Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 239 / Friday, December 11, 2020 / Notices 80007 

1See Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard, 

Line, and Pressure Pipe from the Republic of Korea 

and the Russian Federation: Initiation of 

Countervailing Duty Investigations, 85 FR 47170 

(August 4, 2020) (Initiation Notice). 

2See Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard, 

Line, and Pressure Pipe from the Republic of Korea 

and the Russian Federation: Postponement of 

Preliminary Determinations in the Countervailing 

Duty Investigations, 85 FR 54533 (September 2, 

2020). 

3See Memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum for 

the Affirmative Preliminary Determination in the 

Countervailing Duty Investigation of Seamless 

Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard, Line, and 

Pressure Pipe from the Russian Federation,’’ dated 

concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this 

notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum). 

4See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 

Final Rule, 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) 

(Preamble). 

5See Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 47171. 

6See Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard, 

Line, and Pressure Pipe from the Republic of Korea, 

the Russian Federation, and Ukraine: 

Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the 

Less-Than-Fair Value Investigations, 85 FR 73687 

(November 19, 2020). 

7The deadlines for interested parties to submit 

scope case and rebuttal briefs will be established in 

the preliminary 

scope decision memorandum. 

8See 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. 

9See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act. 

10See Vallourec Star, LP (Petitioner)’s Letter, 

‘‘Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard, Line, 

and Pressure Pipe from Korea and Russia: Request 

to Align Final Determinations,’’ dated October 15, 

2020. 

Appendix II 

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and 

Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Background 

III. Final Determination of Critical 

Circumstances 

IV. Use of Adverse Facts Available 

V. Subsidies Valuation Information 

VI. Analysis of Programs 

VII. Analysis of Comments 

Comment 1: Application of Total Adverse 

Facts Available (AFA) to Guney Celik 

Hasir ve Demir (Guney Celik) 

Comment 2: Application of AFA to Certain 

Guney Celik Programs 

Comment 3: Correct Numerator for the Tax 

Reduction RIIS Regional Investment 

Incentive Scheme (RIIS) Program 

Comment 4: Allocation or Expense of 

Certain Grant Program Benefits for 

Guney Celik 

Comment 5: Application of AFA to the 

Property Tax Exemption Program for 

Guney Celik 

Comment 6: Application of AFA to Celik 

Halat ve Tel San A.S. (Celik Halat) 

VIII. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2020–27310 Filed 12–10–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[C–821–827] 

Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel 

Standard, Line, and Pressure Pipe 

From the Russian Federation: 

Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing 

Duty Determination 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 

(Commerce) preliminarily determines 

that countervailable subsidies are being 

provided to producers and exporters of 

seamless carbon and alloy steel 

standard, line, and pressure pipe 

(seamless pipe) from the Russian 

Federation (Russia). The period of 

investigation is January 1, 2019 through 

December 31, 2019. Interested parties 

are invited to comment on this 

preliminary determination. 

DATES: Applicable December 11, 2020. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Caitlin Monks, 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) 482–2670, respectively. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This preliminary determination is 

made in accordance with section 703(b) 

of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 

(the Act). Commerce published the 

notice of initiation of this investigation 

on August 4, 2020.1 On September 2, 

2020, Commerce postponed the 

preliminary determination of this 

investigation to December 7, 2020.2 For 

a complete description of the events that 

followed the initiation of this 

investigation, see the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum.3 A list of topics 

discussed in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum is included as Appendix 

II to this notice. 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. In addition, a complete 

version of the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum can be accessed directly 

at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. 

The signed and electronic versions of 

the Preliminary Decision Memorandum 

are identical in content. 

Scope of the Investigation 

The products covered by this 

investigation are seamless pipe from 

Russia. For a complete description of 

the scope of this investigation, see 

Appendix I. 

Scope Comments 

In accordance with the Preamble to 

Commerce’s regulations,4 we set aside a 

period of time, as stated in the Initiation 

Notice, for parties to raise issues 

regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).5

We received comments concerning the 

scope of the antidumping duty (AD) and 

countervailing duty (CVD) 

investigations of seamless pipe as it 

appeared in the Initiation Notice. We 

are currently evaluating the scope 

comments filed by the interested 

parties. We intend to issue our 

preliminary decision regarding the 

scope of this and the companion AD 

and CVD investigations no later than 

February 3, 2021, the deadline for the 

preliminary determinations in the 

companion AD investigations with 

respect to Russia, the Republic of Korea, 

and Ukraine.6 We will issue a final 

scope decision after considering any 

relevant comments submitted in case 

and rebuttal briefs.7

Methodology 

Commerce is conducting this 

investigation in accordance with section 

701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy 

programs found countervailable, 

Commerce preliminarily determines 

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.8

Commerce notes that, in making these 

findings, it relied, in part, on facts 

available and, because it finds that the 

respondent did not act to the best of its 

ability to respond to Commerce’s 

requests for information, Commerce 

drew an adverse inference where 

appropriate in selecting from among the 

facts otherwise available.9 For further 

information, see ‘‘Use of Facts 

Otherwise Available and Adverse 

Inferences’’ in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum. 

