[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76180-76182]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24473]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-153]


Certain Paper Shopping Bags From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Countervailable Subsidies, 
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of certain paper shopping bags (paper bags) 
from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of 
investigation (POI) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination.

DATES: Applicable November 6, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seth Brown, AD/CVD Operations, Office 
IX, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 
DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0029.

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 countervailing duty (CVD) 
investigation on June 26, 2023.\1\ On August 7, 2023, Commerce 
postponed the preliminary determination until October 30, 2023.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from India and the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigations, 
88 FR 41380 (June 26, 2023) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People's Republic 
of China and India: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in 
the Countervailing Duty Investigations, 88 FR 52122 (August 7, 
2023).
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    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 https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation 
of Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People's Republic of 
China,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice 
(Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are paper bags from 
China. 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 (scope).\5\ We received comments from 
interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent antidumping 
duty (AD) and CVD investigations as it appeared in the Initiation 
Notice, which are listed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\ We 
are currently evaluating the scope comments filed by interested parties 
and intend to issue our preliminary decision regarding the scope of the 
AD and CVD investigations prior to or concurrently with the AD 
preliminary determinations. We will incorporate the scope decisions 
from the AD investigations into the scope of the final CVD 
determination for this investigation, after considering any relevant 
comments submitted in scope case and rebuttal briefs.\7\
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    \4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
    \5\ See Initiation Notice, 88 FR at 41380.
    \6\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 2-3.
    \7\ The deadline for interested parties to submit scope case and 
rebuttal briefs will be established in the preliminary scope 
decision memorandum.
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Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances

    In accordance with section 703(e)(1) of the Act, we preliminarily 
find that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of 
subject merchandise for Dongzheng Paper Bag (Dalian) Factory 
(Dongzheng), Fujian Nanwang Environment Protection Scien-tech Co., Ltd. 
(Fujian Nanwan) the non-responsive companies,\8\ and all other 
producers and/or exporters. For a full discussion of our preliminary 
critical circumstances determination, see the ``Critical 
Circumstances'' section of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \8\ The non-responsive companies are: (1) Bagitan Packaging; (2) 
Changzhou Anjucheng; (3) Courage Packaging; (4) Evertrust Packaging; 
(5) Geotegrity EcoPack; (6) GrandIntelligent; (7) Li & Fung; (8) 
Qindao Chenyu Packaging Co., Ltd.; (9) Shanghai Macolink Supply 
Chain Management Co., Ltd.; (10) Shanghai Sanxi Paper Co., Ltd.; 
(11) Xiamen C&D Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.; (12) Xiamen Champion FMCG; 
(13) Xiamen New Idea Packaging Co., Ltd.; and (14) Xiamen Wonderful 
Bag Import and Export Co., Ltd.
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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.\9\
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    \9\ 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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    Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied, in part, 
on facts

[[Page 76181]]

available, and, because it finds that one or more respondents did not 
act to the best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for 
information, it drew an adverse inference where appropriate in 
selecting from among the facts otherwise available.\10\ For further 
information, see the ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse 
Inferences'' section of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \10\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Alignment

    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 paper bags from China based on a request made by the 
Coalition for Fair Trade in Shopping Bags (the petitioner).\11\ 
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 March 11, 2024, unless postponed.
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    \11\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Petitioner's Request to Align 
Countervailing Duty Investigation Final Determination with 
Antidumping Duty Investigation Final Determination,'' dated October 
5, 2023.
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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 individual 
estimated countervailable subsidy rates for Dongzheng and Fujian 
Nanwang that are not zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts 
otherwise available.\12\ Therefore, Commerce calculated the all-others 
rate using a weighted average of the individually estimated subsidy 
rates calculated for the examined respondents using each company's 
public ranged data for the value of its exports of subject merchandise 
to the United States.\13\
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    \12\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at Appendix I.
    \13\ See Memorandum, ``Calculations of `All Others' Rate for the 
Preliminary Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation 
of Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People's Republic of 
China,'' dated concurrently with this notice, at 1.
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Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
countervailable subsidy rates exist:
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    \14\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
Fujian Nanwang: Zhuhai Zhongyue Paper Cup Container Co., Ltd.; Anhui 
Nanwang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., Xianghe 
Nanwang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.; and Hubei 
Nanwang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                            (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
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Bagitan Packaging.......................................          144.03
Changzhou Anjucheng.....................................          144.03
Courage Packaging.......................................          144.03
Dongzheng Paperbag (DaLian) Factory.....................           12.43
Evertrust Packaging.....................................          144.03
Fujian Nanwang Environment Protection Scien-Tech Co.,              13.96
 Ltd.\14\...............................................
Geotegrity EcoPack......................................          144.03
GrandIntelligent........................................          144.03
Li & Fung...............................................          144.03
Qindao Chenyu Packaging Co., Ltd........................          144.03
Shanghai Macolink Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd......          144.03
Shanghai Shanxi Paper Co., Ltd..........................          144.03
Xiamen C&D Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd........................          144.03
Xiamen Champion FMCG....................................          144.03
Xiamen New Idea Packaging Co., Ltd......................          144.03
Xiamen Wonderful Bag Import and Export Co., Ltd.........          144.03
All Others..............................................           13.84
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(e)(2)(A) of the Act, because we find 
that critical circumstances exist for Dongzhen, Fujian Nanwang, the 
non-response companies, and all other producers and/or exporters, 
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 90 days prior to 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 the publication of this 
notice, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify the information relied upon in making its final determination.

