Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review and Rescission, in Part, 2017 |
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Jeffrey I. Kessler
Department of Commerce
18 October 2019
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 202 (Friday, October 18, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55913-55915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-22765]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-570-017]
Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's
Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty
Administrative Review and Rescission, in Part, 2017
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines
that certain producers and exporters of passenger vehicle and light
truck tires (passenger tires) from the People's Republic of China
(China) received countervailable subsidies during the period of review
(POR) January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017.
DATES: Applicable October 18, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew Huston, AD/CVD Operations,
Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4261.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On August 10, 2015, Commerce issued a countervailing duty (CVD)
order on passenger tires from China.\1\ Several interested parties
requested that Commerce conduct an administrative review of the CVD
Order, and on October 4, 2018, Commerce published in the Federal
Register a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the CVD
Order for 46 producers/exporters for the POR.\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.\3\
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\1\ See Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from the
People's Republic of China: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping
Duty Determination and Antidumping Duty Order; and Amended Final
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Countervailing
Duty Order, 80 FR 47902 (August 10, 2015) (CVD Order).
\2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 50077 (October 4, 2018) (Initiation
Notice).
\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.
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[[Page 55914]]
Scope of the Order
The products covered by the order are certain passenger vehicle and
light truck tires from China. A full description of the scope of the
order is contained in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\
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\4\ See ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Results of the
Administrative Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on Certain
Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from the People's Republic
of China and Rescission, in part, 2017,'' dated concurrently with
this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum) and hereby adopted by
this notice.
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this CVD review in accordance with section
751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each
of the subsidy programs found countervailable, we determine that there
is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that
confers a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is
specific.\5\ For a full description of the methodology underlying our
preliminary conclusions, including our reliance, in part, on adverse
facts available pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, see the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\
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\5\ 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.
\6\ A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum can be found as an appendix to this notice.
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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 B8024 of
the main Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the
internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed
Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic versions of the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
Partial Rescission of Administrative Review
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an
administrative review, in whole or in part, if the parties that
requested a review withdraw the request within 90 days of the date of
publication of the notice of initiation. We received timely withdrawals
of the requests for review, for which no other parties requested a
review, for the following companies: Guangrao Taihua International
Trade Co., Ltd., Qingdao Keter International Co., Limited, Qingdao
Odyking Tyre Co., Ltd., Qinzhou Detai International Trading Co., Ltd.,
Shengtai Group Co., Ltd., Shouguang Firemax Tyre Co., Ltd., Pirelli
Tyre Co., Ltd., Shandong New Continent Tire Co., Ltd., Shandong Guofeng
Rubber Plastics Co., Ltd., Qingdao Jinhaoyang International Co., Ltd.,
and Maxon Int'l Co., Limited.\7\ Therefore, in accordance with 19 CFR
351.213(d)(1), Commerce is rescinding this review of the CVD order on
passenger tires from China with respect to these companies.
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\7\ See Letters from Guangrao Taihua International Trade Co.,
Ltd., Qingdao Keter International Co., Limited, Qingdao Odyking Tyre
Co., Ltd., Qinzhou Detai International Trading Co., Ltd., Shengtai
Group Co., Ltd., and Shouguang Firemax Tyre Co., ``Certain Passenger
Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China--
Withdrawal of Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December
30, 2018; Pirelli Tyre Co., Ltd.'s Letter, ``Pirelli's Withdrawal of
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December 28, 2018;
Shandong New Continent Tire Co., Ltd.'s Letter, ``New Continent
Withdrawal of Review Request for POR 3 of the Countervailing Duty
Order on Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires (PVLT) from the
People's Republic of China (C-570-017),'' dated December 26, 2018;
Shandong Guofeng Rubber Plastics Co., Ltd.'s Letter, ``Passenger
Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China:
Withdrawal of Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December
21, 2018; Qingdao Jinhaoyang's Letter, ``Jinhaoyang's Withdrawal of
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December 18, 2018; Maxon
Int'l Co., Limited's Letter, ``Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light
Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China--Withdrawal of
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December 7, 2018;
American Pacific Industries, Inc.'s Letter, ``Passenger Vehicle and
Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December 28, 2019;
American Pacific Industries, Inc.'s Letter, ``Passenger Vehicle and
Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Withdrawal of
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated December 19, 2019; and
ITG Voma Corporation's Letter, ``Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck
Tires From the People's Republic of China--Withdrawal of Request for
Administrative Review,'' dated December 21, 2018.
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Preliminary Results of Review
As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the
countervailable subsidy rates to be:
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Subsidy
rate
Company (percent
ad
valorem)
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Cooper (Kunshan) Tire Co., Ltd.............................. 51.09
Shandong Longyue Rubber Co., Ltd............................ 71.13
Non-Selected Companies Under Review......................... 56.99
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Preliminary Rate for the Non-Selected Companies Under Review
The statute and the Commerce's regulations do not directly address
the establishment of rates to be applied to companies not selected for
individual examination where Commerce limits its examination in an
administrative review pursuant to section 777A(e)(2) of the Act.
However, Commerce normally determines the rates for non-selected
companies in reviews in a manner that is consistent with section
705(c)(5) of the Act, which provides instructions for calculating the
all-others rate in an investigation.
Section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act instructs Commerce as a general
rule to calculate an all others rate using the weighted average of the
subsidy rates established for the producers/exporters individually
examined, excluding any zero, de minimis, or rates based entirely on
facts available. In this review, the preliminary subsidy rates
calculated for Cooper and Longyue and their cross-owned affiliates are
above de minimis and are not based entirely on facts available.
