Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination, Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, in Part, and Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination

Paul Piquado
Department of Commerce
December 1, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 230 (Monday, December 1, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71093-71095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-28257]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-017]


Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Passenger Vehicle 
and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination, Preliminary Affirmative Critical 
Circumstances Determination, in Part, and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of passenger vehicle and light truck tires 
(passenger tires) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The period 
of investigation is January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013. We 
invite interested parties to comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective Date: Insert date of publication in the Federal 
Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Halle or Jason Rhoads, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone 202.482.0176, 
202.482.0123, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain passenger 
tires from the PRC. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see the Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations 
to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
``Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Passenger Vehicle and 
Light Truck Tires from the People's Republic of China: Decision 
Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum). 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 http://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can 
be accessed directly at http://trade.gov/enforcement. The signed 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic versions of the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this countervailing duty (CVD) 
investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the Act). For each of the subsidy programs found 
countervailable, we preliminarily determine that there is a subsidy, 
i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that gives rise to a 
benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific.\1\ For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \1\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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    The Department notes that, in making these findings, we relied, in 
part, on facts available and, because one or more respondents did not 
act to the best of their ability to respond to the Department's 
requests for information, we drew an adverse inference where 
appropriate in selecting from among the

[[Page 71094]]

facts otherwise available.\2\ For further information, see ``Use of 
Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' in the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.
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    \2\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Alignment

    As noted in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, in accordance with 
section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), we are aligning 
the final CVD determination in this investigation with the final 
determination in the companion antidumping duty (AD) investigation of 
passenger tires from the PRC based on a request made by Petitioner.\3\ 
Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the same 
date as the final AD determination, which is currently scheduled to be 
issued no later than April 6, 2015, unless postponed.
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    \3\ Collectively, United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, 
Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers 
International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC. See Letter from Petitioner, 
``Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from the People's 
Republic of China--Petitioner's Request for Alignment of 
Countervailing Duty Investigation Final Determination Deadline with 
Antidumping Investigation Final Determination Deadline,'' November 
5, 2014.
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Critical Circumstances, in Part

    In accordance with section 703(e)(1) of the Act, we preliminarily 
find that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of 
passenger tires from the PRC for Shandong Yongsheng Rubber Group Co., 
Ltd. (Yongsheng) and all other exporters or producers not individually 
examined. A discussion of our determination can be found in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated an individual estimated countervailable subsidy rate for the 
individually-investigated exporters/producers of the subject 
merchandise.\4\ We also calculated an all-others rate. In accordance 
with sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for companies not 
individually investigated, we apply an ``all-others'' rate, which is 
normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual 
companies selected as mandatory respondents by those companies' exports 
of the subject merchandise to the United States. Under section 
705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, the all-others rate excludes zero and de 
minimis rates calculated for the exporters and producers individually 
investigated as well as rates based entirely on facts otherwise 
available. Therefore, we have excluded the rate for Yongsheng from the 
all-others rate. Notwithstanding the language of section 
705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, we have not calculated the ``all-others'' 
rate by weight averaging the rates of the two individually investigated 
respondents, because doing so risks disclosure of proprietary 
information. Therefore, and consistent with the Department's practice 
where such risk exists, for the ``all-others'' rate, we calculated a 
weight average of the two responding firms' rates using publicly ranged 
data.\5\ The overall preliminary estimated countervailable subsidy 
rates are summarized in the table below:
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    \4\ The individually-investigated exporters/producers are GITI 
Tire (Fujian) Co., Ltd., and its cross-owned affiliated companies 
GITI Tire (China) Investment Company Ltd., GITI Radial Tire (Anhui) 
Company Ltd., GITI Tire (Hualin) Company Ltd., GITI Steel Cord 
(Hubei) Company Ltd., and Anhui Prime Cord Fabrics Company Ltd.; and 
Cooper Kunshan Tire Co., Ltd., and its cross-owned affiliated 
company, Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co., Ltd.
    \5\ See, e.g., Hardwood and Decorative Plywood from the People's 
Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination; 2011, 78 FR 58283 (September 23, 2013).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
                      Exporter/Producer                        rate  (%)
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GITI Tire (Fujian) Co., Ltd. and certain cross-owned               17.69
 companies...................................................
Cooper Kunshan Tire Co., Ltd and certain cross-owned               12.50
 companies...................................................
Shandong Yongsheng Rubber Group Co., Ltd.....................      81.29
All-Others...................................................      15.69
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    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, we 
are directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend 
liquidation of all entries of passenger tires from the PRC that are 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of the publication of this notice in the Federal Register, and to 
require a cash deposit for such entries of merchandise in the amounts 
indicated above. Moreover, because we preliminarily find critical 
circumstances exist with respect to Yongsheng, and all other exporters 
or producers not individually examined, in accordance with section 
703(e)(2)(A) of the Act, we are directing CBP to apply the suspension 
of liquidation to any unliquidated entries entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption by these companies, on or after the date 
which is 90 days prior to the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, we intend to verify 
the information submitted by the respondents prior to making our final 
determination.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with this preliminary 
determination within five days of its public announcement.\6\ 
Interested parties may submit case and rebuttal briefs, as well as 
request a hearing.\7\ For a schedule of the deadlines for filing case 
briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearing requests, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d), 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determination. In addition, 
we are making available to the ITC all non-privileged and non-
proprietary information relating to this investigation. We will allow 
the ITC access to all privileged and business proprietary information 
in our files, provided the ITC confirms that it will not disclose such 
information, either publicly or under an administrative protective 
order, without the written consent of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.
    In accordance with section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will make its final determination 
within 45 days after the Department makes its final determination.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: November 21, 2014.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Alignment
VI. Respondent Selection
VII. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part
VIII. Injury Test
IX. Application of the Countervailing Duty Law to Imports from the 
PRC

[[Page 71095]]

X. Subsidies Valuation
XI. Benchmarks and Discount Rates
XII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
XIII. Analysis of Programs
XIV. ITC Notification
XV. Disclosure and Public Comment
XVI. Verification
XVII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2014-28257 Filed 11-28-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P