Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 12627 

1See Methionine from France, Japan, and Spain: 

Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 85 

FR 52324 (August 25, 2020) (Initiation Notice). 

2See Methionine From France, Japan and Spain: 

Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the 

Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 85 FR 80774 

(December 14, 2020). 

3See Memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum for 

the Preliminary Determination in the Less-ThanFair-Value Investigation of Methionine from 

France,’’ 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). 

5See Initiation Notice. 

6Sumitomo’s September 8, 2020 scope comments 

pertain to the product characteristics, and not the 

scope of the investigation. 

7For the purposes of this investigation, we have 

considered Adisseo France’s responses to 

Commerce’s requests for information on behalf of 

both Commentry and Adisseo France SAS. For a 

full discussion on respondent selection in this 

investigation, see the Preliminary Determination 

Memorandum at 2. 

8The petitioner is Novus International, Inc. 

Subject merchandise also includes 

methionine processed in a third country 

including, but not limited to, refining, 

converting from liquid to dry or dry to liquid 

form, or any other processing that would not 

otherwise remove the merchandise from the 

scope of this investigation if performed in the 

country of manufacture of the in-scope 

methionine or dl-Hydroxy analogue of dlmethionine. 

The scope also includes methionine that is 

commingled (i.e., mixed or combined) with 

methionine from sources not subject to this 

investigation. Only the subject component of 

such commingled products is covered by the 

scope of this investigation. 

Excluded from this investigation is United 

States Pharmacopoeia (USP) grade 

methionine. In order to qualify for this 

exclusion, USP grade methionine must meet 

or exceed all of the chemical, purity, 

performance, and labeling requirements of 

the United States Pharmacopeia and the 

National Formulary for USP grade 

methionine. 

Methionine is currently classified under 

subheadings 2930.40.00.00 and 

2930.90.46.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). 

Methionine has the Chemical Abstracts 

Service (CAS) registry numbers 583–91–5, 

4857–44–7, 59–51–8 and 922–50–9. While 

the HTSUS subheadings and CAS registry 

number are provided for convenience and 

customs purposes, the written description of 

the scope of this investigation 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. Preliminary Critical Circumstances 

Determination 

VII. Discussion of the Methodology 

VIII. Currency Conversion 

IX. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2021–04417 Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–427–831] 

Methionine From France: Preliminary 

Affirmative Determination of Sales at 

Less Than Fair Value and Partial 

Affirmative Determination of Critical 

Circumstances 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(Commerce) preliminarily determines 

that methionine from France is being, or 

is likely to be, sold in the United States 

at less than fair value (LTFV). 

Commerce also preliminarily 

determines that critical circumstances 

exist with respect to certain imports of 

subject merchandise. The period of 

investigation is July 1, 2019, through 

June 30, 2020. Interested parties are 

invited to comment on this preliminary 

determination. 

DATES: Applicable March 4, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Zachary Shaykin, AD/CVD Operations, 

Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482–2638. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This preliminary determination is 

made in accordance with section 733(b) 

of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 

(the Act). Commerce initiated this LTFV 

investigation on August 18, 2020.1 On 

December 14, 2020, Commerce 

postponed the preliminary 

determination in this investigation and 

the revised deadline is now February 

24, 2021.2 For a complete description of 

the events that followed the initiation of 

this investigation, see the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum.3 A list of topics 

included 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 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 electronic versions of 

the Preliminary Decision Memorandum 

are identical in content. 

Scope of the Investigation 

The products covered by this 

investigation is methionine from France. 

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 the Initiation 

Notice set aside a period of time for 

parties to raise issues regarding product 

coverage (i.e., scope).5 No interested 

parties commented on the scope of this 

investigation as it appeared in the 

Initiation Notice.6 Commerce is not 

preliminarily modifying the scope 

language as it appeared in the Initiation 

Notice. See the scope in Appendix I to 

this notice. 

