Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Notices 45213 

1See Rubber Bands from the People’s Republic of 

China, Sri Lanka, and Thailand: Initiation of LessThan-Fair-Value Investigations, 83 FR 8424, 8425 

(February 27, 2018) (Initiation Notice). 

2See 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). 

3See the memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum 

for the Preliminary Determination in the Less-ThanFair-Value Investigation of Rubber Bands from the 

People’s Republic of China,’’ dated August 29, 2018 

(Preliminary Decision Memorandum). 

4See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 

Final Rule, 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997). 

5See Initiation Notice. 

6See Greenbrier’s and Conair’s letter, ‘‘Rubber 

Bands from, Thailand, China and Sri Lanka: Scope 

Comments,’’ dated March 12, 2018; Jafferjee’s letter, 

‘‘Rubber Bands from Thailand: Scope Comments,’’ 

dated March 12, 2018; and, the petitioner’s letter, 

‘‘Petition for the Imposition of Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duties on Rubber Bands from 

Thailand and China—Rebuttal Scope Comments,’’ 

dated March 22, 2018. 

7See Memorandum, ‘‘Rubber Bands from 

Thailand and the People’s Republic of China: Scope 

Comments Decision Memorandum for the 

Preliminary Determination,’’ dated concurrently 

with this notice (Preliminary Scope Decision 

Memorandum). 

8See the memorandum, ‘‘Antidumping Duty 

Investigation of Rubber Bands from the People’s 

Republic of China: Delivery of Quantity and Value 

Questionnaire to Exporters/Producers,’’ dated 

March 6, 2018. 

9

12. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2018–19337 Filed 9–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–570–069] 

Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of 

Rubber Bands From the People’s 

Republic of China: Preliminary 

Affirmative Determination of Sales at 

Less Than Fair Value and Preliminary 

Affirmative Determination of Critical 

Circumstances 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(Commerce) preliminarily determines 

that rubber bands from the People’s 

Republic of China (China) are being or 

are likely to be sold in the United States 

at less than fair value (LTFV). The 

period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 

2017, through December 31, 2017. 

Interested parties are invited to 

comment on this preliminary 

determination. 

DATES: Applicable September 6, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Stolz or Stephanie Berger, 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) 482–4474 or (202) 482–2483, 

respectively. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background 

This preliminary determination is 

made in accordance with section 733(b) 

of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 

(the Act). We published the notice of 

initiation of this investigation on 

February 27, 2018.1 On June 26, 2018, 

we postponed the preliminary 

determination of this investigation. The 

revised deadline is now August 29, 

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 

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, and 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 the electronic versions 

of the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum are identical in content. 

Scope of the Investigation 

The products covered by this 

investigation are rubber bands 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 (i.e., scope).5 Certain interested 

parties provided comments on the scope 

of the investigation as it appeared in the 

Initiation Notice.6 For a summary of the 

product coverage comments and 

rebuttal responses submitted to the 

record for this preliminary 

determination, and accompanying 

discussion and analysis of all comments 

timely received, see the Preliminary 

Scope Decision Memorandum.7 We are 

preliminarily modifying the scope 

language as it appeared in the Initiation 

Notice. See the revised scope in 

Appendix I to this notice. 

Methodology 

We are conducting this investigation 

in accordance with section 731 of the 

Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) and (b) 

of the Act, we have preliminarily relied 

upon facts otherwise available, with 

adverse inferences, for the China-wide 

entity because it did not respond to our 

requests for information. Specifically, 

all companies to which Commerce 

issued quantity and value (Q&V) 

questionnaires failed to respond.8 Thus, 

no companies have demonstrated their 

eligibility for a separate rate and are 

preliminarily found to be part of the 

China-wide entity. Furthermore, we find 

that the China-wide entity’s lack of 

participation, including the failure of 

certain parts of the China-wide entity to 

submit Q&V information, constitutes 

circumstances under which it is 

reasonable to conclude that the Chinawide entity as a whole failed to 

cooperate to the best of its ability to 

comply with Commerce’s request for 

information. For a full description of the 

methodology underlying Commerce’s 

preliminary determination, see the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 

Preliminary Affirmative Determination 

of Critical Circumstances 

On June 11, 2018, as revised on 

August 7, 2018, the petitioner timely 

filed a critical circumstances allegation, 

pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act 

and 19 CFR 351.206, alleging that 

critical circumstances exist with respect 

to imports of rubber bands from China.9

Based on the failure of all respondents, 

and thus the China-wide entity, to 

cooperate to the best of their ability to 

comply with Commerce’s requests for 

information, we preliminarily determine 

that massive imports of rubber bands 

from China existed for the China-wide 

entity, based on adverse facts available, 

pursuant to section 733(e)(1)(B) of the 

Act. In addition, we have preliminarily 

determined that there is a reasonable 

basis to believe or suspect that 

importers knew, or should have known, 

that merchandise was being sold for less 

than fair value and that those sales were 

likely to cause material injury in 

accordance with section 733(e)(1)(A)(ii) 

of the Act. 

