[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 20 (Friday, January 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5089-5091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01816]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-019]


Countervailing Duty Investigation of Boltless Steel Shelving 
Units Prepackaged for Sale From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary 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 (the ``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of boltless steel shelving units prepackaged 
for sale (``boltless steel shelves'') from the People's Republic of 
China (the ``PRC''). We invite interested parties to comment on this 
preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective Date: January 30, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Pulongbarit or Paul Walker, AD/
CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone 202.482.4031 
or 202.482.0413, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of the investigation covers boltless steel shelving units 
prepackaged for sale, with or without decks. The term ``prepackaged for 
sale'' means that, at a minimum, the steel vertical supports (i.e., 
uprights and posts) and steel horizontal supports (i.e., beams, braces) 
necessary to assemble a completed shelving unit (with or without decks) 
are packaged together for ultimate purchase by the end-user. The scope 
also includes add-on kits. Add-on kits include, but are not limited to, 
kits

[[Page 5090]]

that allow the end-user to add an extension shelving unit onto an 
existing boltless steel shelving unit such that the extension and the 
original unit will share common frame elements (e.g., two posts). The 
term ``boltless'' refers to steel shelving in which the vertical and 
horizontal supports forming the frame are assembled primarily without 
the use of nuts and bolts or screws. The vertical and horizontal 
support members for boltless steel shelving are assembled by methods 
such as, but not limited to, fitting a rivet, punched or cut tab or 
other similar connector on one support into a hole, slot or similar 
receptacle on another support. The supports lock together to form the 
frame for the shelving unit, and provide the structural integrity of 
the shelving unit separate from the inclusion of any decking. The 
incidental use of nuts and bolts or screws to add accessories, wall 
anchors, tie-bars or shelf supports does not remove the product from 
scope. Boltless steel shelving units may also come packaged as 
partially assembled, such as when two upright supports are welded 
together with front-to-back supports, or are otherwise connected, to 
form an end unit for the frame. The boltless steel shelving covered by 
this investigation may be commonly described as rivet shelving, welded 
frame shelving, slot and tab shelving, and punched rivet (quasi-rivet) 
shelving as well as by other trade names. The term ``deck'' refers to 
the shelf that sits on or fits into the horizontal supports (beams or 
braces) to provide the horizontal storage surface of the shelving unit.
    The scope includes all boltless steel shelving meeting the 
description above, regardless of (1) vertical support or post type 
(including but not limited to open post, closed post and tubing); (2) 
horizontal support or beam/brace profile (including but not limited to 
Z-beam, C-beam, L-beam, step beam and cargo rack); (3) number of 
supports; (4) surface coating (including but not limited to paint, 
epoxy, powder coating, zinc and other metallic coating); (5) number of 
levels; (6) weight capacity; (7) shape (including but not limited to 
rectangular, square, and corner units); (8) decking material (including 
but not limited to wire decking, particle board, laminated board or no 
deck at all); or (9) the boltless method by which vertical and 
horizontal supports connect (including but not limited to keyhole and 
rivet, slot and tab, welded frame, punched rivet and clip).
    Specifically excluded from the scope are:
    <bullet> wall-mounted shelving, defined as shelving that is hung on 
the wall and does not stand on, or transfer load to, the floor; \1\
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    \1\ The addition of a wall bracket or other device to attach 
otherwise freestanding subject merchandise to a wall does not meet 
the terms of this exclusion.
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    <bullet> wire shelving units, which consist of shelves made from 
wire that incorporates both a wire deck and wire horizontal supports 
(taking the place of the horizontal beams and braces) into a single 
piece with tubular collars that slide over the posts and onto plastic 
sleeves snapped on the posts to create the finished shelving unit;
    <bullet> bulk-packed parts or components of boltless steel shelving 
units; and
    <bullet> made-to-order shelving systems.
    Subject boltless steel shelving enters the United States through 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS'') statistical 
subheadings 9403.20.0018 and 9403.20.0020, but may also enter through 
HTSUS 9403.10.0040. While HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the scope 
of this investigation is dispositive.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this countervailing duty (``CVD'') 
investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (the ``Act''). For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memo.\2\ The Preliminary Decision Memo is a public document and is on 
file electronically via Enforcement & Compliance's Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System 
(``ACCESS'').\3\ ACCESS is available to registered users at http://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memo can be 
accessed directly on the Internet at http://trade.gov/enforcement/frn/index.html. The signed Preliminary Decision Memo and the electronic 
versions of the Preliminary Decision Memo are identical in content.
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    \2\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
``Countervailing Duty Investigation of Boltless Steel Shelving Units 
Prepackaged for Sale from the People's Republic of China: Decision 
Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination,'' dated concurrently 
with this notice (``Preliminary Decision Memo'').
    \3\ On November 24, 2014, Enforcement and Compliance changed the 
name of Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD Centralized 
Electronic Service System (``IA ACCESS'') to AD and CVD Centralized 
Electronic Service System (``ACCESS''). The Web site location was 
changed from http://iaaccess.trade.gov to http://access.trade.gov. 
The Final Rule changing the references to the Regulations can be 
found at 79 FR 69046.
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    The Department notes that, in making these findings, we relied, in 
part, on facts available and, because one or more respondents did not 
act to the best of their ability to respond to the Department's 
requests for information, we drew an adverse inference where 
appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available.\4\ 
For further information, see ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and 
Adverse Inferences'' in the Preliminary Decision Memo.
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    \4\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Alignment