Methodology 

Commerce is conducting this 

investigation in accordance with section 

731 of the Act. Pursuant to sections 

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

preliminarily relied upon facts 

otherwise available, with adverse 

inferences, for Adisseo France SAS and 

Commentry (collectively, Adisseo 

France), the two companies selected for 

individual examination in this 

investigation.7 For a full description of 

the methodology underlying the 

preliminary determination, see the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 

Preliminary Affirmative Determination 

of Critical Circumstances 

On February 1, 2021, the petitioner 8

timely filed a critical circumstances 

allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) 

of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), 

alleging that critical circumstances exist 

with respect to imports of the subject 

merchandise from France. 

Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides 

that Commerce will preliminarily 

determine that critical circumstances 

exist in an LTFV investigation if there 

is a reasonable basis to believe or 

suspect that: (A) There is a history of 

dumping and material injury by reason 

of dumped imports in the United States 

or elsewhere of the subject merchandise, 

or the person by whom, or for whose 

account, the merchandise was imported 

knew or should have known that the 

exporter was selling the subject 

merchandise at less than its fair value 

and that there was likely to be material 

injury by reason of such sales; and (B) 

there have been massive imports of the 


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12628 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 

9See Petitioner’s Letter, ‘‘Petitions for the 

Imposition of Antidumping Duties: Methionine 

from France, Japan, and Spain,’’ dated July 29, 2020 

(Petition); see also Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 52327, 

and accompanying France-specific Initiation 

Checklist. 

10See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); and 19 CFR 

351.303 (for general filing requirements). Commerce 

has exercised its discretion under 19 CFR 

351.309(c)(1)(i) to alter the time limit for 

submission of case briefs. 

11See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD 

Service Requirements Due to COVID–19, 85 FR 

17006 (March 26, 2020); and Temporary Rule 

Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to 

COVID–19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 

41363 (July 10, 2020) (collectively, Temporary 

Rule). 

12See Temporary Rule. 

subject merchandise over a relatively 

short period. 

In accordance with section 733(e) of 

the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, Commerce 

preliminarily determines that critical 

circumstances exist with respect to 

imports of methionine produced and 

exported by Adisseo France. 

Furthermore, we preliminarily 

determine that critical circumstances do 

not exist with respect to imports of 

methionine produced and exported by 

all other producers and exporters from 

France. For a full description of 

Commerce’s preliminary critical 

circumstances determination, see the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 

All-Others Rate 

Section 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) of the Act 

provides that in the preliminary 

determination Commerce shall 

determine an estimated weightedaverage dumping margin for all other 

producers and exporters not 

individually examined. Pursuant to 

section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, this rate 

shall be an amount equal to the 

weighted average of the estimated 

weighted-average dumping margins 

established for exporters or producers 

individually investigated, excluding 

rates that are zero, de minimis, or 

determined entirely under section 776 

of the Act. Pursuant to section 

735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated 

weighted-average dumping margins 

established for all exporters and 

producers individually examined are 

zero, de minimis, or determined based 

entirely on facts otherwise available, 

Commerce may use any reasonable 

method to establish the estimated 

weighted-average dumping margin for 

all other producers or exporters. 

Commerce has preliminarily 

determined the estimated weightedaverage dumping margin for Adisseo 

France entirely under section 776 of the 

Act. Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of 

the Act, Commerce’s normal practice 

under these circumstances has been to 

calculate the all-others rate as a simple 

average of the alleged dumping margins 

from the petition. However, because 

there is only one dumping margin 

alleged in the Petition (i.e., 16.17 

percent),9 we used that rate as the 

estimated weighted-average dumping 

margin for all other producers and 

exporters. For a full description of the 

methodology underlying Commerce’s 

analysis, see the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum. 

Preliminary Determination 

Commerce preliminarily determines 

that the following estimated weightedaverage dumping margins exist: 

Exporter or producer 

Estimated 

weightedaverage 

dumping 

margin 

(percent) 

Adisseo France SAS and 

Commentry .............................. 43.82 

All Others .................................... 16.17 

Suspension of Liquidation 

In accordance with section 733(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 Appendix 

I, entered, or withdrawn from 

warehouse, for consumption on or after 

the date of publication of this notice in 

the Federal Register. 

