[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 141 (Monday, July 23, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34828-34830]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15692]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-980]


Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled 
Into Modules, From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2015

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that Canadian 
Solar Inc. and its cross-owned affiliates (collectively, Canadian 
Solar) and Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd. and its cross-owned 
affiliates (collectively, Trina Solar), exporters/producers of 
crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into 
modules (solar cells), from the People's Republic of China (China), 
received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) 
January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015.

DATES: Applicable July 23, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gene H. Calvert, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone; (202) 482-3586.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Commerce published the Preliminary Results of this administrative 
review on January 10, 2018.\1\ We invited interested parties to comment 
on the Preliminary Results. On March 5, 2018, we received timely case 
briefs from the following interested parties: SolarWorld Americas Inc. 
(the petitioner), the Government of China (GOC), Canadian Solar, and 
Trina Solar.\2\ On March 12, 2018, we received timely rebuttal comments 
from the petitioner; the GOC; Canadian Solar; Trina Solar; and Sumec 
Hardware & Tools Co., Ltd. (Sumec).\3\
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    \1\ See Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not 
Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 
and Rescission of Review, in Part; 2015, 83 FR 1235 (January 10, 
2018) (Preliminary Results) and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
    \2\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Certain Crystalline 
Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, 
from the People's Republic of China; Case Brief of SolarWorld 
Americas, Inc.,'' dated March 5, 2018 (Petitioner's Case Brief); 
Letter from the GOC, ``GOC Administrative Case Brief: Fourth 
Administrative Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on 
Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or not Assembled 
into Modules from the People's Republic of China (C-570-980),'' 
dated March 5, 2018 (GOC's Case Brief); Letter from Canadian Solar, 
``Administrative Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on 
Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether Or Not Assembled 
into Modules from the People's Republic of China: Case Brief,'' 
dated March 5, 2018 (Canadian Solar's Case Brief); and Letter from 
Trina Solar, ``Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or 
Not Assembled Into Modules from the People's Republic of China: Case 
Brief,'' dated March 5, 2018 (Trina Solar's Case Brief).
    \3\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Crystalline Silicon 
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the 
People's Republic of China: Rebuttal Brief of SolarWorld Americas, 
Inc.,'' dated March 12, 2018. (Petitioner's Rebuttal Brief); Letter 
from the GOC, ``GOC Rebuttal Brief: Fourth Administrative Review of 
the Countervailing Duty Order on Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic 
Cells, Whether or not Assembled into Modules from the People's 
Republic of China (C-570-980),'' dated March 12, 2018 (GOC's 
Rebuttal Brief); Letter from Canadian Solar, ``Administrative Review 
of the Countervailing Duty order on Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic 
Cells, Whether or Not Assembled in Modules from the People's 
Republic of China: Rebuttal Case Brief,'' dated March 12, 2018. 
(Canadian Solar's Rebuttal Brief); Letter from Trina Solar, 
''Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled 
Into Modules from the People's Republic of China: Rebuttal Brief,'' 
dated March 12, 2018 (Trina Solar's Rebuttal Brief); and Letter from 
Sumec, ``SHTC Letter in Lieu of Rebuttal Brief: Administrative 
Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on Crystalline Silicon 
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or not Assembled into Modules from the 
People's Republic of China,'' dated March 12, 2018. In its letter, 
Sumec submits that Commerce should adopt the positions put forward 
in the case and rebuttal briefs submitted by Canadian Solar and 
Trina Solar.
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    Commerce exercised its discretion to toll all deadlines affected by 
the closure of the Federal Government from January 20 through January 
22, 2018.\4\ As a result, all deadlines in this segment of the 
proceeding have been extended by three days. On May 11, 2018, we 
extended the deadline for issuing the final results of this 
administrative review by 45 days, to June 27, 2018.\5\ On June 21, 
2018, we extended the period for issuing the final results by an 
additional 15 days, to July 12, 2018.\6\
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of the 
Federal Government,'' dated January 23, 2018.
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, 
Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of 
China: Extension of Deadline for Final Results of 2015 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,'' dated May 11, 2018.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, 
Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of 
China: Section Extension of Deadline for Final Results of 2015 
Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,'' dated June 21, 2018.
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the order are solar cells from China. A 
full description of the scope of the order is contained in the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum, which is hereby adopted by this notice.\7\
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    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Final Results 
of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review: Crystalline Silicon 
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the 
People's Republic of China; 2015,'' dated concurrently with this 
notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in interested parties' briefs are listed in the 
Appendix to this notice and are addressed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum. The Issues and 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 http://access.trade.gov and 
in the Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Commerce building. 
In addition, a complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum 
can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn. The 
signed Issues and Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    Based on case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and all supporting 
documentation, we made changes from the Preliminary Results. For the 
final results, we are

