[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68876-68877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27161]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-602-809]
Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From Australia:
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2017-
2018
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that
sales of certain hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia were
made at less than normal value during the period of review (POR)
October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. We invite interested
parties to comment on these preliminary results.
DATES: Applicable December 17, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Greenberg, AD/CVD Operations,
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0652.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On December 11, 2018, Commerce initiated the administrative review
of the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled steel flat products
(hot-rolled steel) from Australia in accordance with section 751(a) of
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\1\ This review covers one
producer/exporter of subject merchandise, the collapsed entity,
BlueScope Steel (AIS) Pty Ltd., BlueScope Steel Ltd., and BlueScope
Steel Distribution Pty Ltd. (collectively, BlueScope).\2\ Commerce
exercised its discretion to toll all deadlines affected by the partial
federal government closure from December 22, 2018 through the
resumption of operations on January 29, 2019, resulting in a revised
deadline for these preliminary results.\3\ Additionally, Commerce
exercised its discretion to extend the deadline for the preliminary
results until December 10, 2019.\4\
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\1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 63615 (December 11, 2018) (Initiation
Notice).
\2\ We note that in the Initiation Notice, we initiated this
review on BlueScope Steel Ltd., BlueScope Steel Americas, Inc.
(BSA), and Steelscape LLC (Steelscape). However, this was an error,
and the calculated margin is only applicable to the BlueScope
collapsed entity, as an exporter, because BSA is an importer of
subject merchandise and Steelscape is a further manufacturer of
subject merchandise in the United States. Accordingly, consistent
with the underlying investigation and the first administrative
review, we reviewed the responses from the BlueScope collapsed
entity, which included responses from BSA and Steelscape as required
by our requests for information.
\3\ See Memorandum to the Record from Gary Taverman, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Operations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, ``Deadlines
Affected by the Partial Shutdown of the Federal Government,'' dated
January 28, 2019. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding
have been extended by 40 days.
\4\ See Memorandum, ``Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products
from Australia: Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated July 1, 2019.
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Scope of the Order \5\
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\5\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia,
Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, the Republic
of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Amended Final Affirmative
Antidumping Determinations for Australia, the Republic of Korea, and
the Republic of Turkey and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 67962
(October 3, 2016) (Order).
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The products covered by this order are certain hot-rolled, flat-
rolled steel products. For a full description of the scope, see the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section
751(a) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying
these preliminary results, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\
A list of the topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is
included as an appendix to this notice. The Preliminary Decision
Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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 it is available to
all parties in the Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main
Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary
Decision Memorandum is available at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/.
The signed and electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum are identical in content.
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\6\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Certain Hot-
Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia; 2017-2018,'' dated
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary
Decision Memorandum).
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Partial Adverse Facts Available
BlueScope failed to provide all necessary information and failed to
cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with
Commerce's request for information in this review. As a result, we
preliminary determine to apply facts otherwise available with an
adverse inference to BlueScope, in accordance with sections
776(a)(2)(A), (B), and (C) and section 776(b) of the Act. For further
discussion, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Results of Review
We preliminarily determine that the following weighted-average
dumping margin exists for the period October 1, 2017 through September
30, 2018:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Exporter/producer dumping
margin
(percent)
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BlueScope Steel (AIS) Pty Ltd, BlueScope Steel Ltd., and 15.13
BlueScope Steel Distribution Pty Ltd.......................
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[[Page 68877]]
Assessment Rates
Upon completion of this administrative review, Commerce shall
determine, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess,
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. If BlueScope's weighted-
average dumping margin is not zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.5
percent) in the final results of this review, we will calculate
importer-specific ad valorem antidumping duty assessment rates based on
the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the importer's
examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales in
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). We will instruct CBP to assess
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review
when the importer-specific assessment rate calculated in the final
results of this review is not zero or de minimis. If BlueScope's
weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis, we will instruct
CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping
duties. The final results of this review shall be the basis for the
assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by
the final results of this review and for future deposits of estimated
duties, where applicable.\7\
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\7\ See section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act.
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In accordance with Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice,
for entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by BlueScope
for which it did not know that the merchandise was destined to the
United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate those entries at the
all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies)
involved in the transaction.\8\
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\8\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties,
68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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We intend to issue liquidation instructions to CBP 15 days after
publication of the final results of this review.
Cash Deposit Requirements
The following cash deposit requirements will be effective for all
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the
finals results of this administrative review, as provided by section
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for BlueScope in the
final results of review will be equal to the weighted-average dumping
margin established in the final results of this administrative review;
(2) for merchandise exported by producers or exporters not covered in
this review but covered in a prior segment of the proceeding, the cash
deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published
for the most recently completed segment of this proceeding in which
they were reviewed; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this
review or the original investigation but the producer is, then the cash
deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently
completed segment of this proceeding for the producer of the
merchandise; (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or
exporters will continue to be 29.58 percent, the all-others rate
established in the less-than-fair-value investigation. These cash
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until
further notice.
Disclosure and Public Comment
We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties within
five days after public announcement of the preliminary results.\9\
Commerce will establish a deadline for interested parties to submit
case briefs and rebuttal briefs at a later date.\10\ Parties who submit
case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to
submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue, (2) a brief
summary of the argument, and (3) a table of authorities.\11\ Case and
rebuttal briefs should be filed using ACCESS \12\ and must be served on
interested parties.\13\ Executive summaries should be limited to five
pages total, including footnotes.
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\9\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
\10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii) and 351.309(d)(1).
\11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
\12\ See generally 19 CFR 351.303.
\13\ See 19 CFR 351.303(f).
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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. Commerce intends to issue
the final results of this administrative review, including the results
of its analysis of the issues raised in any written briefs, not later
than 120 days after the date of publication of this notice, pursuant to
section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).
Notification to Importers
This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation
of the relevant entries during this POR. Failure to comply with this
requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement
of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of doubled
antidumping duties.
Notification to Interested Parties
This administrative review and notice are issued and published in
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: December 10, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
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. Affiliation
V. Discussion of the Methodology
VI. Currency Conversion
VII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2019-27161 Filed 12-16-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P