[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 243 (Wednesday, December 18, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69357-69360]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27229]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-821-802]
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium
From the Russian Federation: Preliminary Results of 2017-2018
Administrative Review and Postponement of Final Results
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is conducting an
administrative review of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping
Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation (the Agreement).
We preliminarily find that the State Atomic Energy Corporation
``ROSATOM'' (ROSATOM), its affiliates TENEX, Joint-Stock Company
(TENEX) and TENEX-USA, Incorporated (TENEX-USA), and TENEX's
unaffiliated resellers, Centrus Energy Corp. and United States
[[Page 69358]]
Enrichment Corporation (collectively, Centrus) and Nukem, Inc. (Nukem),
are in compliance with the Agreement.
DATES: Applicable December 18, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sally C. Gannon or Jill Buckles,
Bilateral Agreements Unit, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0162 or (202)
482-6230, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On October 16, 1992, Commerce signed an agreement with the Russian
Federation's Ministry for Atomic Energy (MINATOM), the predecessor to
ROSATOM, under section 734(l) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act), suspending the antidumping duty investigation on uranium
from the Russian Federation.\1\ There have been five amendments to the
Agreement, the most recent of which was signed on February 1, 2008.\2\
Section 8118 of the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and
Continuing Appropriations Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 2297h et seq.
(2008) (Domenici Amendment) established import limitations through 2020
that in large part mirror the export limits instituted in the 2008
amendment to the Agreement. On February 2, 2010, Commerce issued its
Statement of Administrative Intent (SAI) which provided implementation
guidance related to the 2008 amendment.
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\1\ See Antidumping; Uranium from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; Suspension of
Investigations and Amendment of Preliminary Determinations, 57 FR
49220, 49235 (October 30, 1992) (1992 Suspension Agreement).
\2\ See Amendment to Agreement Suspending the Antidumping
Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 59 FR 15373
(April 1, 1994) (1994 Amendment); Amendments to the Agreement
Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian
Federation, 61 FR 56665 (November 4, 1996) (1996 Amendments);
Amendment to Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on
Uranium from the Russian Federation, 62 FR 37879 (July 15, 1997)
(1997 Amendment); and Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the
Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 73
FR 7705 (February 11, 2008) (2008 Amendment).
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On October 1, 2018, Commerce notified interested parties of the
opportunity to request an administrative review of the Agreement.\3\ On
October 26, 2016, domestic interested party Louisiana Energy Services
LLC (LES) submitted a request for an administrative review of the
Agreement. On December 11, 2018, Commerce published in the Federal
Register a notice initiating an administrative review of the
Agreement.\4\ The period of review (POR) is October 1, 2017 through
September 30, 2018. On April 24, 2019, Commerce issued questionnaires
to ROSATOM, TENEX, and any other affiliated or unaffiliated exporters
and resellers, as applicable. For a complete description of the events
that followed the initiation of this administrative review, see the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\5\ The Preliminary Decision Memorandum
is a public document and is on file electronically 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, and to all parties in the Central Records
Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can
be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed
Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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\3\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity To Request Administrative
Review, 83 FR 49358 (October 1, 2018).
\4\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 63615 (December 11, 2018).
\5\ See Memorandum to Jeffrey I. Kessler, Assistant Secretary
for Enforcement and Compliance, ``Decision Memorandum for the
Preliminary Results of the 2017-2018 Administrative Review of the
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from
the Russian Federation,'' dated concurrently with and adopted by
this notice.
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Scope of Review
The product covered by this Agreement is natural uranium in the
form of uranium ores and concentrates; natural uranium metal and
natural uranium compounds; alloys, dispersions (including cermets),
ceramic products, and mixtures containing natural uranium or natural
uranium compounds; uranium enriched in U\235\ and its compounds;
alloys, dispersions (including cermets), ceramic products, and mixtures
containing uranium enriched in U\235\ or compounds of uranium enriched
in U\235\; and any other forms of uranium within the same class or
kind.
Imports of uranium ores and concentrates, natural uranium
compounds, and all forms of enriched uranium are currently classifiable
under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)
subheadings: 2612.10.00, 2844.10.20, 2844.20.00, respectively. Imports
of natural uranium metal and forms of natural uranium other than
compounds are currently classifiable under HTSUS subheadings:
2844.10.10 and 2844.10.50. HTSUS subheadings are provided for
convenience and Customs purposes. The written description of the scope
of this proceeding is dispositive. A full description of the scope of
the order is contained in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Methodology and Preliminary Results
Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section
751(a)(1)(C) of the Act, which specifies that Commerce shall ``review
the current status of, and compliance with, any agreement by reason of
which an investigation was suspended.'' In this case, Commerce and
MINATOM (the predecessor to ROSATOM) signed the Agreement on October
16, 1992, which was subsequently amended on March 11, 1994, October 3,
1996, May 7, 1997, and February 1, 2008. Section 734(l) provides that
Commerce may suspend an investigation upon acceptance of an agreement
with a non-market-economy country \6\ to restrict the volume of imports
into the United States, if Commerce determines that such an agreement
is in the public interest, effective monitoring is practicable, and the
agreement ``will prevent the suppression or undercutting of price
levels of domestic products by imports of the merchandise under
investigation.''
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\6\ Because Commerce determined that the Russian Federation was
a non-market economy at the time the Agreement was signed, the
Agreement was entered into under section 734(l) of the Act, which
applies to non-market-economy countries.