[[Page 34829]]

relying solely on Maersk ocean freight prices to value international 
freight when constructing our benchmarks for measuring the adequacy of 
remuneration for the company respondents' input purchases. We also 
corrected certain clerical errors made in our calculations.\8\
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    \8\ See the Issues and Decision Memorandum for a full discussion 
of the changes made since the Preliminary Results.
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Methodology

    Commerce conducted this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as mended (the Act). For each 
of the subsidy programs found to be countervailable, we find that there 
is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution from a government or 
public entity that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that 
the subsidy is specific.\9\ For a full description of the methodology 
underlying all of Commerce's conclusions, including any determination 
that relied upon the use of facts available pursuant to sections 776(a) 
and (b) of the Act, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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    \9\ See section 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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Final Results of Administrative Review

    In accordance with section 777A(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.221(b)(5), we calculated a countervailable subsidy rate for the two 
mandatory respondents, Canadian Solar and Trina Solar. For the non-
selected companies subject to this review, we followed out practice, 
which is to base the subsidy rates on an average of the subsidy rates 
calculated for those companies selected for individual review, 
excluding de minimis rates or rates based entirely on adverse facts 
available.\10\ In this case, for the non-selected companies, we 
calculated a rate by weight-averaging the calculated subsidy rates of 
the two mandatory respondents using their publicly-ranged sales data 
for exports of subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. 
We find the countervailable subsidy rates for the producers/exporters 
under review to be as follows:
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    \10\ See, e.g., Certain Pasta from Italy: Preliminary Results of 
the 13th (2008) Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 75 FR 
18806, 18811 (April 13, 2010), unchanged in Certain Pasta from 
Italy: Final Results of the 13th (2008) Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review, 75 FR 37386 (June 29, 2010); see also Issues 
and Decision Memorandum at the section, ``Non-Selected Companies 
Under Review.''

