82572 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 198 / Friday, October 11, 2024 / Notices 

1The Mexican Grower Associations include: 

Confederacio ́n de Asociaciones Agrı ́colas del Esta 

de Sinaloa, A.C., Consejo Agrı ́cola de Baja 

California, Asociacio ́n de Productores de Hortalizas 

del Yaqui y Mayo and Sistema Producto Tomate 

(collectively, Mexican Growers Associations). 

Members of the Mexican Grower Associations are 

Signatories to the 2019 Agreement (Mexican 

Signatories). 

2See Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico: Suspension of 

Antidumping Duty Investigation, 84 FR 49987 

(September 24, 2019) (2019 Agreement). 

3See FTE’s Letter, ‘‘Request for Administrative 

Review,’’ dated September 28, 2023. 

4See Initiation of Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 

78298 (November 15, 2023). 

5See Memorandum, ‘‘Respondent Selection,’’ 

dated January 23, 2024 (Respondent Selection 

Memorandum). 

6See Commerce’s Letter, ‘‘Request for 

Information: Agricola Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. and 

Bioparques de Occidente SA de C.V.,’’ dated 

January 23, 2024 (Bioparques and Globalmex 

Request for Information); Commerce’s Letter, 

‘‘Request for Information: NatureSweet 

Invernaderos S. de R.L. de C.V./NatureSweet 

Comercializadora, S. de R.L. de C.V.,’’ dated 

January 23, 2024 (NatureSweet Request for 

Information). 

7For a complete description of the Scope of the 

2019 Agreement, see Memorandum, ‘‘Decision 

Memorandum for the Preliminary Results of the 

2021–2022 Administrative Review: Fresh Tomatoes 

from Mexico,’’ dated concurrently with, and hereby 

adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum). 

8See 2019 Agreement at Section VI. 

9 Id. at Section VII.B.7. 

10 Id. at Section VII.C; see also Memorandum, 

‘‘Frequently Asked Questions Regarding 

Inspections,’’ dated March 17, 2020. 

11See 2019 Agreement, 84 FR 49996, at Appendix 

D. 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–201–820] 

Agreement Suspending the 

Antidumping Duty Investigation on 

Fresh Tomatoes From Mexico; 

Preliminary Results of 2022–2023 

Administrative Review 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 

determines that a respondent selected 

for individual examination, Bioparques 

de Occidente, S.A. de C.V. (Bioparques), 

complied with the Agreement 

Suspending the Antidumping Duty 

Investigation on Fresh Tomatoes from 

Mexico (2019 Agreement), for the period 

of review (POR) September 1, 2022, 

through August 31, 2023. Commerce 

also preliminarily determines that 

another respondent selected for 

individual examination, Agricola 

Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. (Globalmex), 

complied with certain requirements of 

the 2019 Agreement during the POR. 

Additionally, Commerce preliminarily 

determines that the 2019 Agreement 

functioned as intended and continued 

to meet the statutory requirements 

under sections 734(c) and (d) of the 

Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) 

during the POR. Commerce requires 

additional information from two 

respondents, Globalmex and 

NatureSweet Invernaderos S. de R.L. de 

C.V./NatureSweet Comercializadora, S. 

de R.L. de C.V. (collectively, 

NatureSweet). We intend to examine the 

additional requested information in a 

post-preliminary determination. 

DATES: Applicable October 11, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David Cordell or Walter Schaub, 