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), Commerce is aligning the 

final CVD determination in this 

investigation with the final 

determination in the companion AD 

investigation of seamless pipe from 

Russia based on a request made by the 

petitioner.10 Consequently, the final 


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80008 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 239 / Friday, December 11, 2020 / Notices 

11Commerce selected ‘‘TMK’’ and ‘‘TMK 

Volzhsky’’ as mandatory respondents. The TMK 

Group subsequently submitted a questionnaire 

response on behalf of both companies, explaining 

that they are cross-owned members of the TMK 

Group. The TMK Group also clarified that its 

registered names include: ‘‘PAO TMK’’ and 

‘‘Volzhsky Pipe Plant JSC.’’ The TMK Group refers 

to a group of companies involved in the production, 

sale, and distribution of subject merchandise which 

meet the definition of cross-ownership pursuant to 

19 CFR 351.525(b)(6). As discussed in the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum, we 

preliminarily determine that the cross-owned 

companies comprising the TMK Group during the 

POI are: PAO TMK; Volzhsky Pipe Plant JSC; 

Sinarsky Pipe Plant; Taganrog Metallurgical Plant 

Joint Stock Company; Sinarsky Pipe Plant Joint 

Stock Company; Seversky Pipe Plant Joint Stock 

Company; TMK CHERMET LLC; TMK CHERMET 

LLC Volzhsky; TMK CHERMET LLC Ekaterinburg; 

TMK CHERMET LLC Rostov; TMK CHERMET LLC 

Saratov; and TMK CHERMET LLC Service. 

12As discussed in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum, Commerce has found the following 

companies to be cross-owned with PAO TMK and 

Volzhsky Pipe Plant Joint Stock Company: Sinarsky 

Pipe Plant; Taganrog Metallurgical Plant Joint Stock 

Company; Sinarsky Pipe Plant Joint Stock 

Company; Seversky Pipe Plant Joint Stock 

Company; TMK CHERMET LLC; TMK CHERMET 

LLC Volzhsky; TMK CHERMET LLC Ekaterinburg; 

TMK CHERMET LLC Rostov; TMK CHERMET LLC 

Saratov; and TMK CHERMET LLC Service. 

13See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 

(for general filing requirements); see also 

Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service 

Requirements Due to COVID–19, 85 FR 17006, 

17007 (March 26, 2020). 

14See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD 

Service Requirements Due to COVID–19; Extension 

of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020). 

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 19, 2021, unless postponed. 

All-Others Rate 

Sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of 

the Act provide that in the preliminary 

determination, Commerce shall 

determine an estimated all-others rate 

for companies not individually 

examined. This rate shall be an amount 

equal to the weighted average of the 

estimated subsidy rates established for 

those companies individually 

examined, excluding any zero and de 

minimis rates and any rates based 

entirely under section 776 of the Act. 

In this investigation, Commerce 

preliminarily calculated an individual 

estimated countervailable subsidy rate 

for PAO TMK/Volzhsky Pipe Plant 

JSC,11 the only individually examined 

exporter/producer in this investigation. 

Because the only individually 

calculated rate is not zero, de minimis, 

or based entirely on facts otherwise 

available, we are preliminarily assigning 

the estimated countervailable subsidy 

rate calculated for TMK to all other 

producers and exporters, pursuant to 

section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act. 

Preliminary Determination 

Commerce preliminarily determines 

that the following estimated 

countervailable subsidy rates exist: 

Company Subsidy rate 

(percent) 

PAO TMK/Volzhsky Pipe 

Plant Joint Stock Company 12 ............................... 4.39 

All Others .............................. 4.39 

Suspension of Liquidation 

In accordance with section 

703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, 

Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP) to suspend 

liquidation of entries of subject 

merchandise as described in the scope 

of the investigation section entered, or 

withdrawn from warehouse, for 

consumption on or after the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register. Further, pursuant to 19 CFR 

351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP 

to require a cash deposit equal to the 

rates indicated above. 

