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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 17 (Tuesday, January 28, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8265-8267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01806]

[[Page 8265]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-552-839]

Certain Paper Plates From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 
Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and 
Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
certain paper plates (paper plates) from the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam (Vietnam) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United 
States at less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of investigation 
(POI) July 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.

DATES: Applicable January 28, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Hansen, 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) 482-3683.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 5, 2024, Commerce published in the Federal Register 
its preliminary affirmative determination in the LTFV investigation of 
paper plates from Vietnam and invited interested parties to comment.\1\ 
For a complete description of the events that followed the Preliminary 
Determination, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Paper Plates from the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical 
Circumstances, in Part, Postponement of Final Determination, and 
Extension of Provisional Measures, 89 FR 72375 (September 5, 2024) 
(Preliminary Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum (PDM).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value of 
Certain Paper Plates from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and 
Decision Memorandum).
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    The Issues and 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 Issues and Decision Memorandum can 
be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are paper plates from 
Vietnam. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, 
see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    We received no comments from interested parties on the scope of the 
investigation as it appeared in the Preliminary Determination. 
Therefore, we made no changes to the scope of the investigation.

Verification

    Commerce verified sales and factors of production information 
submitted by Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Go-Pak Vietnam) 
for use in our final determination, consistent with section 782(i) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\3\ We used standard 
verification procedures, including an examination of relevant sales and 
accounting records, and original source documents provided by Go-Pak 
Vietnam.
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    \3\ See Memoranda, ``Factors of Production Verification 
Report,'' dated October 15, 2024; and ``Sales Verification Report,'' 
dated October 25, 2024.
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Analysis of Comments Received

    The issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by the parties in 
this investigation are discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. 
A list of the issues raised addressed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum is attached to this notice as Appendix II.

Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part

    Commerce preliminarily determined, in accordance with section 
733(e)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 
351.206(c)(1), that critical circumstances exist with respect to 
imports of paper plates for the Vietnam-wide entity but not for Go-Pak 
Vietnam.\4\ Further, for the final determination, pursuant to section 
735(a)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, we continue to find that 
critical circumstances exist for the Vietnam-wide entity and that 
critical circumstances do not exist for Go-Pak Vietnam.\5\
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    \4\ See Preliminary Determination, 89 FR at 72376.
    \5\ See Issues and Decision Memorandum at 2-4.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our review and analysis of the information at verification 
and comments received from interested parties, we made certain changes 
to the calculation of Go-Pak Vietnam's estimated weighted-average 
dumping margin. For a discussion of these changes, see the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.

Vietnam-Wide Entity and Use of Adverse Facts Available

    Consistent with the Preliminary Determination,\6\ Commerce 
continues to find, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, that 
the use of facts otherwise available, with adverse inferences, is 
warranted in determining the dumping rate for the Vietnam-wide entity. 
For this final determination there is no new information on the record 
that would cause us to revisit our decision in the preliminary 
determination. Therefore, as adverse facts available (AFA), we have 
continued to assign a rate of 165.27 percent, which is the highest 
dumping margin alleged in the petition, to the Vietnam-wide entity.\7\
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    \6\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at 11-15.
    \7\ Id.
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Separate Rates

    No interested party commented on Commerce's preliminary separate 
rate determination \8\ and we have no basis to reconsider this 
determination. Accordingly, we continue to find that Go-Pak Vietnam is 
the sole respondent eligible for a separate rate.
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    \8\ Id. at 9-11.
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Combination Rates

    Consistent with the Preliminary Determination, and Policy Bulletin 
05.1,\9\ Commerce calculated a producer/exporter combination rate for 
Go-Pak Vietnam, i.e., the sole respondent eligible for a separate rate.
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    \9\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, 
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination 
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy 
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available at 
https://access.trade.gov/Resources/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Final Determination

    Commerce determines that the following estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins exist:

[[Page 8266]]

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                                                                                              Cash deposit rate
                                                                          Weighted-average      (adjusted for
                 Exporter                            Producer              dumping margin       export subsidy
                                                                              (percent)       offset) (percent)
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Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd...  Go-Pak Paper Products                      30.42                24.89
                                            Vietnam Co., Ltd.
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Vietnam-Wide Entity....................................................            * 165.27               159.74
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* Rate based on AFA.