    As noted in the Preliminary Decision Memo, in accordance with 
section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), we are aligning 
the final CVD determination in this investigation with the final 
determination in the companion antidumping duty (``AD'') investigation 
of steel shelves from the PRC.\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 
June 30, 2014, unless postponed.
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    \5\ See Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from 
the People's Republic of China, 79 FR 56562 (September 22, 2014).
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Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated an estimated individual countervailable subsidy rate for 
each producer/exporter of the subject merchandise individually 
investigated. We preliminarily determine these rates to be:

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Company                           Subsidy rate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ningbo ETDZ Huixing Trade Co., Ltd......................           12.21
NanjingTopsun Racking Manufacturing Co., Ltd............           14.53
All Others..............................................           13.37
Dalian Huameilong Metal Products Co., Ltd.*.............           55.75
Dongguan Yuan Er Sheng Machinery Source Hardware Co.,              55.75
 Ltd.*..................................................
Dong Rong Metal Products Co., Ltd.*.....................           55.75
Global Storage Equipment Manufacturer Limited*..........           55.75
Intradin (Shanghai) Import & Export Co., Ltd.*..........           55.75
Jinhua Development District Hongfa Tool, Ltd.*..........           55.75

[[Page 5091]]

 
Kunshan Jisheng Metal & Plastic Co., Ltd.*..............           55.75
Nanjing Huade Warehousing Equipment Manufacturing Co.              55.75
 Ltd.*..................................................
Nanjing Whitney Metal Products Co., Ltd.*...............           55.75
Nanjing Yodoly Logistics Equipments Manufacturing Co.,             55.75
 Ltd.*..................................................
Ningbo Decko Metal Products Trade Co., Ltd.*............           55.75
Ningbo Haifa Metal Works Co., Ltd.*.....................           55.75
Ningbo HaiFa Office Equipment Co., Ltd.*................           55.75
Ningbo TLT Metal Products Co., Ltd.*....................           55.75
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* Non-cooperative company to which an adverse facts available rate is
  being applied. See ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse
  Inferences'' section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (2) of the Act, we are 
directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of 
all entries of steel shelves from the PRC that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, and to require a 
cash deposit for such entries of merchandise in the amounts indicated 
above.
    In accordance with sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for 
companies not investigated, we apply an ``all-others'' rate, which is 
normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual 
companies selected as mandatory respondents by those companies' exports 
of the subject merchandise to the United States. Under section 
705(c)(5)(i) of the Act, the all-others rate should exclude zero and de 
minimis rates calculated for the exporters and producers individually 
investigated as well as rates based entirely on facts otherwise 
available. Notwithstanding the language of section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of 
the Act, we have not calculated the ``all-others'' rate by weighted 
averaging the rates of the two individually investigated respondents, 
because doing so risks disclosure of proprietary information. 
Therefore, for the ``all-others'' rate, we calculated a simple average 
of the two responding firms' rates.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department will disclose calculations performed for this 
preliminary determination to the parties within five days of the date 
of public announcement of this determination in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b). Case briefs or other written comments for all non-scope 
issues may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final 
verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, 
limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than 
five days after the deadline date for case briefs.\6\ A table of 
contents, list of authorities used and an executive summary of issues 
should accompany any briefs submitted to the Department. This summary 
should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate 
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed document 
must be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's 
electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 
within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.\7\ 
Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone 
number; the number of participants; and a list of the issues to be 
discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends 
to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a date, time and 
location to be determined. Parties will be notified of the date, time 
and location of any hearing.
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    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
International Trade Commission (``ITC'') of our determination. In 
addition, we are making available to the ITC all non-privileged and 
non-proprietary information relating to this investigation. We will 
allow the ITC access to all privileged and business proprietary 
information in our files, provided the ITC confirms that it will not 
disclose such information, either publicly or under an administrative 
protective order, without the written consent of the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
    In accordance with section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will make its final determination 
within 45 days after the Department makes its final determination.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

     Dated: January 23, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memo


I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Alignment
VI. Respondent Selection
VII. Voluntary Respondent Treatment
VIII. Injury Test
IX. Application of Countervailing Duty Law to Imports from the PRC
X. Subsidies Valuation
XI. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
XII. Analysis of Programs
XIII. Verification
XIV. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-01816 Filed 1-29-15; 8:45 a.m.]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P