Enforcement & Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482–0408 or 

(202) 482–0907, respectively. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On September 19, 2019, Commerce 

signed an agreement under section 

734(c) of the Act, with representatives of 

Mexican fresh tomato producers/ 

exporters accounting for substantially 

all imports of fresh tomatoes from 

Mexico,1 suspending the antidumping 

duty investigation on fresh tomatoes 

from Mexico.2

On September 28, 2023, the Florida 

Tomato Exchange (FTE), a member of 

the U.S. petitioning industry, filed a 

request for an administrative review of 

the 2019 Agreement.3 Commerce 

published notice of its initiation of the 

administrative review of the 2019 

Agreement on November 15, 2023.4 On 

January 23, 2024, Commerce selected 

three companies as mandatory 

respondents, listed in alphabetical 

order: Globalmex; Bioparques; and 

NatureSweet.5 On the same day, 

Commerce issued questionnaires to each 

of the selected respondents.6

Scope of the 2019 Agreement 

Merchandise covered by the 2019 

Agreement is typically classified under 

the following subheading of the 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States (HTSUS), according to the 

season of importation: 0702. The tariff 

classification is provided for 

convenience and customs purposes; 

however, the written description of the 

scope of this 2019 Agreement is 

dispositive.7

Methodology and Preliminary Results 

Commerce is conducting this review 

in accordance with section 751(a)(1)(C) 

of the Act, which specifies that 

Commerce shall ‘‘review the current 

status of, and compliance with, any 

agreement by reason of which an 

investigation was suspended.’’ In this 

case, Commerce and representatives of 

the Mexican tomato producers/exporters 

accounting for substantially all imports 

of fresh tomatoes from Mexico signed 

the 2019 Agreement, which suspended 

the underlying antidumping duty 

investigation, on September 19, 2019. 

Pursuant to the 2019 Agreement, the 

Mexican Signatories agreed to sell 

subject merchandise at or above certain 

minimum reference prices, and that 

their pricing would eliminate at least 85 

percent of the dumping determined in 

the antidumping duty investigation.8

The Mexican signatories also agreed to 

other conditions, including quarterly 

audits,9 near-the-border inspections by 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture on 

all Round and Roma tomatoes and 

certain other types of tomatoes 

beginning on April 4, 2020,10 and limits 

to adjustments to the sales price due to 

certain changes in condition and quality 

after shipment.11

After reviewing the information 

received to date from the mandatory 

respondents in the initial and 

supplemental questionnaire responses, 

we preliminarily determine that one 

respondent, Bioparques, has complied 

with the requirements of the 2019 

Agreement. We also preliminarily 

determine based on the available 

information that another respondent, 

Globalmex, has adhered to certain 

compliance requirements of the 2019 

Agreement. Finally, we preliminarily 

determine that the 2019 Agreement 

functioned as intended and that the 

2019 Agreement continued to meet the 

statutory requirements under sections 

734(c) and (d) of the Act during the 

POR. 

We find that we require additional 

information to complete our 

examination of two respondents, 

Globalmex and NatureSweet, with 

regards to their compliance with the 

2019 Agreement. We are issuing 

supplemental questionnaires to solicit 

additional information and we intend to 

address NatureSweet’s compliance with 

all of the requirements of the 2019 

Agreement, and Globalmex’s 

compliance with certain remaining 

requirements of the 2019 Agreement, in 

a post-preliminary analysis. 

For a full description of the analysis 

underlying our conclusions, see the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A 

list of topics discussed in the 

Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 198 / Friday, October 11, 2024 / Notices 82573 

12See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1). 

13See 19 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2). 

14We use the term ‘‘issue’’ here to describe an 

argument that Commerce would normally address 

in a comment of the Issues and Decision 

Memorandum. 

15See Administrative Protective Order, Service, 

and Other Procedures in Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duty Proceedings; Final Rule, 88 FR 

67069 (September 29, 2023). 

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. In addition, a 

complete version of the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum can be accessed 

directly at https://access.trade.gov/ 

public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx. 

Verification 

As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the 

Act, Commerce intends to verify the 

information relied upon in making its 

final determination. 