Disclosure

    Commerce intends to disclose the calculations performed in this 
final determination to interested parties within five days of any 
public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five 
days of the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register 
in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) and (C) of the Act, we will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend 
liquidation of all appropriate entries of subject merchandise, as 
described in Appendix I of this notice, which were entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register for Go-Pak Vietnam.
    Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative 
determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation 
shall apply to unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of: (a) 
the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of 
liquidation was first ordered; or (b) the date on which notice of 
initiation of the investigation was published. Commerce finds that 
critical circumstances exist for imports of subject merchandise 
produced or exported by the Vietnam-wide entity. In accordance with 
section 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension of liquidation shall 
apply to unliquidated entries of shipments of subject merchandise from 
the producer(s) or exporter(s) identified in this paragraph that were 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after June 
7, 2024, which is 90 days before the publication of the Preliminary 
Determination. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain 
in effect until further notice.
    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(d), upon the publication of this notice, Commerce will instruct 
CBP to require a cash deposit for estimated antidumping duties for 
appropriate entries.
    Commerce will instruct CBP to require the following cash deposits 
of estimated antidumping duties for all appropriate entries: (1) for 
the producer/exporter combinations listed in the table above, the 
applicable cash deposit rate is listed in the table for that 
combination; (2) for all combinations of Vietnamese producers/exporters 
of the merchandise under consideration that have not established 
eligibility for a separate rates, the cash deposit rate will be equal 
to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for the 
Vietnam-wide entity; and (3) for all third-country exporters of the 
merchandise under consideration not listed in the table above, the cash 
deposit rate is the cash deposit rate applicable to the Vietnamese 
producer/exporter combination that supplied that third-country exporter 
or, if the exporter/producer combination does not have its own rate, 
the cash deposit rate will be the Vietnam-wide rate. These suspension 
of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of this final affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. Because 
Commerce's final determination in this investigation is affirmative, in 
accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will make its 
final determination as to whether the domestic industry in the United 
States is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by 
reason of imports of paper plates no later than 45 days after this 
final determination. If the ITC determines that material injury or 
threat of material injury does not exist, the proceeding will be 
terminated and all cash deposits will be refunded or canceled, and 
suspension of liquidation will be lifted. If the ITC determines that 
such injury does exist, Commerce will issue an antidumping duty order 
directing CBP to assess, upon further instructions by Commerce, 
antidumping duties on all imports of the subject merchandise that are 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
effective date of the suspension of liquidation, as discussed above in 
the ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' section.

Administrative Protective Order

    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of the return or destruction of APO materials or 
conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to 
comply with the regulations and terms of an APO is a sanctionable 
violation.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination and this notice are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.210(c).

    Dated: January 21, 2025.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation is certain paper 
plates. Paper plates subject to this investigation may be cut from 
rolls, sheets, or other pieces of paper and/or paper board. Paper 
plates subject to this investigation have a depth up to and 
including two (2.0) inches, as measured vertically from the base to 
the top of the lip, or the edge if the plate has no lip. Paper 
plates subject to this investigation may be uncolored, white, 
colored, or printed. Printed paper plates subject to this 
investigation may have any type of surface finish, and may be 
printed by any means with images, text and/or colors on one or both 
surfaces. Colored paper plates subject to this investigation may be 
colored by any method, including but not limited to printing, 
beater-dyeing, and dip-dyeing. Paper plates subject to this 
investigation may be produced from paper of any type (including, but 
not limited to, bamboo, straws, bagasse, hemp, kenaf, jute, sisal, 
abaca, cotton inters and reeds, or from non-plant sources, such as 
synthetic resin (petroleum)-based resins), may have any caliper or 
basis weight, may have any shape or size, may have one or more than 
one section, may be embossed, may have foil or other substances 
adhered to their surface,

[[Page 8267]]

and/or may be uncoated or coated with any type of coating.
    The paper plates subject to this investigation remain covered by 
the scope of this investigation whether imported alone, or in any 
combination of subject and non-subject merchandise. When paper 
plates subject to this investigation are imported in combination 
with non-subject merchandise, only the paper plates subject to this 
investigation are subject merchandise.
    The paper plates subject to this investigation include paper 
plates matching the above description that have been finished, 
packaged, or otherwise processed in a third country by performing 
finishing, packaging, or processing that would not otherwise remove 
the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if performed in 
the country of manufacture of the paper plates. Examples of 
finishing, packaging, or other processing in a third country that 
would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the 
investigation if performed in the country of manufacture of the 
paper plates include, but are not limited to, printing, application 
of other surface treatments such as coatings, repackaging, 
embossing, and application of foil surface treatments.
    Excluded from the scope of this investigation are paper plates 
molded or pressed directly from paper pulp (including but not 
limited to unfelted pulp), which are currently classifiable under 
subheading 4823.70.0020 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS).
    Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are articles 
that otherwise would be covered but which exhibit the following two 
physical characteristics: (a) depth (measured vertically from the 
base to the top of the lip, or edge if no lip) equal to or greater 
than 1.25 inches but less than two (2.0) inches, and (b) a base not 
exceeding five (5.0) inches in diameter if round, or not exceeding 
20 square inches in area if any other shape.
    Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are paper 
bowls, paper buckets, and paper food containers with closeable lids.
    Paper plates subject to this investigation are currently 
classifiable under HTSUS subheading 4823.69.0040. Paper plates 
subject to this investigation also may be classified under HTSUS 
subheading 4823.61.0040. If packaged with other articles, the paper 
plates subject to this investigation also may be classified under 
HTSUS subheadings 9505.90.4000 and 9505.90.6000. While the HTSUS 
subheading(s) are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written description of the subject merchandise is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in 
Part
IV. Adjustment to Cash Deposit Rate for Export Subsidies
V. Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
VI. Application of Facts Available and Use of Adverse Inference
VII. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Selection of Surrogate Value for Paper Input
    Comment 2: Selection of Surrogate Financial Statements
    Comment 3: Separate Valuation of Domestic Inland Freight 
Insurance
    Comment 4: Calculation of Scrap Offset
VIII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2025-01806 Filed 1-27-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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