
6907.40.1051, 6907.40.2000, 6907.40.3000, 6907.40.4000,
6907.40.9011, and 6907.40.9051. Subject merchandise may also enter
under subheadings of headings 6913, 6914, and 6905: 6913.90.2000,
6914.10.8000, 6914.90.8000, 6905.10.0000, and 6905.90.0050. The
HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes
only. The written description of the scope of the investigation is
dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2025-11052 Filed 6-13-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P