For a full description of the 

methodology and the results of 

Commerce’s analysis, see the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 


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45214 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Notices 

10See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 

(for general filing requirements). 

Preliminary Determination 

We preliminarily determine that the 

following estimated weighted-average 

dumping margin exists: 

Producer Exporter 

Estimated 

weightedaverage 

dumping 

margin 

(percent) 

Cash deposit 

(percent) 

China-Wide Entity ......................................................... China-Wide Entity ......................................................... 27.27 26.65 

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 subject 

merchandise, as described in the scope 

of the investigation entered, or 

withdrawn from warehouse, for 

consumption on or after the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register, as discussed below. 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 equal to the estimated weightedaverage dumping margin, adjusted for 

export subsidies, as indicated in the 

chart above. 

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

that, given an affirmative determination 

of critical circumstances, any 

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. Commerce preliminarily 

finds that critical circumstances exist 

for all imports of subject merchandise 

from China. In accordance with section 

733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension 

of liquidation shall apply to all 

unliquidated entries of subject 

merchandise entered, or withdrawn 

from warehouse, for consumption on or 

after the date which is 90 days before 

the publication of this notice. 

To determine the cash deposit rate, 

Commerce normally adjusts the 

estimated weighted-average dumping 

margin by the amount of domestic 

subsidy pass-through and export 

subsidies determined in a companion 

countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding 

when CVD provisional measures are in 

effect. Accordingly, where Commerce 

has made a preliminary affirmative 

determination for export subsidies, 

Commerce has offset the calculated 

estimated weighted-average dumping 

margin by the appropriate rate(s). Any 

such cash deposit rates may be found in 

the Preliminary Determination Section’s 

chart of estimated weighted-average 

dumping margins above. 

Should provisional measures in the 

companion CVD investigation expire 

prior to the expiration of provisional 

measures in this LTFV investigation, 

Commerce will direct CBP to begin 

collecting cash deposits at a rate equal 

to the estimated weighted-average 

dumping margin calculated in this 

preliminary determination unadjusted 

for the export subsidies at the time the 

CVD provisional measures expire. These 

suspension of liquidation instructions 

will remain in effect until further notice. 

Disclosure 

Normally, Commerce discloses to 

interested parties the calculations 

performed in connection with a 

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). However, 

because Commerce preliminarily 

applied AFA to companies in this 

investigation in accordance with section 

776 of the Act, and the applied AFA rate 

is based solely on the petition, there are 

no calculations to disclose. 

Verification 

Because all respondents did not 

provide information requested by 

Commerce and we preliminarily 

determine that all respondents to have 

been uncooperative, verification will 

not be conducted. 

Public Comment 

Case briefs or other written comments 

may be submitted to the Assistant 

Secretary for Enforcement and 

Compliance no later than 30 days after 

the date of publication of the 

preliminary determination, unless the 

Secretary alters the time limit. Rebuttal 

briefs, limited to issues raised in case 

briefs, may be submitted no later than 

five days after the deadline date for case 

briefs.10 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. 

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, whether any 

participant is a foreign national, and a 

list of the issues to be discussed. If a 

request for a hearing is made, we intend 

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. Parties should confirm by 

telephone the date, time, and location of 

the hearing two days before the 

scheduled date. 

International Trade Commission (ITC) 

Notification 

In accordance with section 733(f) of 

the Act, we notified the ITC of our 

preliminary affirmative determination of 

sales at LTFV and preliminary 

determination of critical circumstances. 

If the Commerce 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 the subject 

merchandise are materially injuring, or 

threaten material injury to, the U.S. 

industry and whether critical 

circumstances exist. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Notices 45215 

1Certain Plastic Decorative Ribbon from the 

People’s Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative 

Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment 

of Final Determination with Final Antidumping 

Duty Determination, 83 FR 29096 (June 22, 2018) 

(Preliminary CVD Determination). 

