[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 219 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78308-78310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25201]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-201-857]


Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof From Mexico: 
Antidumping Duty Order

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

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade 
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing an antidumping duty order on 
certain freight rail couplers and parts thereof (freight rail couplers) 
from Mexico.

DATES: Applicable November 15, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Hall-Eastman, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1468

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), on September 21, 2023, Commerce published 
its affirmative final determination in the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) 
investigation of freight rail couplers from Mexico.\1\ On November 6, 
2023, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determination, pursuant to 
section 735(d) of the Act, that an industry in the United States is 
materially injured within the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act by reason of LTFV imports of freight rail couplers from Mexico.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from 
Mexico: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value and Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 88 
FR 61653 (September 21, 2023) (Final Determination).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, Investigation No. 731-TA-1593 (Final), 
dated November 6, 2023.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by this order are freight rail couplers from 
Mexico. For a complete description of the scope of the order, see the 
appendix to this notice.

Antidumping Duty Order

    On November 6, 2023, in accordance with sections 735(b)(1)(A)(i) 
and 735(d) of the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final 
determination that an industry in the United States is materially 
injured by reason of imports of freight rail couplers from Mexico. 
Therefore, Commerce is issuing this antidumping duty order in 
accordance with sections 735(c)(2) and 736 of the Act. Because the ITC 
determined that imports of freight rail couplers from Mexico are 
materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such 
merchandise from Mexico, entered or withdrawn from warehouse for 
consumption, are subject to the assessment of antidumping duties.
    Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act, 
Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, antidumping duties equal 
to the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds the 
export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise, for all 
relevant entries of freight rail couplers from Mexico. With the 
exception of entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional 
measures period and before publication of the ITC's final affirmative 
injury determination, as further described below, antidumping duties 
will be assessed on unliquidated entries of freight rail couplers from 
Mexico, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or 
after May 3, 2023, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination.\3\
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    \3\ See Certain Freight Rail Couplers and Parts Thereof from 
Mexico: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value Preliminary Negative Determination of Critical 
Circumstances, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of 
Provisional Measures, 88 FR 27864 (May 3, 2023) (Preliminary 
Determination).
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Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits

    Except as noted in the ``Provisional Measures'' section of this 
notice, in accordance with section 736 of the Act, Commerce will 
instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation on all relevant entries 
of freight rail couplers from Mexico. These instructions suspending 
liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.
    Commerce will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to 
the amounts indicated below. Accordingly, effective on the date of 
publication in the Federal Register of the notice of the ITC's final 
affirmative injury determination, CBP will require, at the same time as 
importers would normally deposit estimated duties on this subject 
merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the cash deposit rates listed in 
the table below. The all-others rate applies to all producers or 
exporters not specifically listed, as appropriate.

Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins

    The estimated weighted-average dumping margins for this antidumping 
order are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASF-K de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V...........................       48.10
All Others..................................................       48.10
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Provisional Measures

    Section 733(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a 
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise

[[Page 78309]]

request that Commerce extend the four-month period to no more than six 
months. At the request of exporters that account for a significant 
proportion of freight rail couplers from Mexico, Commerce extended the 
four-month period to six months. Commerce's Preliminary Determination 
was published on May 3, 2023.\4\ Commerce's Final Determination was 
extended and was published on September 15, 2023.\5\
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    \4\ Id.
    \5\ See Final Determination.
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    The extended provisional measures period, beginning on the date of 
publication of the Preliminary Determination, ended on October 29, 
2023. Therefore, in accordance with section 733(d) of the Act and our 
practice,\6\ Commerce will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of 
liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, 
unliquidated entries of freight rail couplers from Mexico entered or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption after October 29, 2023, the 
final day on which the provisional measures were in effect, until and 
through the day preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final 
affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of 
liquidation and the collection of cash deposits will resume on the date 
of publication of the ITC's final determination in the Federal 
Register.
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    \6\ See, e.g., Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from 
India, India, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea 
and Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination for 
India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390, 48392 
(July 25, 2016).
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Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the final rule titled 
``Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Laws'' in the Federal Register.\7\ On September 
27, 2021, Commerce also published the notice titled ``Scope Ruling 
Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; and Informational Sessions'' 
in the Federal Register.\8\ The Final Rule and Procedural Guidance 
provide that Commerce will maintain an annual inquiry service list for 
each order or suspended investigation, and any interested party 
submitting a scope ruling application or request for circumvention 
inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request on the persons 
on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as well as any 
companion order covering the same merchandise from the same country of 
origin.\9\
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    \7\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \8\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \9\ Id.
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    In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in 
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an 
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and 
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at https://access.trade.gov, within five business days of publication of the 
notice of the order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in 
ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type 
called ``AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \10\
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    \10\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment 
Specific Information (SSI) field, which will display the month in 
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was 
published in the Federal Register, also known as the anniversary 
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that 
published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant segment 
and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January 
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry 
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will 
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
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    Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry 
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the 
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30 
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of 
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one 
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead 
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce 
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days 
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance, the new annual 
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when 
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is 
published.
    Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as 
needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of 
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and 
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or 
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the 
ACCESS website at https://access.trade.gov.