Public Comment 

Case briefs may be submitted no later 

than seven days after the date on which 

the last verification report is issued in 

this review. Rebuttal briefs, limited to 

issues raised in case briefs, may be 

submitted no later than seven days after 

the deadline date for case briefs.12

Interested parties who submit case 

briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 

proceeding must submit: (1) a table of 

contents listing each issue; and (2) a 

table of authorities.13

As provided under 19 CFR 

351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior 

proceedings we have encouraged 

interested parties to provide an 

executive summary of their brief that 

should be limited to five pages total, 

including footnotes. In this review, we 

instead request that interested parties 

provide at the beginning of their briefs 

a public, executive summary for each 

issue raised in their briefs.14 Further, we 

request that interested parties limit their 

executive summary of each issue to no 

more than 450 words, not including 

citations. We intend to use the executive 

summaries as the basis of the comment 

summaries included in the issues and 

decision memorandum that will 

accompany the final results in this 

administrative review. We request that 

interested parties include footnotes for 

relevant citations in the executive 

summary of each issue. Note that 

Commerce has amended certain of its 

requirements pertaining to the service of 

documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f).15

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, filed electronically via 

ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) 

the party’s name, address, and 

telephone number; (2) the number of 

participants; and (3) a list of issues to be 

discussed. Issues raised in the hearing 

will be limited to those raised in the 

respective case briefs. An electronically 

filed hearing request must be received 

successfully in its entirety by 

Commerce’s electronic records system, 

ACCESS, by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 

30 days after the date of publication of 

this notice. 

Commerce intends to issue the final 

results of this administrative review, 

including the results of its analysis of 

the issues raised in any written briefs, 

not later than 120 days after the date of 

publication of this notice, pursuant to 

section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act, unless 

extended. 

Notification to Interested Parties 

We are issuing and publishing these 

results in accordance with sections 

751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act. 

Dated: October 7, 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 

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Scope of the 2019 Agreement 

III. Background 

IV. Preliminary Results of Review 

V. Discussion of the Issues 

VI. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2024–23566 Filed 10–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XE370] 

Endangered and Threatened Species; 

File No. 27106 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of permit. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the North Carolina Department of 

Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) has been 

issued a permit for the incidental take 

of Endangered Species Act listed sea 

turtles and sturgeon associated with the 

otherwise lawful commercial inshore 

gillnet fishery in North Carolina. 

ADDRESSES: The incidental take permit, 

final environmental assessment, and 

other related documents are available on 

the NMFS Office of Protected Resources 

website at https://www.fisheries.

noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-permitnorth-carolina-division-marinefisheries-sea-turtles-and-sturgeon. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Celeste Stout, NMFS, Office of Protected 

Resources at celeste.stout@noaa.gov, 

301–427–8403. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 9 

of the ESA and Federal regulations 

prohibit the ‘taking’ of a species listed 

as endangered or threatened. The ESA 

defines ‘‘take’’ to mean harass, harm, 

pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, 

capture, or collect, or to attempt to 

engage in any such conduct. NMFS may 

issue permits, under limited 

circumstances to take listed species 

incidental to, and not the purpose of, 

otherwise lawful activities. Section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides a 

mechanism for authorizing incidental 

take of listed species. NMFS regulations 

governing permits for threatened and 

endangered species are located in 50 

CFR 222.307. 

Species Covered in This Permit 

Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), 

hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), 

leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea 

turtles; North Atlantic and South 

Atlantic distinct population segments 

(DPSs) of green (Chelonia mydas) sea 

turtles; Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS 

of loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea 

turtles; New York Bight, Chesapeake, 

Carolina, and South Atlantic DPSs of 

Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus 

oxyrinchus); and and shortnose sturgeon 

(Acipenser brevirostrum). 

Background 

NMFS received a draft permit 

application and conservation plan from 

NCDMF on June 22, 2022. Based on our 

review of the draft application, we 

requested further information and 

clarification on their minimization, 

monitoring, and mitigation measures 

and take requests. After several draft 

submissions and reviews, on December 

2, 2022, NCDMF submitted a complete 

revised application for the incidental 

take of ESA-listed sea turtles and 

sturgeon. On December 22, 2022, we 

published a notice of receipt (87 FR 

78659) of application and conservation 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1