[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14943-14944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06485]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-489-823]


Welded Line Pipe From the Republic of Turkey: Preliminary 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping 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 welded line pipe from the Republic of Turkey 
(Turkey). The period of investigation is January 1, 2013, through 
December 31, 2013. Interested parties are invited to comment on this 
preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective March 20, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Eastwood or Dennis McClure, 
AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
3874 or (202) 482-5973, respectively.

Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty (CVD) Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty (AD) Determination

    On the same day the Department initiated this CVD investigation, 
the Department also initiated a CVD investigation of welded line pipe 
from the Republic of Korea (Korea) and AD investigations of welded line 
pipe from Korea and Turkey.\1\ The CVD and AD investigations cover the 
same merchandise. On February 27, 2015, in accordance with section 
705(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (Act), the petitioners 
\2\ requested alignment of the final CVD determination with the final 
AD determination of welded line pipe from Turkey. Therefore, in 
accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), 
we are aligning the final CVD determination with the final AD 
determination. 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 July 28, 2015, unless postponed.
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    \1\ See Welded Line Pipe From the Republic of Korea and the 
Republic of Turkey: Initiation of Countervailing Duty 
Investigations, 79 FR 67419 (November 13, 2014) (Initiation Notice). 
See also Welded Line Pipe From the Republic of Korea and the 
Republic of Turkey: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigations, 79 FR 68213 (November 14, 2014).
    \2\ The petitioners in this investigation are American Cast Iron 
Pipe Company, Energex (a division of JMC Steel Group), Maverick Tube 
Corporation, Northwest Pipe Company, Stupp Corporation (a division 
of Stupp Bros., Inc.), Tex-Tube Company, TMK IPSCO, and Welspun 
Tubular LLC USA.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of the investigation covers welded line pipe, which is 
carbon and alloy steel pipe of a kind used for oil or gas pipelines, 
not more than 24 inches in nominal outside diameter. For a complete 
description of the scope of the investigation, see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the 
investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For discussion 
of those comments, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\3\
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    \3\ See Memorandum from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
regarding ``Decision Memorandum for the Affirmative Preliminary 
Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Welded 
Line Pipe from the Republic of Turkey,'' dated concurrently with 
this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this CVD investigation in accordance 
with section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found 
countervailable, we preliminarily determine that there is a subsidy 
(i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that gives rise to 
a benefit to the recipient) and that the subsidy is specific.\4\ For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \4\ See sections 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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    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).\5\ 
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 Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum and the electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \5\ 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 (November 20, 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 a CVD rate for each individually-investigated producer/
exporter of the subject merchandise. For companies not individually 
investigated, we have calculated an ``all others'' rate as described 
below. We preliminarily determine the countervailable subsidy rates to 
be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                             (percent)
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Borusan Istikbal Ticaret, Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi            8.85
 ve Ticaret A.S., Borusan Mannesmann Boru Yatirim
 Holding A.S., and Borusan Holding A.S..................
Tos[ccedil]elik Profil ve Sac Endustrisi A.S., Tosyali              3.76
 Demir Celik Sanayi A.S., Tosyali Dis Ticaret A.S.,
 Tosyali Elektrik Enerjisi Toptan Satis Ith. Ihr. A.S.,
 and Tosyali Holding A.S.\6\............................

[[Page 14944]]

 
All Others..............................................            4.36
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    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 welded line pipe from Turkey 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.
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    \6\ In its December 15, 2014, response, Toscelik stated that 
Toscelik Profil ve Sac Endustrisi A.S. merged with its cross-owned 
affiliate, Tosyali Metal Ambalaj Sanayi A.S. (Tosyali Metal). 
Because Tosyali Metal no longer exists as a separate entity, we have 
not included it in the list of companies above.
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    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 respondents by those companies' exports of the 
subject merchandise to the United States.\7\ The ``all-others'' rate 
does not include zero and de minimis rates or any rates based solely on 
the facts available.
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    \7\ See Memorandum from Elizabeth Eastwood to the File, 
``Calculation of the ``All Others'' Rate in the Preliminary 
Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Welded 
Line Pipe from the Republic of Turkey,'' dated March 16, 2015, for 
the details of this calculation. We calculated a weighted average of 
the rates of Borusan Istikbal Ticaret, Borusan Mannesmann Boru 
Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Borusan Mannesmann Boru Yatirim Holding 
A.S., and Borusan Holding A.S (collectively, Borusan) and Toscelik 
Profil ve Sac Endustrisi A.S., Tosyali Demir Celik Sanayi A.S., 
Tosyali Dis Ticaret A.S,, Tosyali Elektrik Enerjisi Toptan Satis 
Ith. Ihr. A.S., and Tosyali Holding A.S. (collectively, Toscelik) 
using publicly-ranged data so as not to disclose the respondents' 
business proprietary information.
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Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, we intend to verify 
the information submitted by the respondents prior to making our final 
determination.

U.S. International Trade Commission

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
U.S. 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.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with this preliminary 
determination within five days of its public announcement.\8\ 
Interested parties may submit case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearing 
requests.\9\ For a schedule of the deadlines for filing case briefs, 
rebuttal briefs, and hearing requests, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d), 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

     Dated: March 16, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation is circular welded 
carbon and alloy steel (other than stainless steel) pipe of a kind 
used for oil or gas pipelines (welded line pipe), not more than 24 
inches in nominal outside diameter, regardless of wall thickness, 
length, surface finish, end finish, or stenciling. Welded line pipe 
is normally produced to the American Petroleum Institute (API) 
specification 5L, but can be produced to comparable foreign 
specifications, to proprietary grades, or can be non-graded 
material. All pipe meeting the physical description set forth above, 
including multiple-stenciled pipe with an API or comparable foreign 
specification line pipe stencil is covered by the scope of this 
investigation.
    The welded line pipe that is subject to this investigation is 
currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS) under subheadings 7305.11.1030, 7305.11.5000, 
7305.12.1030, 7305.12.5000, 7305.19.1030, 7305.19.5000, 
7306.19.1010, 7306.19.1050, 7306.19.5110, and 7306.19.5150. The 
subject merchandise may also enter in HTSUS 7305.11.1060 and 
7305.12.1060. While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Injury Test
VI. Subsidies Valuation
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. ITC Notification
IX. Disclosure and Public Comment
X. Verification
XI. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-06485 Filed 3-19-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P