2See Scope Comments Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum, dated July 30, 2018. 

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: August 29, 2018. 

Christian Marsh, 

Deputy 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. 

Excluded from the scope of this 

investigation are vulcanized rubber bands of 

various sizes with arrow shaped rubber 

protrusions from the outer diameter that 

exceeds at the anchor point a wall thickness 

of 0.125 inches and where the protrusion is 

used to loop around, secure and lock in 

place. 

Excluded from the scope of this 

investigation are yarn/fabric-covered 

vulcanized rubber hair bands, regardless of 

size. 

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. Period of Investigation 

IV. Scope Comments 

V. Discussion of the Methodology 

A. Non-Market Economy Country 

B. China-Wide Entity 

C. Use of Facts Otherwise Available With 

an Adverse Inference 

D. Application of Facts Available 

E. Application of Facts Available With an 

Adverse Inference 

F. Selection and Corroboration of the AFA 

Rate 

G. Preliminary Affirmative Determination 

of Critical Circumstances 

1. Legal Framework 

2. Critical Circumstances Allegation 

3. Analysis 

VI. Adjustment under Section 777a(F) of the 

Act 

VII. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for 

Export Subsidies 

VIII. Verification 

IX. Conclusion 

[FR Doc. 2018–19333 Filed 9–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[C–570–076] 

Certain Plastic Decorative Ribbon 

From the People’s Republic of China: 

Amended Preliminary Affirmative 

Countervailing Duty Determination 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: On June 22, 2018, the 

Department of Commerce (Commerce) 

published in the Federal Register the 

preliminary determination of the 

countervailing duty (CVD) investigation 

on certain plastic decorative ribbon 

(plastic ribbon) from the People’s 

Republic of China (China). Commerce is 

amending the scope of the preliminary 

determination. 

DATES: Applicable September 6, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mark Hoadley, 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) 482–3148. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 

22, 2018, Commerce published in the 

Federal Register the preliminary 

determination of the CVD investigation 

of plastic ribbon.1 On August 2, 2018, 

Commerce placed on the record of this 

investigation a preliminary decision 

memorandum addressing all comments 

received in this proceeding and the 

companion antidumping proceeding 

regarding the scope of the 

investigations.2 In accordance with the 

comments discussed in the 

memorandum, we made certain changes 

to the scope of these investigations. The 

changes include a revision to part b) of 

clause 4 in paragraph 5, and the 

exclusion of certain shredded plastic 

film or shredded plastic strip from the 

investigations. The revised scope is 

printed in its entirety below. 

Scope of the Investigation 

The merchandise covered by this 

investigation is certain plastic 

decorative ribbon having a width 

(measured at the narrowest span of the 

ribbon) of less than or equal to four (4) 

inches in actual measurement, 

including but not limited to ribbon 

wound onto itself; a spool, a core or a 

tube (with or without flanges); attached 

to a card or strip; wound into a keg- or 

egg-shaped configuration; made into 

bows, bow-like items, or other shapes or 

configurations; and whether or not 

packaged or labeled for retail sale. The 

subject merchandise is typically made 

of substrates of polypropylene, but may 

be made in whole or in part of any type 

of plastic, including without limitation, 

plastic derived from petroleum products 

and plastic derived from cellulose 

products. Unless the context otherwise 

clearly indicates, the word ‘‘ribbon’’ 

used in the singular includes the plural 

and the plural ‘‘ribbons’’ includes the 

singular. 

The subject merchandise includes 

ribbons comprised of one or more layers 

of substrates made, in whole or in part, 

of plastics adhered to each other, 

regardless of the method used to adhere 

the layers together, including without 

limitation, ribbons comprised of layers 

of substrates adhered to each other 

through a lamination process. Subject 

merchandise also includes ribbons 

comprised of (a) one or more layers of 

substrates made, in whole or in part, of 

plastics adhered to (b) one or more 

layers of substrates made, in whole or in 

part, of non-plastic materials, including, 

without limitation, substrates made, in 

whole or in part, of fabric. 

The ribbons subject to this 

investigation may be of any color or 

combination of colors (including 

without limitation, ribbons that are 

transparent, translucent or opaque) and 

may or may not bear words or images, 

including without limitation, those of a 

holiday motif. The subject merchandise 


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