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                    Producer/exporter                       (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
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Canadian Solar and its Cross-Owned Affiliates \11\......           14.34
Trina Solar and its Cross-Owned Affiliates \12\.........           11.39
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    Review-Specific Average Rate Applicable to the Non-Selected 
Companies Subject to this Review:
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    \11\ Cross-owned affiliates are: Canadian Solar Inc.; Canadian 
Solar Manufacturing (Luoyang) Inc.; Canadian Solar Manufacturing 
(Changshu) Inc.; CSI Cells Co., Ltd.; CSI Solar Power (China) Inc.; 
CSI Solartronics (Changshu) Co., Ltd.; CSI Solar Technologies Inc.; 
CSI Solar Manufacture Inc. (name was changed to CSI New Energy 
Holding Co., Ltd. in July 2015); CSI-GCL Solar Manufacturing 
(Yancheng) Co., Ltd.; Changshu Tegu New Materials Technology Co., 
Ltd.; Changshu Tlian Co., Ltd.; and Suzhou Sanysolar Materials 
Technology Co., Ltd. See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \12\ Cross-owned affiliates are: Changzhou Trina Solar Energy 
Co., Ltd.; Trina Solar (Changzhou) Science and Technology Co., Ltd.; 
Yancheng Trina Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd.; Changzhou Trina 
Solar Yabang Energy Co., Ltd.; Hubei Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd.; 
Turpan Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd.; and Changzhou Trina PV Ribbon 
Materials Co., Ltd.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                    Producer/exporter                       (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
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Baoding Jiasheng Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd.......           13.20
Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd....           13.20
Beijing Tianneng Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd...           13.20
Canadian Solar International, Ltd.......................           13.20
Chint Solar (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.........................           13.20
Dongguan Sunworth Solar Energy Co., Ltd.................           13.20
ERA Solar Co., Ltd......................................           13.20
ET Solar Energy Limited.................................           13.20
ET Solar Industry Limited...............................           13.20
Hainan Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd.............           13.20
Hangzhou Sunny Energy Science and Technology Co., Ltd...           13.20
Hangzhou Zhejiang University Sunny Energy Science and              13.20
 Technology Co., Ltd....................................
Hengdian Group DMEGC Magnetics Co., Ltd.................           13.20
Hengshui Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd...........           13.20
JA Solar Technology Yangzhou Co., Ltd...................           13.20
Jiangsu High Hope Int'l Group...........................           13.20
Jiawei Solarchina Co., Ltd..............................           13.20
Jiawei Solarchina (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd...................           13.20
JingAo Solar Co., Ltd...................................           13.20
Jinko Solar Co., Ltd....................................           13.20
Jinko Solar Import and Export Co., Ltd..................           13.20
Jinko Solar International Limited.......................           13.20
Jinko Solar (U.S.) Inc..................................           13.20
Lightway Green New Energy Co., Ltd......................           13.20
Lixian Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd.............           13.20
Luoyang Suntech Power Co., Ltd..........................           13.20
Ningbo Qixin Solar Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd........           13.20
Risen Energy Co., Ltd...................................           13.20
Shanghai JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd...................           13.20
Shenzhen Glory Industries Co., Ltd......................           13.20
Shenzhen Topray Solar Co., Ltd..........................           13.20
Sumec Hardware & Tools Co. Ltd..........................           13.20
Systemes Versilis, Inc..................................           13.20
Taizhou BD Trade Co., Ltd...............................           13.20
tenKsolar (Shanghai) Co., Ltd...........................           13.20
Tianjin Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd............           13.20
Toenergy Technology Hangzhou Co., Ltd...................           13.20
Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd.............................           13.20
Yingli Energy (China) Co., Ltd..........................           13.20
Zhejiang Era Solar Technology Co., Ltd..................           13.20
Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co., Ltd...........................           13.20
Zhejiang Sunflower Light Energy Science & Technology               13.20
 Limited Liability Company..............................
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Disclosure

    We will disclose to the parties in this proceeding the calculations 
performed for these final results within five days of publication of 
this notice in the Federal Register.\13\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).

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[[Page 34830]]

Assessment Rates

    Consistent with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(2), we intend to issue assessment 
instructions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 15 days after 
the date of publication of these final results of review, to liquidate 
shipments of subject merchandise produced and/or exported by the 
companies listed above, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015, at 
the ad valorem rates listed above.

Cash Deposit Instructions

    In accordance with section 751(a)(1) of the Act, we intend to 
instruct CBP to collect cash deposits of estimated countervailing 
duties in the amounts shown for each of the respective companies listed 
above. These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in 
effect until further notice.

Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the destruction of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). 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 of an APO is an sanctionable violation.
    We are issuing and publishing these final results in accordance 
with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: July 12, 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--Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. List of Interested Party Comments
IV. Scope of the Order
V. Changes Since the Preliminary Results
VI. Non-Selected Companies Under Review
VII. Subsidies Valuation Information
VIII. Use of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
IX. Programs Determined to be Countervailable
X. Program Determined to be Not Countervailable During the POR
XI. Programs Determined to be Not Used or Not To Confer a Measurable 
Benefit During the POR
XII. Analysis of Comments
XIII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2018-15692 Filed 7-20-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P