Disclosure 

Commerce intends to disclose its 

calculations and analysis performed to 

interested parties in this preliminary 

determination within five days of its 

public announcement, or if there is no 

public announcement, within five days 

of the date of this notice in accordance 

with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 

Verification 

Commerce is currently unable to 

conduct on-site verification of the 

information relied upon in making its 

final determination in this investigation. 

Accordingly, we intend to take 

additional steps in lieu of on-site 

verification. Commerce will notify 

interested parties of any additional 

documentation or information required. 

Public Comment 

As noted above, Commerce will issue 

a preliminary scope decision no later 

than February 3, 2021. All interested 

parties will have the opportunity to 

submit case and rebuttal briefs on the 

preliminary scope determination by the 

deadline established in the 

memorandum. All parties filing scope 

briefs or rebuttals thereto, must file 

identical documents simultaneously on 

the records of all the ongoing AD and 

CVD seamless pipe investigations. No 

new factual information or business 

proprietary information may be 

included in either scope briefs or 

rebuttal scope briefs. 

Case briefs or other written comments 

may be submitted to the Assistant 

Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance. Interested parties will be 

notified of the deadline for the 

submission of such case briefs and 

written comments at a later date. 

Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised 

in case briefs, may be submitted no later 

than seven days after the deadline date 

for case briefs.13 Commerce has 

modified certain of its requirements for 

serving documents containing business 

proprietary information until further 

notice.14 Pursuant to 19 CFR 

351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who 

submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in 

this investigation 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. 

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), 

interested parties who wish to request a 

hearing, limited to issues raised in the 

case and rebuttal briefs, must submit a 

written request to the Assistant 

Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance, U.S. Department of 

Commerce within 30 days after the date 

of publication of this notice. Requests 

should contain the party’s name, 

address, and telephone number, the 

number of participants, whether any 

participant is a foreign national, and a 

list of the issues to be discussed. If a 

request for a hearing is made, Commerce 

intends to hold the hearing at a time and 

date to be determined. Parties should 

confirm by telephone the date, time, and 

location of the hearing two days before 

the scheduled date. 

International Trade Commission 

Notification 

In accordance with section 703(f) of 

the Act, Commerce will notify the 

International Trade Commission (ITC) of 

its preliminary determination. If 

Commerce’s final determination is 

affirmative, the ITC will make its final 

injury determination before the later of 

120 days after the date of Commerce’s 

preliminary determination or 45 days 

after its final determination. 

Notification to Interested Parties 

This determination is issued and 

published pursuant to sections 703(f) 

and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 

351.205(c). 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 239 / Friday, December 11, 2020 / Notices 80009 

1See Silicon Metal from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 

Iceland, and Malaysia: Initiation of Less-Than-FairValue Investigations, 85 FR 45177 (July 27, 2020) 

(Initiation Notice). 

2See Memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum for 

the Preliminary Determinations in the Less-ThanFair-Value Investigations of Silicon Metal from 

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland,’’ dated 

concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this 

notice. 3See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; 

Final Rule, 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) 

(Preamble). 

4See Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 45177. 

Dated: December 7, 2020. 

Jeffrey I. Kessler, 

Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance. 

Appendix I 

Scope of the Investigation 

The merchandise covered by the scope of 

this investigation is seamless carbon and 

alloy steel (other than stainless steel) pipes 

and redraw hollows, less than or equal to 16 

inches (406.4 mm) in nominal outside 

diameter, regardless of wall-thickness, 

manufacturing process (e.g., hot-finished or 

cold-drawn), end finish (e.g., plain end, 

beveled end, upset end, threaded, or 

threaded and coupled), or surface finish (e.g., 

bare, lacquered or coated). Redraw hollows 

are any unfinished carbon or alloy steel 

(other than stainless steel) pipe or ‘‘hollow 

profiles’’ suitable for cold finishing 

operations, such as cold drawing, to meet the 

American Society for Testing and Materials 

(ASTM) or American Petroleum Institute 

(API) specifications referenced below, or 

comparable specifications. Specifically 

included within the scope are seamless 

carbon and alloy steel (other than stainless 

steel) standard, line, and pressure pipes 

produced to the ASTM A–53, ASTM A–106, 

ASTM A–333, ASTM A–334, ASTM A–589, 

ASTM A–795, ASTM A–1024, and the API 

5L specifications, or comparable 

specifications, and meeting the physical 

parameters described above, regardless of 

application, with the exception of the 

exclusions discussed below. 