Further, pursuant to section 

733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 

351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP 

to require a cash deposit as follows: (1) 

The cash deposit rate for Adisseo France 

will be equal to the company-specific 

estimated weighted-average dumping 

margin determined in this preliminary 

determination; (2) if the exporter is not 

the respondent identified above, but the 

producer is, then the cash deposit rate 

will be equal to the company-specific 

estimated weighted-average dumping 

margin established for that producer of 

the subject merchandise; and (3) the 

cash deposit rate for all other producers 

and exporters will be equal to the allothers estimated weighted-average 

dumping margin. 

Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides 

that, given an affirmative determination 

of critical circumstances, the suspension 

of liquidation shall apply to 

unliquidated entries of subject 

merchandise entered, or withdrawn 

from warehouse, for consumption on or 

after the later of: (a) The date which is 

90 days before the date on which the 

suspension of liquidation was first 

ordered; or (b) the date on which notice 

of initiation of the investigation was 

published. As noted above, Commerce 

preliminarily finds that critical 

circumstances exist for imports of 

subject merchandise produced and 

exported by Adisseo France. In 

accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A) of 

the Act, the suspension of liquidation 

shall apply to unliquidated entries of 

shipments of methionine that were 

produced and exported by Adisseo 

France that were entered, or withdrawn 

from warehouse, for consumption on or 

after the date which is 90 days before 

the publication date of this notice in the 

Federal Register. 

These suspension of liquidation 

instructions will remain in effect until 

further notice. 

Disclosure 

Commerce intends to disclose to 

interested parties any calculations 

performed in connection with this 

preliminary determination within five 

days of its public announcement or, if 

there is no public announcement, 

within five days of the date of 

publication of this notice in accordance 

with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 

Verification 

Because Adisseo France did not 

provide all of the information requested 

by Commerce and affirmatively stated 

that it would no longer participate in 

this investigation, we will not conduct 

verification as part of this investigation. 

Public Comment 

Case briefs or other written comments 

on non-scope issues may be submitted 

to the Assistant Secretary for 

Enforcement and Compliance no later 

than 21 days after the date of 

publication of the preliminary 

determination.10 Rebuttal briefs, limited 

to issues raised in these case briefs, may 

be submitted no later than seven days 

after the deadline date for case briefs.11

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. Commerce 

has modified certain of its requirements 

for serving documents containing 

business proprietary information until 

further notice.12

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 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 12629 

13See Adisseo France’s Letter, ‘‘Methionine from 

France: Request for Postponement of Final 

Determination and Provisional Measures Period,’’ 

dated February 5, 2021, at 1. 

14 Id. at 2. 

15See Petitioner’s Letter, ‘‘Methionine from 

France: Opposition to Extension of Final 

Determination,’’ dated February 9, 2021. 

16See Adisseo France’s Letter, ‘‘Methionine from 

France: Withdrawal from Investigation and 

Withdrawal of Proprietary Information,’’ dated 

January 22, 2021. 

17 Id. at 2. 

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 of the hearing. 

Postponement of Final Determination 

and Extension of Provisional Measures 

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides 

that a final determination may be 

postponed until not later than 135 days 

after the date of the publication of the 

preliminary determination if, in the 

event of an affirmative preliminary 

determination, a request for such 

postponement is made by exporters who 

account for a significant proportion of 

exports of the subject merchandise, or in 

the event of a negative preliminary 

determination, a request for such 

postponement is made by the petitioner. 

Section 351.210(e)(2) of Commerce’s 

regulations requires that a request by 

exporters for postponement of the final 

determination be accompanied by a 

request for extension of provisional 

measures from a four-month period to a 

period not more than six months in 

duration. 

