[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11233-11235]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03787]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-877]


Stainless Steel Flanges From India: Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2018-2019

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that producers/exporters of stainless steel flanges from India made 
sales of subject merchandise at prices below normal value during the 
period of review (POR), March 28, 2018, through September 30, 2019. We 
invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Effective February 24, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Benito Ballesteros, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-7425.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On October 9, 2018, Commerce published the Order in the Federal 
Register.\1\ On December 11, 2019, based on timely requests for review, 
in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(i), Commerce published the notice 
of initiation of this administrative review.\2\ Commerce selected 
Chandan Steel Limited (Chandan) as the mandatory respondent in this 
review.\3\
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    \1\ See Stainless Steel Flanges from India: Antidumping Duty 
Order, 83 FR 50639 (October 9, 2018) (Order).
    \2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 84 FR 67712 (December 11, 2019) (Initiation 
Notice).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of 
Stainless Steel Flanges from India, 2018-2019: Respondent 
Selection,'' dated March 13, 2020.
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    On April 24, 2020, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative 
reviews by 50 days.\4\ On July 21, 2020, Commerce tolled all deadlines 
in administrative reviews by an additional 60 days.\5\ On October 1, 
2020, Commerce extended the deadline of the preliminary results of 
review by 59 days, until December 18, 2020, in accordance with 
751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\6\ On 
December 7, 2020, in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act, 
Commerce extended the deadline for the preliminary results by an 
additional 61 days, until February 17, 2021.\7\
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews in Response to Operation 
Adjustments Due to COVID-19,'' dated April 24, 2020.
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews,'' dated July 21, 2020.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Stainless Steel Flanges from India: 
Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of 2018-2019 
Antidumping Administrative Review,'' dated October 1, 2020.
    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Stainless Steel Flanges from India: 
Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of 2018-2019 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated December 7, 2020.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\8\ 
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

[[Page 11234]]

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 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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    \8\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Stainless Steel 
Flanges from India; 2018-2019,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby 
adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the Order are stainless steel flanges from 
India. For a complete description of the scope, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce is 
preliminarily relying upon facts otherwise available to assign a 
dumping margin to Chandan because the company withheld necessary 
information that was requested by Commerce and failed to timely provide 
information in the form requested, thereby significantly impeding this 
review. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that Chandan failed 
to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with 
requests for information and, thus, Commerce is applying an adverse 
inference in selecting among the facts available, in accordance with 
section 776(b) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our conclusions regarding the application of adverse facts 
available (AFA), see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of 
topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as 
Appendix I to this notice.

Rate for Non-Selected Companies

    The Act and Commerce's regulations do not address the rate to be 
applied to companies not selected for examination when Commerce limits 
its examination in an administrative review pursuant to section 
777A(c)(2) of the Act. Generally, Commerce looks to section 735(c)(5) 
of the Act for guidance when assigning a rate to companies not selected 
for individual examination in an administrative review. Under section 
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, the all-others rate is normally ``an amount 
equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins established for exporters and producers individually 
investigated, excluding any zero or de minimis margins, and any margins 
determined entirely {on the basis of facts available{time} .'' Under 
section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated dumping margins 
established for all exporters and producers individually investigated 
are zero or de minimis margins, or are determined entirely under 
section 776, the administering authority may use any reasonable method 
to establish the estimated all-others rate for exporters and producers 
not individually investigated, including averaging the dumping margins 
determined for the exporters and producers individually investigated.
    In this review, we have preliminarily assigned a dumping margin to 
Chandan that is determined entirely on the basis of AFA. In accordance 
with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in 
Albemarle,\9\ Commerce has preliminarily assigned to the companies not 
individually examined (see Appendix II for a full list of these 
companies) a margin of 145.25 percent, which is the dumping margin 
assigned to Chandan in these preliminary results of review.\10\
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    \9\ See Albemarle Corp. v. United States, 821 F. 3d 1345 (Fed. 
Cir. 2016) (Albemarle).
    \10\ See, e.g., Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel 
Pipes and Tubes from the Republic of Turkey: Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Final Determination of No 
Shipments; 2017-2018, 84 FR 64455 (November 22, 2019) (applying a 
rate based on the mandatory respondent's total AFA rate to the 
companies not selected for individual examination); see also Certain 
Steel Nails from Taiwan: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review and Preliminary Determination of No Shipments; 
2018-2019, 85 FR 19138 (April 6, 2020) (applying a rate based on an 
the mandatory respondents' total AFA rates to the companies not 
selected for individual examination), unchanged in Certain Steel 
Nails from Taiwan: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review and Final Determination of No Shipments; 2018-2019, 85 FR 
76014 (November 27, 2020).
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Preliminary Results of the Review