Therefore, for the companies for which a review was requested that were
not selected as mandatory company respondents and for which we did not
receive a timely request for withdrawal of review, and which we are not
finding to be cross-owned with the mandatory company respondents, we
are preliminarily basing the subsidy rate on the weighted-average
subsidy rates derived from Cooper and Longyue's publicly available
information. For a list of these non-selected companies, please see
Appendix II to this notice.
Disclosure and Public Comment
Commerce intends to disclose to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with this preliminary determination within five
days of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.\8\
Interested parties may submit case and rebuttal briefs, as well as
request a hearing.\9\ Interested parties may submit written comments
(case briefs) within 30 days of publication of the preliminary results
and rebuttal comments (rebuttal briefs)
[[Page 55915]]
within five days after the time limit for filing case briefs.\10\
Rebuttal briefs must be limited to issues raised in the case
briefs.\11\ Parties who submit case or rebuttal briefs are requested to
submit with the argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief
summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.\12\
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\8\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
\9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d), 19 CFR 351.310(c).
\10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(l)(ii) and 351.309(d)(l).
\11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(2).
\12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must do so within
30 days of publication of these preliminary results by submitting a
written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and
Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, using Enforcement and
Compliance's ACCESS system.\13\ Requests should contain the party's
name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a
list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made,
we will inform parties of the scheduled date for the hearing which will
be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time and location to be determined.\14\
Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the
hearing. Issues addressed at the hearing will be limited to those
raised in the briefs.\15\ All briefs and hearing requests must be filed
electronically and received successfully in their entirety through
ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date.
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\13\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
\14\ See 19 CFR 351.310.
\15\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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Unless the deadline is extended, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A)
of the Act, we intend to issue the final results of this administrative
review, including the results of our analysis of the issues raised by
the parties in their comments, within 120 days after issuance of these
preliminary results.
Assessment Rates and Cash Deposit Requirement
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), we preliminarily
assigned subsidy rates in the amounts shown above for the producers/
exporters shown above. Upon issuance of the final results, Commerce
shall determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall
assess, CVDs on all appropriate entries covered by this review. We
intend to issue instructions to CBP 15 days after publication of the
final results of review. For companies for which this review is
rescinded, Commerce will instruct CBP to assess countervailing duties
on all appropriate entries at a rate equal to the cash deposit of
estimated countervailing duties required at the time of entry, or
withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, during the period January
1, 2017 through December 31, 2017, in accordance with 19 CFR
351.212(c)(l)(i). Commerce intends to issue appropriate assessment
instructions directly to CBP 15 days after publication of this notice.
Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, Commerce also intends
to instruct CBP to collect cash deposits of estimated CVDs, in the
amounts shown above for each of the respective companies shown above,
on shipments of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the
final results of this review. For all non-reviewed firms, we will
instruct CBP to continue to collect cash deposits at the most-recent
company-specific or all-others rate applicable to the company, as
appropriate. These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall
remain in effect until further notice.
These preliminary results are issued and published in accordance
with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR
351.221(b)(4).
Dated: October 10, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Partial Rescission of Review
IV. Non-Selected Companies Under Review
V. Scope of the Order
VI. Diversification of China's Economy
VII. Subsidies Valuation
VIII. Interest Rate Benchmarks, Discount Rates, Input, and
Electricity Benchmarks
IX. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Application of Adverse
Inferences
X. Analysis of Programs
XI. Disclosure and Public Comment
XII. Conclusion
Appendix II
Non-Selected Companies Under Review
1. Anhui Jichi Tire Co., Ltd.
2. Bridgestone (Tianjin) Tire Co., Ltd.
3. Bridgestone Corporation.
4. Dynamic Tire Corp.
5. Fleming Limited.
6. Hankook Tire China Co., Ltd.
7. Haohua Orient International Trade Ltd.
8. Husky Tire Corp.
9. Jiangsu Hankook Tire Co., Ltd.
10. Macho Tire Corporation Limited.
11. Mayrun Tyre (Hong Kong) Limited.
12. Qingdao Fullrun Tyre Corp., Ltd.
13. Qingdao Lakesea Tyre Co., Ltd.
14. Qingdao Sunfulcess Trye Co., Ltd.
15. Riversun Industry Limited.
16. Safe &Well (HK) International Trading Limited.
17. Sailun Jinyu Group Co., Ltd.
18. Sailun Jinyu Group (Hong Kong) Co., Limited.
19. Sailun Tire International Corp.
20. Seatex International Inc.
21. Seatex PTE. Ltd.
22. Shandong Achi Tyres Co., Ltd.
23. Shandong Anchi Tyres Co., Ltd.
24. Shandong Duratti Rubber Corporation Co., Ltd.
25. Shandong Haohua Tire Co., Ltd.
26. Shandong Hengyu Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
27. Shandong Jinyu Industrial Co., Ltd.
28. Shandong Province Sanli Tire Manufactured Co., Ltd.
29. Shandong Wanda Boto Tyre Co., Ltd.
30. Triangle Tyre Co., Ltd.
31. Tyrechamp Group Co., Limited.
32. Windforce Tyre Co., Limited.
33. Winrun Tyre Co., Ltd.
[FR Doc. 2019-22765 Filed 10-17-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P