[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14509-14511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05419]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-533-900, C-821-830]


Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin From India and the Russian 
Federation: Countervailing Duty Orders

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of 
Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), 
Commerce is issuing countervailing duty orders on granular 
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin from India and the Russian 
Federation (Russia).

DATES: Applicable March 15, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Simonidis (India) or George 
Ayache (Russia), AD/CVD Operations, Office VIII, Enforcement and 
Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone 
(202) 482-0608 or (202) 482-2623, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 25, 2022, Commerce published in the Federal Register its 
affirmative final determinations in the countervailing duty 
investigations of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia.\1\ On 
March 8, 2022, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative 
determinations, pursuant to sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 705(d) of the 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), that an industry in the 
United States is materially injured by reason of subsidized imports of 
granular PTFE resin from India and Russia, and of its determination 
that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of 
granular PTFE resin from India.\2\
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    \1\ See Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from India: Final 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final Affirmative 
Critical Circumstances Determination, 87 FR 3765 (January 25, 2022) 
(India Final Determination); see also Granular 
Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from the Russian Federation: Final 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 87 FR 3764 (January 
25, 2022) (Russia Final Determination).
    \2\ See ITC Notification Letter, Investigation Nos. 701-TA-663-
664 and 731-TA-1555-1556 (March 8, 2022) (ITC Notification).
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Scope of the Orders

    The product covered by these orders is granular PTFE resin from 
India and Russia. For a complete description of the scope of these 
orders, see the Appendix to this notice.

Countervailing Duty Orders

    On March 8, 2022, in accordance with sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 
705(d) of the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final 
determinations in these investigations, in which it found that an 
industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of 
subsidized imports of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia. 
Therefore, in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is 
issuing these countervailing duty orders. Because the ITC determined 
that imports of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia are 
materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such 
merchandise from India and Russia, entered or withdrawn from warehouse 
for consumption, are subject to the assessment of countervailing 
duties.
    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce 
will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess, upon 
further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on unliquidated 
entries of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia. With the 
exception of entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional 
measures period and before the publication of the

[[Page 14510]]

ITC's final affirmative injury determinations, as further described 
below, countervailing duties will be assessed on unliquidated entries 
of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after July 6, 2021, the date of 
publication of the Preliminary Determinations in the Federal 
Register.\3\
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    \3\ See Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from India: 
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 
Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, and 
Alignment of Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 86 FR 35479 (July 6, 2021); see also Granular 
Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from the Russian Federation: 
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 86 FR 35476 (July 6, 2021) (collectively, Preliminary 
Determinations).
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Critical Circumstances

    With regards to the ITC's negative critical circumstances 
determination on imports of granular PTFE resin from India discussed 
above, we will instruct CBP to lift suspension and to refund any cash 
deposits made to secure the payment of estimated countervailing duties 
with respect to entries of granular PTFE resin from India, entered or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after April 7, 2021 
(i.e., 90 days prior to the date of publication of the preliminary 
determination), but before July 6, 2021 (i.e., the date of the 
publication of the preliminary determination for this investigation).

Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce will direct CBP 
to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation of granular PTFE resin 
from India and Russia, effective the date of publication of the ITC's 
notice of final determinations in the Federal Register, and to assess, 
upon further instruction by Commerce pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of 
the Act, countervailing duties for each entry of the subject 
merchandise in an amount based on the net countervailable subsidy rates 
for the subject merchandise. On or after the date of publication of the 
ITC's final injury determinations in the Federal Register, CBP must 
require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated 
duties on this merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the rates noted 
below. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect 
until further notice. The all-others rate applies to all producers or 
exporters not specifically listed below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Subsidy
          Country                        Company                 rate
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
India......................  Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited       31.89
                              \4\.
                             All Others.....................       31.89
Russia.....................  Joint Stock Company                    2.53
                              ``HaloPolymer'' \5\.
                             All Others.....................        2.53
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Provisional Measures

    Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months. In the underlying investigations, 
Commerce published the Preliminary Determinations on July 6, 2021.\6\ 
Therefore, entries of granular PTFE resin from India and Russia made on 
or after November 3, 2021, and prior to the date of publication of the 
ITC's final determination in the Federal Register, are not subject to 
the assessment of countervailing duties due to Commerce's 
discontinuation of the suspension of liquidation.
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    \4\ Commerce found the following companies to be cross-owned 
with Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited: Inox Leasing Finance Limited 
and Inox Wind Limited. See India Final Determination.
    \5\ Commerce found the following companies to be cross-owned 
with Joint Stock Company ``HaloPolymer'': Limited Liability Company 
``HaloPolymer Kirovo-Chepetsk,'' Joint Stock Company ``HaloPolymer 
Perm,'' and URALCHEM JSC. See Russia Final Determination.
    \6\ See Preliminary Determinations.
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    In accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, Commerce instructed 
CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, 
without regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated entries of 
granular PTFE resin from India and Russia entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after November 3, 2021, the date on 
which the provisional countervailing duty measures expired, through the 
day preceding the date of publication of the ITC final injury 
determinations in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation will 
resume on the date of publication of the ITC final injury 
determinations in the Federal Register.

Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the final rule titled 
``Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Laws'' in the Federal Register.\7\ On September 
27, 2021, Commerce also published the notice titled ``Scope Ruling 
Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; and Informational Sessions'' 
in the Federal Register.\8\ 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.\9\
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    \7\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \8\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \9\ 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.'' \10\
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    \10\ 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.

[[Page 14511]]

    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 and Foreign Governments

    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.'' \11\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioners and foreign governments should submit their 
initial entry of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service list for those orders for 
which they qualify as an interested party. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.225(n)(3), the petitioners and foreign governments will not need to 
resubmit their entries of appearance each year to continue to be 
included on the annual inquiry service list. However, the petitioners 
and foreign governments are responsible for making amendments to their 
entries of appearance during the annual update to the annual inquiry 
service list in accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \11\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notifications to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the countervailing duty orders with respect 
to granular PTFE resin from India and Russia pursuant to section 706(a) 
of the Act. Interested parties can find a list of countervailing duty 
orders currently in effect at http://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    These orders are issued and published in accordance with section 
706(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: March 9, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistance Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix--Scope of the Orders

    The product covered by these orders is granular 
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin. Granular PTFE resin is covered 
by the scope of these orders whether filled or unfilled, whether or 
not modified, and whether or not containing co-polymer, additives, 
pigments, or other materials. Also included is PTFE wet raw polymer. 
The chemical formula for granular PTFE resin is C2F4, and the 
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry number is 9002-84-0.
    Subject merchandise includes material matching the above 
description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise processed 
in a third country, including by filling, modifying, compounding, 
packaging with another product, or performing any other finishing, 
packaging, or processing that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of the orders if performed in the country 
of manufacture of the granular PTFE resin.
    The product covered by these orders does not include dispersion 
or coagulated dispersion (also known as fine powder) PTFE.
    PTFE further processed into micropowder, having particle size 
typically ranging from 1 to 25 microns, and a melt-flow rate no less 
than 0.1 gram/10 minutes, is excluded from the scope of these 
orders.
    Granular PTFE resin is classified in the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under subheading 3904.61.0010. 
Subject merchandise may also be classified under HTSUS subheading 
3904.69.5000. Although the HTSUS subheadings and CAS Number are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2022-05419 Filed 3-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P