Specifically excluded from the scope of the 

investigation are: (1) All pipes meeting 

aerospace, hydraulic, and bearing tubing 

specifications, including pipe produced to 

the ASTM A–822 standard; (2) all pipes 

meeting the chemical requirements of ASTM 

A–335, whether finished or unfinished; and 

(3) unattached couplings. Also excluded from 

the scope of the investigations are all 

mechanical, boiler, condenser and heat 

exchange tubing, except when such products 

conform to the dimensional requirements, 

i.e., outside diameter and wall thickness, of 

ASTM A–53, ASTM A–106 or API 5L 

specifications. 

Subject seamless standard, line, and 

pressure pipe are normally entered under 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

States (HTSUS) subheadings 7304.19.1020, 

7304.19.1030, 7304.19.1045, 7304.19.1060, 

7304.19.5020, 7304.19.5050, 7304.31.6050, 

7304.39.0016, 7304.39.0020, 7304.39.0024, 

7304.39.0028, 7304.39.0032, 7304.39.0036, 

7304.39.0040, 7304.39.0044, 7304.39.0048, 

7304.39.0052, 7304.39.0056, 7304.39.0062, 

7304.39.0068, 7304.39.0072, 7304.51.5005, 

7304.51.5060, 7304.59.6000, 7304.59.8010, 

7304.59.8015, 7304.59.8020, 7304.59.8025, 

7304.59.8030, 7304.59.8035, 7304.59.8040, 

7304.59.8045, 7304.59.8050, 7304.59.8055, 

7304.59.8060, 7304.59.8065, and 

7304.59.8070. The HTSUS subheadings and 

specifications are provided for convenience 

and customs purposes; the written 

description of the scope is dispositive. 

Appendix II 

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Background 

III. Period of Investigation 

IV. Scope of the Investigation 

V. Scope Comments 

VI. Alignment 

VII. Injury Test 

VIII. Subsidies Valuation 

IX. Benchmarks and Interest Rates 

X. Analysis of Programs 

XI. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2020–27307 Filed 12–10–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–893–001, A–400–001] 

Silicon Metal From Bosnia and 

Herzegovina and Iceland: Preliminary 

Affirmative Determinations of Sales at 

Less Than Fair Value 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(Commerce) preliminarily determines 

that silicon metal from Bosnia and 

Herzegovina (Bosnia) and Iceland is 

being, or is likely to be, sold in the 

United States at less than fair value 

(LTFV). The period of investigation 

(POI) is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 

2020. The estimated margins of sales at 

LTFV are shown in the ‘‘Preliminary 

Determinations’’ section of this notice. 

Interested parties are invited to 

comment on these preliminary 

determinations. 

DATES: Applicable December 11, 2020. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Galantucci at (202) 482–2923 

(Bosnia); and Emily Halle at (202) 482– 

0176 (Iceland), Enforcement and 

Compliance, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Commerce published the notice of 

initiation of these investigations on July 

27, 2020.1 R–S Silicon D.O.O. (R–S 

Silicon) is the sole mandatory 

respondent in the investigation covering 

silicon metal from Bosnia; PCC Bakki 

Silicon hf (PCC Bakki) is the sole 

mandatory respondent in the 

investigation covering silicon metal 

from Iceland. For a complete 

description of the events that followed 

the initiation of these investigations, see 

the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum.2 A list of topics included 

in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum is included as Appendix 

II 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. In addition, a 

complete version of the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum can be accessed 

directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/ 

frn/. The signed and the electronic 

versions of the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum are identical in content. 

Scope of the Investigations 

The product covered by these 

investigations is silicon metal. For a full 

description of the scope of these 

investigations, see the ‘‘Scope of the 

Investigations,’’ in Appendix I of this 

notice. Scope Comments 

In accordance with the Preamble to 

Commerce’s regulations,3 the Initiation 

Notice set aside a period of time for 

parties to raise issues regarding product 

coverage (i.e., scope).4 However, 

Commerce received no comments on the 

scope of these investigations from 

interested parties. 

Methodology 

Commerce is conducting these 

investigations in accordance with 

section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 

amended (the Act). Pursuant to sections 

776(a) and (b) of the Act, Commerce has 

preliminarily relied upon facts 

otherwise available to assign dumping 

margins to R–S Silicon and PCC Bakki 

in these investigations because neither 

respondent submitted a response to 

Commerce’s antidumping duty 

questionnaire. Further, Commerce is 

preliminarily determining that R–S 

Silicon and PCC Bakki failed to 

cooperate by not acting to the best of 

their abilities to comply with a request 

for information and is using an adverse 

inference when selecting from among 


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