Public Comment

    All interested parties will have the opportunity to submit scope 
case and rebuttal briefs on the preliminary decision regarding the 
scope of the AD and CVD investigations. The deadlines to submit scope 
case and rebuttal briefs will be provided in the preliminary scope 
decision memorandum. For all scope case and rebuttal briefs, parties 
must file identical documents simultaneously on the records of the 
ongoing AD and CVD paper bags investigations. No new factual 
information or business proprietary information may be included in 
either scope case or rebuttal briefs.
    Case briefs or other written comments on non-scope issues may be 
submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. 
Interested parties will be notified of the timeline for the submission 
of 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 after the deadline 
date for case briefs.\15\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), 
parties who submit case 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. 
Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining 
to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f).\16\
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    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \16\ See Administrative Protective Order, Service, and Other 
Procedures in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings; Final 
Rule, 88 FR 67069 (September 29, 2023).
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    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, and a list of the

[[Page 76182]]

issues to be discussed. Oral presentations at the hearing will be 
limited to issues raised in the briefs. If a request for a hearing is 
made, parties will be notified of the time and date for the 
hearing.\17\
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    \17\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the U.S. 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 these imports 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 703(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: October 30, 2023.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products within the scope of this investigation are paper 
shopping bags with handles of any type, regardless of whether there 
is any printing, regardless of how the top edges are finished (e.g., 
folded, serrated, or otherwise finished), regardless of color, and 
regardless of whether the top edges contain adhesive or other 
material for sealing closed. Subject paper shopping bags have a 
width of at least 4.5 inches and depth of at least 2.5 inches.
    Paper shopping bags typically are made of kraft paper but can be 
made from any type of cellulose fiber, paperboard, or pressboard 
with a basis weight less than 300 grams per square meter (GSM).
    A non-exhaustive illustrative list of the types of handles on 
shopping bags covered by the scope include handles made from any 
materials such as twisted paper, flat paper, yarn, ribbon, rope, 
string, or plastic, as well as die-cut handles (whether the punchout 
is fully removed or partially attached as a flap).
    Excluded from the scope are:
    <bullet> Paper sacks or bags that are of a \1/6\ or \1/7\ barrel 
size (i.e., 11.5-12.5 inches in width, 6.5-7.5 inches in depth, and 
13.5-17.5 inches in height) with flat paper handles or die-cut 
handles;
    <bullet> Paper sacks or bags with die-cut handles, a grams per 
square meter weight of less than 62 GSM, and a height of less than 
11.5 inches; and
    <bullet> Shopping bags (i) with non-paper handles made wholly of 
woven ribbon or other similar woven fabric and (ii) that are 
finished with folded tops or for which tied knots or t-bar aglets 
(made of wood, metal, or plastic) are used to secure the handles to 
the bags.
    The above-referenced dimensions are provided for paper bags in 
the opened position. The height of the bag is the distance from the 
bottom fold edge to the top edge (i.e., excluding the height of 
handles that extend above the top edge). The depth of the bag is the 
distance from the front of the bag edge to the back of the bag edge 
(typically measured at the bottom of the bag). The width of the bag 
is measured from the left to the right edges of the front and back 
panels (upon which the handles typically are located).
    This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
4819.30.0040 and 4819.40.0040. The HTSUS subheadings are provided 
for convenience and customs purposes only; the written description 
of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Injury Test
VI. Analysis of China's Financial System
VII. Diversification of China's Economy
VIII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
IX. Subsidies Valuation
X. Benchmarks and Interest Rates
XI. Analysis of Programs
XII. Critical Circumstances
XIII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2023-24473 Filed 11-3-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P