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After reviewing the information submitted in initial and
supplemental questionnaire responses and related new factual
information and comments from interested parties in this administrative
review, we preliminarily find ROSATOM, TENEX, TENEX-USA, Centrus, and
Nukem to be in compliance with the terms of the Agreement and the SAI
during the POR. Commerce reviewed the export certificates, invoices,
contracts, contract amendments, shipment approval request
documentation, Commerce contract and shipment approval memoranda,
Master Export Schedules, and other information contained in
questionnaire responses submitted on the record of the administrative
review by the respondents for completeness and compliance. In
particular, we examined compliance with the Agreement's Section IV.B.1
and IV.H export limits, with Sections IV.E, V.C,
[[Page 69359]]
V.F, VII.D, Appendix 2, and Appendix 3 of the Agreement, with the
requirements of the SAI, and with Commerce's returned feed
certification requirements. Based on our review of the record evidence,
we preliminarily found no evidence of non-compliance by respondents, as
applicable, with regard to Sections IV.B.1, IV.H, IV.E, V.C, VII.D,
Appendix 2, and Appendix 3 of the Agreement and with regard to the
returned feed certification requirements. Regarding the Section V.F and
SAI contract and contract amendment approval requirements, we reviewed
information on the record and preliminarily found respondents to be in
compliance during the POR. However, we requested clarifying information
from TENEX with regard to certain contracts, contract amendments, and
side letters applicable to sales and exports during the POR in a
supplemental questionnaire, the response for which will be due to
Commerce after these preliminary results. In addition, Commerce intends
to issue a supplemental questionnaire to Centrus, the response for
which will also be due after these preliminary results. As these
responses, and any interested party submissions of rebuttal new factual
information, will be received after issuance of these preliminary
results, we intend to continue our examination of compliance in a post-
preliminary analysis.
A review of information in initial and supplemental questionnaire
responses also shows that effective monitoring of the Agreement is
practicable. The Agreement and subsequent SAI guidance provide numerous
tools for Commerce to effectively monitor compliance with the export
limits, both under Section IV.B.1 (domestic consumption) and Section
IV.H (re-export), for Russian Uranium Products. As discussed above,
Commerce has preliminarily found respondents to be in compliance with
not only the contract, contract amendment, and shipment approval
requirements of Sections V.C and V.F and the SAI but also the reporting
requirements in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 of the Agreement and the SAI.
The structure of the Agreement, combined with the requirements of the
SAI and Commerce's contract, contract amendment, and shipment approval
memoranda, provide Commerce with the necessary tools to monitor
compliance with the Agreement and establish corresponding procedures,
such as the reporting requirements in Appendix 3 for example, that
ensure ROSATOM and its affiliates will restrict their sales and exports
in compliance with the Agreement's export limits. Therefore, we
preliminarily find that the Agreement continues to meet the statutory
requirement, pursuant to section 734(d)(2) of the Act, of being able to
be effectively monitored.
Regarding the statutory requirements of sections 734(d)(1) and
734(l)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce finds that it requires additional
time and information in order to complete its examination of whether
the Agreement continues to meet these statutory requirements,
particularly since interested parties still have the opportunity to
submit new factual information and comments on information and
supplemental questionnaire responses received, and still to be
received, on the record. In light of interested parties' comments to
date, the voluminous information on the record of this administrative
review and from the previous administrative review still under
consideration, and the complex nature of the statutory requirements,
i.e., that the Agreement prevent price suppression or undercutting and
be in the public interest, Commerce needs more time to examine related
new factual information and comments received, and to be received, from
interested parties on the broader issues related to whether the
Agreement remains in the public interest and whether it continues to
prevent price suppression and undercutting. Therefore, we intend to
continue our examination after the issuance of these preliminary
results in order to reach a full preliminary determination on whether
the Agreement has been complied with during the POR and whether the
Agreement continues to meet the statutory requirements set forth in
section 734(l) of the Act. Commerce intends to issue a post-preliminary
analysis as soon as practicable. For a full description of the
methodology underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.
Disclosure and Public Comment
As discussed above, Commerce needs additional information and
additional time to review the information received before making a
definitive preliminary finding. Therefore, we intend to issue a post-
preliminary analysis on these issues as soon as practicable. The
comment period on these preliminary results as well as the post-
preliminary analysis will be stated with the release of the post-
preliminary analysis. At that time, interested parties will have the
opportunity to submit case and rebuttal briefs.
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to
request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via
ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received successfully
in its entirety by Commerce's electronic records system ACCESS, by 5:00
p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this
notice. Requests should contain: (1) The party's name, address and
telephone number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of
issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to
those raised in the respective case briefs. If a request for a hearing
is made, parties will be notified of the time and date for the hearing
to be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230.\7\
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\7\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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Postponement of Final Results
Section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act, requires Commerce to complete the
final results of an administrative review within 120 days after the
date on which the preliminary results are published. If it is not
practicable to complete the review within this time period, section
751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2) allow Commerce to
extend the time limit for the final results to a maximum of 180 days
after the date on which the preliminary results are published.
We determine that it is not practicable to complete the final
results of this administrative review within 120 days from the date of
publication of these preliminary results. Commerce requires additional
time to analyze supplemental questionnaire responses and submissions of
factual information, complete our examination, issue our post-
preliminary analysis, potentially conduct verification of questionnaire
responses, and allow for case briefs and rebuttal briefs on our
preliminary and post-preliminary results. Accordingly, Commerce is
extending the deadline for the final results of this administrative
review by 60 days. The final results of the review will now be due no
later than 180 days from the date of publication of these preliminary
results.
We are issuing and publishing these preliminary results of review
in accordance with sections 751(a)(l) and 777(i)(l) of the Act and 19
CFR 351.213.
[[Page 69360]]
Dated: December 10, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2019-27229 Filed 12-17-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P