Special Instructions for Petitioners and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \11\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioners and foreign governments should submit their 
initial entry of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service list. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.225(n)(3), the petitioners and foreign governments will not need to 
resubmit their entries of appearance each year to continue to be 
included on the annual inquiry service list. However, the petitioners 
and foreign governments are responsible for making amendments to their 
entries of appearance during the annual update to the annual inquiry 
service list in accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \11\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the antidumping duty order with respect to 
freight rail couplers from Mexico pursuant to section 736(a) of the 
Act. Interested parties can find a list of antidumping duty orders 
currently in effect at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings.
    This order is published in accordance with section 736(a) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: November 8, 2023.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Order

    The scope of this order covers certain freight railcar couplers 
(also known as ``fits'' or ``assemblies'') and parts thereof. 
Freight railcar couplers are composed of two main parts, namely 
knuckles and coupler bodies but may also include other items (e.g., 
coupler locks, lock lift assemblies, knuckle pins, knuckle throwers, 
and rotors). The parts of couplers that are covered by the order 
include: (1) E coupler bodies, (2) E/F coupler bodies, (3) F coupler 
bodies, (4) E knuckles, and (5) F knuckles, as set forth by the 
Association of American Railroads (AAR). The freight rail coupler 
parts (i.e., knuckles and coupler bodies) are included within the 
scope of the order when imported separately. Coupler locks, lock 
lift assemblies, knuckle pins, knuckle throwers, and rotors are 
covered merchandise when imported in an assembly but are not covered 
by the scope when imported separately.

[[Page 78310]]

    Subject freight railcar couplers and parts are included within 
the scope whether finished or unfinished, whether imported 
individually or with other subject or non-subject parts, whether 
assembled or unassembled, whether mounted or unmounted, or if joined 
with non-subject merchandise, such as other non-subject parts or a 
completed railcar. Finishing includes, but is not limited to, arc 
washing, welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, 
machining, and assembly of various parts. When a subject coupler or 
subject parts are mounted on or to other non-subject merchandise, 
such as a railcar, only the coupler or subject parts are covered by 
the scope.
    The finished products covered by the scope of this order meet or 
exceed the AAR specifications of M-211, ``Foundry and Product 
Approval Requirements for the Manufacture of Couplers, Coupler 
Yokes, Knuckles, Follower Blocks, and Coupler Parts'' and/or AAR M-
215 ``Coupling Systems,'' or other equivalent domestic or 
international standards (including any revisions to the 
standard(s)).
    The country of origin for subject couplers and parts thereof, 
whether fully assembled, unfinished or finished, or attached to a 
railcar, is the country where the subject coupler parts were cast or 
forged. Subject merchandise includes coupler parts as defined above 
that have been further processed or further assembled, including 
those coupler parts attached to a railcar in third countries. 
Further processing includes, but is not limited to, arc washing, 
welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, painting, coating, 
priming, machining, and assembly of various parts. The inclusion, 
attachment, joining, or assembly of non-subject parts with subject 
parts or couplers either in the country of manufacture of the in-
scope product or in a third country does not remove the subject 
parts or couplers from the scope.
    The couplers that are the subject of this order are currently 
classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) statistical reporting number 8607.30.1000. Unfinished 
subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS statistical reporting 
number 7326.90.8688. Subject merchandise attached to finished 
railcars may also enter under HTSUS statistical reporting numbers 
8606.10.0000, 8606.30.0000, 8606.91.0000, 8606.92.0000, 
8606.99.0130, 8606.99.0160, or under subheading 9803.00.50. Subject 
merchandise may also be imported under HTSUS statistical reporting 
number 7325.99.5000. These HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes only; the written description of 
the scope of this order is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2023-25201 Filed 11-14-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P