[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10032-10034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03073]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-533-916]


Brass Rod From India: Countervailing 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 a countervailing duty order on 
brass rod from India.

DATES: Applicable February 13, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dusten Hom or Mary Kolberg, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5075 or (202) 482-1785, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (the Act), on December 18, 2023, Commerce published in the 
Federal Register its affirmative final determination in the 
countervailing duty investigation of brass rod from India.\1\ On 
February 1, 2024, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative 
determination that an industry in the United States is materially 
injured by reason of subsidized imports of brass rod from India, within 
the meaning of sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 702(d) of the Act.\2\
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    \1\ See Brass Rod from India: Final Affirmative Countervailing 
Duty Determination, 88 FR 87407 (December 18, 2023).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determination,'' dated February 1, 2024 (ITC Notification).
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by this order is brass rod from India. For a 
complete description of the scope of this order, see the appendix to 
this notice.

Countervailing Duty Order

    On February 1, 2024, in accordance with sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) 
and 705(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 brass rod from India.\3\ Therefore, in 
accordance with 705(c)(2) and 706 of the Act, Commerce is issuing this 
countervailing duty order. Because the ITC determined that imports of 
brass rod from India are materially injuring a U.S. industry, 
unliquidated entries of such merchandise from India entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption are subject to the assessment 
of countervailing duties.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a)(1) of the Act, 
Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on 
all relevant entries of brass rod from India. Countervailing duties 
will be assessed on unliquidated entries of brass rod from India which 
are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
September 29, 2023, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination,\4\ but will not be assessed on entries occurring after 
the expiration of the provisional

[[Page 10033]]

measures period and before publication of the ITC's final affirmative 
injury determination, as further described in the ``Provisional 
Measures'' section below.
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    \4\ See Brass Rod from India: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, 88 FR 67240 (September 29, 2023) 
(Preliminary Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce will instruct 
CBP to continue to suspend liquidation of all relevant entries of brass 
rod from India, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's final 
determination in the Federal Register. These instructions suspending 
liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.
    Commerce also intends, pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of the Act, to 
instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the amounts as indicated 
below. Accordingly, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's 
final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register, CBP 
will require, at the same time as importers would deposit estimated 
normal customs duties on the subject merchandise, a cash deposit for 
each entry of subject merchandise equal to the subsidy rates listed 
below.\5\ The all-others rate applies to all producers or exporters not 
specifically listed below, as appropriate.
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    \5\ See section 706(a)(3) of the Act.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Subsidy rate
                          Company                            (percent ad
                                                              valorem)
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Rajhans Metals Private Limited \6\........................          2.24
All Others................................................          2.24
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Provisional Measures
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    \6\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce found the following company to the cross-owned with RMPL: 
Rajhans Allowys Private Limited (RAPL). However, effective March 11, 
2016, RAPL was amalgamated with RMPL, and since then, ceased to be a 
separate entity.
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    Section 703(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation 
instructions issued pursuant to an affirmative preliminary 
determination may not remain in effect for more than four months. 
Commerce published its Preliminary Determination on September 29, 
2023.\7\ Therefore, the provisional measures period, beginning on the 
date of publication of the Preliminary Determination, ended on January 
27, 2024. Pursuant to section 707(b) of the Act, the collection of cash 
deposits at the rates listed above will begin on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination.
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    \7\ See Preliminary Determination.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we 
instructed CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to 
liquidate without regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated entries 
of brass rod from India entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after January 27, 2024, the date on which the 
provisional measures expired, through the day preceding the date of 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination in the Federal 
Register. Suspension of liquidation will resume on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination in the 
Federal Register.

Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service List

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the 
Federal Register.\8\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published the 
Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\9\ 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.\10\
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    \8\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \9\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \10\ 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.'' \11\
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    \11\ 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 
was 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 <SUP>12</SUP> and Foreign 
Governments
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    \12\ The petitioners are the American Brass Rod Fair Trade 
Coalition and its members, Mueller Brass Co., and Wieland Chase LLC.
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    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.'' \13\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioner and the Government of India should submit its 
initial entry of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service list for this order. 
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.225(n)(3), the petitioner and the Government of 
India will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each year 
to continue to be included on the annual inquiry service list. However, 
the petitioner and the Government of India are responsible for making 
amendments to their entries of appearance during the annual update to 
the annual inquiry service list in

[[Page 10034]]

accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \13\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the countervailing duty order with respect 
to brass rod from India pursuant to section 706(a) of the Act. 
Interested parties can find a list of duty orders currently in effect 
at https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    This CVD order is published in accordance with section 706(a) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: February 5, 2024.
Ryan Majerus
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order are brass rod and bar 
(brass rod), which is defined as leaded, low-lead, and no-lead solid 
brass made from alloys such as, but not limited to the following 
alloys classified under the Unified Numbering System (UNS) as 
C27450, C27451, C27460, C34500, C35000, C35300, C35330, C36000, 
C36300, C37000, C37700, C48500, C67300, C67600, and C69300, and 
their international equivalents.
    The brass rod subject to this order has an actual cross-section 
or outside diameter greater than 0.25 inches but less than or equal 
to 12 inches. Brass rod cross-sections may be round, hexagonal, 
square, or octagonal shapes as well as special profiles (e.g., 
angles, shapes), including hollow profiles.
    Standard leaded brass rod covered by the scope contains, by 
weight, 57.0-65.0 percent copper; 0.5-3.0 percent lead; no more than 
1.3 percent iron; and at least 15 percent zinc. No-lead or low-lead 
brass rod covered by the scope contains by weight 59.0-76.0 percent 
copper; 0-1.5 percent lead; no more than 0.35 percent iron; and at 
least 15 percent zinc. Brass rod may also include other chemical 
elements (e.g., nickel, phosphorous, silicon, tin, etc.).
    Brass rod may be in straight lengths or coils. Brass rod covered 
by this order may be finished or unfinished, and may or may not be 
heated, extruded, pickled, or cold-drawn. Brass rod may be produced 
in accordance with ASTM B16, ASTM B124, ASTM B981, ASTM B371, ASTM 
B453, ASTM B21, ASTM B138, and ASTM B927, but such conformity to an 
ASTM standard is not required for the merchandise to be included 
within the scope.
    Excluded from the scope of this order is brass ingot, which is a 
casting of unwrought metal unsuitable for conversion into brass rod 
without remelting, that contains, by weight, at least 57.0 percent 
copper and 15.0 percent zinc.
    The merchandise covered by this order is currently classifiable 
under subheadings 7407.21.9000, 7407.21.7000, and 7407.21.1500 of 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). 
Products subject to the scope may also enter under HTSUS subheadings 
7403.21.0000, 7407.21.3000, and 7407.21.5000. The HTSUS subheadings 
and UNS alloy designations are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes. The written description of the scope of the order is 
dispositive.

 [FR Doc. 2024-03073 Filed 2-12-24; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P