    We preliminarily determine that the following dumping margins exist 
for the period March 28, 2018, through September 30, 2019:
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    \11\ See Order, 83 FR at 50640.
    \12\ See Appendix II.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Cash deposit
                                                          rate (adjusted
            Exporter/producer             Dumping margin    for subsidy
                                             (percent)       offsets)
                                                          (percent) \11\
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Chandan Steel Limited...................          145.25          140.38
Companies Not Individually Examined               145.25          140.38
 (excluding Bebitz Flanges Works Private
 Limited) \12\..........................
Bebitz Flanges Works Private Limited....          145.25          145.25
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Normally, Commerce discloses the calculations performed in 
connection with preliminary results to interested parties within five 
days after the date of public announcement or publication of this 
notice.\13\ Because Commerce preliminarily applied a rate based on 
total AFA to the mandatory respondent in this review, in accordance 
with section 776 of the Act, there are no calculations to disclose.
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case 
briefs no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this 
notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, 
may be filed not later than seven days after the date for filing case 
briefs. Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of its 
requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary 
information, until further notice.\14\
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Temporary Rule Modifying 
AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006, 17007 
(March 26, 2020) (``To provide adequate time for release of case 
briefs via ACCESS, E&C intends to schedule the due date for all 
rebuttal briefs to be 7 days after case briefs are filed (while 
these modifications remain in effect)''); and Temporary Rule 
Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19; Extension of 
Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020).
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    Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 
proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement 
of the issues, (2) a brief summary of the argument, and (3) a table of 
authorities.\15\ Executive summaries should be limited to five pages 
total, including footnotes. Case and rebuttal briefs should be filed 
using ACCESS.\16\
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    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.303 (for general filing requirements).
    \16\ See generally 19 CFR 351.303.

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[[Page 11235]]

    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 via ACCESS, within 30 
days after the date of publication of this notice. An electronically-
filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by 5:00 
p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days of 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 and rebuttal briefs. If a request 
for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a time 
and date to be determined.

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results of this review, Commerce will 
determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise 
covered by this review. We intend to issue assessment instructions to 
CBP no earlier than 35 days after the date of publication of the final 
results of this review in the Federal Register. If a timely summons is 
filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment 
instructions will direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until 
the time for parties to file a request for a statutory injunction has 
expired (i.e., within 90 days of publication).
    If these preliminary results are unchanged for the final results, 
we will instruct CBP to apply an ad valorem assessment rate of equal to 
the dumping margins stated above, adjusted for subsidy offsets to all 
entries of subject merchandise during the POR which were produced and/
or exported by Chandan or exported by the companies which were not 
selected for individual examination. We intend to instruct CBP to take 
into account the ``provisional measures deposit cap,'' in accordance 
with 19 CFR 351.212(d).

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the notice of final results of this administrative 
review for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication, as provided by section 751(a)(2) of the Act: (1) The cash 
deposit rate for Chandan and the companies not individually examined 
will be equal to the rate established for Chandan in the final results 
of this administrative review; (2) for merchandise exported by 
producers or exporters not covered by this review but covered by 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; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered 
by this review, a prior 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 14.29 percent, adjusted for 
subsidy offsets,\17\ 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.
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    \17\ See Order, 83 FR at 50639.
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Final Results of Review

    Unless otherwise extended, Commerce intends to issue the final 
results of this administrative review, which will include our analysis 
of the issues raised in any case and rebuttal briefs, not later than 
120 days after the date of publication of this notice, pursuant to 
section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Notification to Importers

    This notice 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

    The preliminary results of this administrative review and notice 
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: February 17, 2021.
Christian Marsh,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Use of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
V. Rate for Non-Selected Companies
VI. Recommendation

Appendix II

List of Non-Selected Companies

1. Arien Global
2. Armstrong International Pvt. Ltd
3. Avinimetal
4. Balkrishna Steel Forge Pvt. Ltd
5. Bebitz Flanges Works Private Limited
6. Bee Gee Enterprises
7. Bsl Freight Solutions Pvt., Ltd
8. CD Industries (Prop. Kisaan Engineering Works Pvt. Ltd)
9. Cipriani Harrison Valves Pvt. Ltd
10. CTL Logistics (India) Pvt. Ltd
11. Echjay Forgings Private Ltd \18\
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    \18\ In the Initiation Notice, this company also appeared as 
``Echjay Forgings Private Limited.'' See Initiation Notice, 84 FR at 
67714.
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12. Fivebros Forgings Pvt. Ltd
13. Fluid Controls Pvt. Ltd
14. Geodis Oversea Pvt., Ltd
15. Globelink WW India Pvt., Ltd
16. Goodluck India Ltd
17. Hilton Metal Forging Limited
18. Jai Auto Pvt. Ltd
19. Jay Jagdamba Forgings Private Limited
20. Jay Jagdamba Limited \19\
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    \19\ In the Initiation Notice, this company also appeared as 
``Jay Jagdamba Ltd.'' Id.
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21. Jay Jagdamba Profile Private Limited
22. Kisaan Die Tech
23. Kunj Forgings Pvt. Ltd
24. Montane Shipping Pvt., Ltd
25. Noble Shipping Pvt. Ltd
26. Paramount Forge
27. Pashupati Tradex Pvt., Ltd
28. Peekay Steel Castings Pvt. Ltd
29. Pradeep Metals Ltd
30. R D Forge Pvt., Ltd
31. Rolex Fittings India Pvt. Ltd
32. Rollwell Forge Pvt. Ltd
33. Safewater Lines (I) Pvt. Ltd
34. Saini Flange Pvt. Ltd
35. SAR Transport Systems
36. Shilpan Steelcast Pvt. Ltd
37. Shree Jay Jagdamba Flanges Pvt. Ltd
38. Teamglobal Logistics Pvt. Ltd
39. Technical Products Corporation
40. Technocraft Industries India Ltd
41. Transworld Global
42. VEEYES Engineering Pvt. Ltd
43. Vishal Shipping Agencies Pvt. Ltd
44. Yusen Logistics (India) Pvt. Ltd

[FR Doc. 2021-03787 Filed 2-23-21; 8:45 am]
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