31728 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 131 / Monday, July 9, 2018 / Notices 

1See Rubber Bands from Thailand, the People’s 

Republic of China, and Sri Lanka: Initiation of 

Countervailing Duty Investigations, 83 FR 8429 

(February 27, 2018) (Initiation Notice). 

2See Rubber Bands from Thailand and the 

People’s Republic of China: Postponement of 

Preliminary Determinations in the Countervailing 

Duty Investigations, 83 FR 15789 (April 12, 2018). 

3See Memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum for 

the Preliminary Negative Countervailing Duty 

Determination and Alignment of Final 

Determination with Final Antidumping Duty 

Determination of Citric Acid and Certain Citrate 

Salts from Thailand,’’ dated concurrently with, and 

hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum). 

4See 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. 

5The petitioner in this investigation is Alliance 

Rubber Co. See Letter from the petitioner, ‘‘Petition 

for the Imposition of Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duties on Rubber Bands from 

Thailand and China—Petitioner’s Request for 

Postponement of the Preliminary Determinations,’’ 

dated March 27, 2018. 

6The AD preliminary determination was 

postponed to no later than August 29, 2018, see 

Rubber Bands from the People’s Republic of China 

and Thailand: Postponement of Preliminary 

Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-Value 

Investigations, 83 FR 29748 (June 26, 2018). 

Therefore, the AD final determination is currently 

due for signature no later than Monday, November 

12, 2018, which is a federal holiday. Commerce’s 

practice dictates that where a deadline falls on a 

weekend or federal holiday, the appropriate 

deadline is the next business day (see Notice of 

Clarification: Application of ‘‘Next Business Day’’ 

Rule for Administrative Determination Deadlines 

Pursuant to the Tariff Act of 1930, As Amended, 70 

FR 24533 (May 10, 2005). As such, the AD final 

determination signature date rolls to Tuesday, 

November 13, 2018. 

proprietary information in this segment 

of the proceeding. Timely written 

notification of the return or destruction 

of APO materials or conversion to 

judicial protective order is hereby 

requested. Failure to comply with the 

regulations and the terms of an APO is 

a sanctionable violation. 

This notice is issued and published in 

accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 

777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 

351.213(d)(4). 

Dated: June 29, 2018. 

Scot Fullerton, 

Director, Office VI, Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duty Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2018–14611 Filed 7–6–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[C–549–836] 

Rubber Bands From Thailand: 

Preliminary Negative 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 not 

being provided to producers and 

exporters of rubber bands from Thailand 

for the period of investigation of January 

1, 2017, through December 31, 2017. 

Interested parties are invited to 

comment on this preliminary 

determination. 

DATES: Applicable July 9, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Halle or Shanah Lee, AD/CVD 

Operations, Office III, Enforcement and 

Compliance, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone 

202–482–0176 or 202–482–6386, 

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). On February 20, 2018, we 

initiated a countervailing duty (CVD) 

investigation of rubber bands from 

Thailand.1 On April 12, 2018, in 

accordance with section 703(c)(1)(A) of 

the Act, we postponed the preliminary 

determination of this investigation to 

July 2, 2018.2

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 an 

Appendix 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, and is 

available to all parties in the Central 

Records Unit, room B8024 of the main 

Department of Commerce building. 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 subject to this 

investigation are rubber bands from 

Thailand. For a complete description of 

the scope of this investigation, see 

Appendix I. 

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.4

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)(i), we are aligning the 

final CVD determination in this 

investigation with the final 

determination in the companion 

antidumping duty (AD) investigation of 

rubber bands based on a request made 

by the petitioner.5 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 

November 13, 2018, unless postponed.6

Preliminary Determination 

For this preliminary determination, 

Commerce calculated de minimis 

estimated countervailable subsidies for 

all individually examined producers/ 

exporters of the subject merchandise. 

Consistent with section 703(b)(4)(A) of 

the Act, Commerce has disregarded the 

de minimis rates. Commerce 

preliminarily determines that the 

following estimated countervailable 

subsidy rates exist: 

Company Subsidy rate 

(percent) 

Liang Hah Heng International Rubber Co., 

Ltd.

0.23 (de minimis). 

U. Yong Industry Co., 

Ltd.

0.37 (de minimis). 

Consistent with section 703(d) of the 

Act, Commerce has not calculated an 

estimated weighted-average subsidy rate 

for all other producers/exporters 

because it has not made an affirmative 

preliminary determination. 

Suspension of Liquidation 

Because Commerce preliminarily 

determines that no countervailable 

subsidies are being provided to the 

production or exportation of subject 

merchandise, Commerce will not direct 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection to 

suspend liquidation of any such entries. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 131 / Monday, July 9, 2018 / Notices 31729 

7See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 

(for general filing requirements). 