On February 5, 2021, pursuant to 19 

CFR 351.210(e), Adisseo France 

requested a postponement of the final 

determination of this investigation in 

the case of an affirmative determination 

by Commerce.13 Furthermore, pursuant 

to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 

351.210(e)(2), Adisseo France agreed to 

an extension of provisional measures in 

this investigation from a period of four 

to no more than six months.14 The 

petitioner submitted an opposition to 

Adisseo France’s postponement because 

of Adisseo France’s withdrawal from the 

investigation.15

Ordinarily, in accordance with 

section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 

CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), Commerce will 

grant an extension if: (1) The 

preliminary determination is 

affirmative; (2) the requesting exporter, 

and in this case producer, accounts for 

a significant proportion of exports of 

subject merchandise; and (3) no 

compelling reasons for denial exist. In 

this investigation, Commerce has 

determined that Adisseo France’s 

withdrawal provides a compelling 

reason to deny Adisseo France’s request 

for postponement, because Adisseo 

France represents both mandatory 

respondents and has withdrawn from 

this investigation.16 Furthermore, 

Adisseo France has indicated that it will 

no longer respond to Commerce’s 

requests for information.17 Therefore, 

because Commerce will not receive 

further information from Adisseo France 

for the remainder of this investigation 

nor conduct verification, Commerce will 

not be postponing its final 

determination in this investigation. 

Moreover, because the final 

determination will not be postponed, 

Commerce will not be extending 

provisional measures. Accordingly, 

Commerce will make its final 

determination no later than 75 days 

after the date of publication of this 

preliminary determination, pursuant to 

section 735(a)(1) of the Act. 

International Trade Commission 

Notification 

In accordance with section 733(f) of 

the Act, Commerce will notify the 

International Trade Commission (ITC) of 

its preliminary determination. If the 

final determination is affirmative, the 

ITC will determine before the later of 

120 days after the date of this 

preliminary determination or 45 days 

after the final determination whether 

imports of methionine from France are 

materially injuring, or threaten material 

injury to, the U.S. industry. 

Notification to Interested Parties 

This determination is issued and 

published in accordance with sections 

733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 

CFR 351.205(c). 

Dated: February 24, 2021. 

Christian Marsh, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement 

and Compliance. 

Appendix I 

Scope of the Investigation 

The merchandise covered by this 

investigation is methionine and dl-Hydroxy 

analogue of dl-methionine, also known as 2- 

Hydroxy 4-(Methylthio) Butanoic acid 

(HMTBa), regardless of purity, particle size, 

grade, or physical form. Methionine has the 

chemical formula C5H11NO2S, liquid HMTBa 

has the chemical formula C5H10O3S, and dry 

HMTBa has the chemical formula 

(C5H9O3S)2Ca. 

Subject merchandise also includes 

methionine processed in a third country 

including, but not limited to, refining, 

converting from liquid to dry or dry to liquid 

form, or any other processing that would not 

otherwise remove the merchandise from the 

scope of these investigations if performed in 

the country of manufacture of the in-scope 

methionine or dl-Hydroxy analogue of dlmethionine. 

The scope also includes methionine that is 

commingled (i.e., mixed or combined) with 

methionine from sources not subject to these 

investigations. Only the subject component 

of such commingled products is covered by 

the scope of these investigations. 

Excluded from this investigation is United 

States Pharmacopoeia (USP) grade 

methionine. In order to qualify for this 

exclusion, USP grade methionine must meet 

or exceed all of the chemical, purity, 

performance, and labeling requirements of 

the United States Pharmacopeia and the 

National Formulary for USP grade 

methionine. 

Methionine is currently classified under 

subheadings 2930.40.0000 and 2930.90.4600 

of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States (HTSUS). Methionine has the 

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry 

numbers 583–91–5, 4857–44–7, 59–51–8 and 

922–50–9. While the HTSUS subheadings 

and CAS registry numbers are provided for 

convenience and customs purposes, the 

written description of the scope of this 

investigation is dispositive. 

Appendix II 

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Background 

III. Period of Investigation 

IV. Scope of Investigation 

V. Scope Comments 

VI. Return of Record Information 

VII. Application of Facts Available and Use 

of Adverse Inferences 

VIII. All-Others Rate 

IX. Critical Circumstances 

X. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2021–04415 Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

Notice of Scope Rulings 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(Commerce) hereby publishes a list of 

scope rulings and anti-circumvention 

determinations made during the period 

October 1, 2020–December 31, 2020. We 

intend to publish future lists after the 

close of the next calendar quarter. 

DATES: Applicable March 4, 2021. 


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