8See 19 CFR .309(c)(2) and (d)(2). 

9See 19 CFR 351.303(b)(1). 

Public Comment 

Interested parties may submit case 

and rebuttal briefs, as well as request a 

hearing. Case briefs or other written 

comments may be submitted to the 

Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance no later than seven days 

after the date on which the last 

verification report is issued in this 

investigation. Rebuttal briefs, limited to 

issues raised in case briefs, may be 

submitted no later than five days after 

the deadline date for case briefs.7

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.8 This 

summary should be limited to five pages 

total, including footnotes. 

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 in the 

Federal Register via ACCESS. Hearing 

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 the U.S. 

Department of Commerce, 1401 

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20230, at a time and date to be 

determined. Prior to the date of the 

hearing, Commerce will contact all 

parties that submitted case or rebuttal 

briefs to determine if they wish to 

participate in the hearing. Commerce 

will then provide a hearing schedule to 

the parties prior to the hearing and only 

those parties listed on the schedule may 

present issues raised in their briefs. 

Parties should confirm by telephone the 

date, time, and location of the hearing 

two days before the scheduled date. 

Electronically filed documents must 

be received successfully in their entirety 

by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time,9 on the due 

dates established above. 

International Trade Commission (ITC) 

Notification 

In accordance with section 703(f) of 

the Act, we will notify the ITC of our 

determination. In addition, Commerce 

will make available to the ITC all nonprivileged and non-proprietary 

information relating to this 

investigation. Commerce will allow the 

ITC access to all privileged and business 

proprietary information in the files, 

provided the ITC confirms that it will 

not disclose such information, either 

publicly or under an APO, without the 

written consent of the Assistant 

Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance. 

Pursuant to section 705(b)(2) of the 

Act, if Commerce’s final determination 

is affirmative, the ITC will make its final 

determination before the later of 120 

days after the date of this preliminary 

determination, or 45 days after 

Commerce’s 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). 

Disclosure 

Commerce intends to disclose its 

calculations and analysis performed to 

interested parties in this preliminary 

determination within five days of its 

public announcement 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. 

Dated: July 2, 2018. 

Gary Taverman, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping 

and Countervailing Duty Operations 

performing the non-exclusive functions and 

duties of the Assistant Secretary for 

Enforcement and Compliance. 

Appendix I—Scope of the Investigation 

The products subject to this investigation 

are bands made of vulcanized rubber, with a 

flat length, as actually measured end-to-end 

by the band lying flat, no less than 1⁄2 inch 

and no greater than 10 inches; with a width, 

which measures the dimension 

perpendicular to the length, actually of at 

least 3/64 inch and no greater than 2 inches; 

and a wall thickness actually from 0.020 inch 

to 0.125 inch. Vulcanized rubber has been 

chemically processed into a more durable 

material by the addition of sulfur or other 

equivalent curatives or accelerators. Subject 

products are included regardless of color or 

inclusion of printed material on the rubber 

band’s surface, including but not limited to, 

rubber bands with printing on them, such as 

a product name, advertising, or slogan, and 

printed material (e.g., a tag) fastened to the 

rubber band by an adhesive or another 

temporary type of connection. The scope 

includes vulcanized rubber bands which are 

contained or otherwise exist in various forms 

and packages, such as, without limitation, 

vulcanized rubber bands included within a 

desk accessory set or other type of set or 

package, and vulcanized rubber band balls. 

The scope excludes products that consist of 

an elastomer loop and durable tag all-in-one, 

and bands that are being used at the time of 

import to fasten an imported product. 

Merchandise covered by this investigation is 

currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under 

subheading 4016.99.3510. Merchandise 

covered by the scope may also enter under 

HTSUS subheading 4016.99.6050. While the 

HTSUS subheadings are provided for 

convenience and customs purposes, the 

written description of the scope of the 

investigation is dispositive. 

Appendix II—List of Topics Discussed 

in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Background 

III. Scope Comments 

IV. Scope of the Investigation 

V. Alignment 

VI. Injury Test 

VII. Subsidies Valuation 

VIII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and 

Adverse Inferences 

IX. Analysis of Programs 

X. Verification 

XI. Calculation of the All Others Rate 

XII. Conclusion 

[FR Doc. 2018–14634 Filed 7–6–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[C–570–070] 

Rubber Bands From the People’s 

Republic of China: Preliminary 

Affirmative Countervailing Duty 

Determination and Alignment of Final 

Determination With Final Antidumping 

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 

rubber bands from the People’s Republic 

of China (China) for the period of 

investigation of January 1, 2017, through 

December 31, 2017. Interested parties 

are invited to comment on this 

preliminary determination. 

DATES: Applicable July 9, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kristen Johnson, 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) 482–4793. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES