[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31521-31523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11158]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-037]


Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products From the People's 
Republic of China: Final Results of the Expedited First Sunset Review 
of the Countervailing Duty Order

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that 
revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain biaxial 
integral geogrid products (geogrids) from the People's Republic of 
China (China) would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of 
countervailing subsidies at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results 
of Sunset Review'' section of this notice.

DATES: Applicable May 24, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jasun Moy, AD/CVD Operations, Office 
V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-8194.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 3, 2017, Commerce published in the Federal Register the 
CVD order on geogrids from China.\1\ On February 1, 2022, Commerce 
initiated the first sunset review of the Order, pursuant to section 
751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\2\ On February 
16, 2022, Commerce received a timely filed notice of intent to 
participate from Tensar Corporation (Tensar), a domestic interested 
party, within the deadline specified in 19 CFR 351.218(d)(1)(i).\3\ 
Tensar claimed interested party status under section 771(9)(C) of the 
Act as a producer of the domestic like product.
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    \1\ See Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order, 82 FR 12437 
(March 3, 2017) (Order).
    \2\ See Initiation of Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews, 87 FR 5467 
(February 1, 2022) (Initiation Notice).
    \3\ See Tensar's Letter, ``Notice of Intent to Participate in 
the First Five-Year Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on 
Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic 
of China,'' dated February 16, 2022.
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    On March 3, 2022, Commerce received an adequate substantive 
response to the Initiation Notice from the domestic interested party 
within the 30-day deadline specified in 19 CFR 351.218(d)(3)(i).\4\ We 
received no substantive responses from any other interested parties, 
including the Government of China. On March 21, 2022, Commerce notified 
the U.S. International Trade Commission that it did not receive an 
adequate substantive response from respondent interested parties.\5\ As 
a result, pursuant to section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.218(e)(1)(ii)(B)-(C), Commerce conducted an expedited (120-day) 
sunset review of the Order.
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    \4\ See Tensar's Letter, ``First Five-Year (``Sunset'') 
Review,'' dated March 3, 2022.
    \5\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Sunset Reviews Initiated on 
February 1, 2022,'' dated March 21, 2022.

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[[Page 31522]]

Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the Order are geogrids from China. For a 
complete description of the scope of the Order, see Appendix I.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in this sunset review are addressed in the 
accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum.\6\ The issues discussed in 
the Issues and Decision Memorandum are listed in Appendix II. 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.
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    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Results of the Expedited First Sunset Review of the 
Countervailing Duty Order on Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid 
Products from the People's Republic of China,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision 
Memorandum).
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Final Results of Sunset Review

    Pursuant to sections 751(c)(1) and 752(b) of the Act, Commerce 
determines that revocation of the Order would likely lead to 
continuation or recurrence of countervailable subsidies at the rates 
listed below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Net
                                                         countervailable
                   Exporter/producer                       subsidy rate
                                                            (percent)
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BOSTD Geosynthetics Qingdao Ltd. and Beijing Orient                15.61
 Science & Technology Development Co., Ltd.............
Taian Modern Plastic Co., Ltd..........................            56.24
Chengdu Tian Road Engineering Materials Co., Ltd.......           152.50
Chongqing Jiudi Reinforced Soil Engineering Co., Ltd...           152.50
CNBM International Corporation.........................           152.50
Dezhou Yaohua Geosynthetics Ltd........................           152.50
Dezhou Zhengyu Geosynthetics Ltd.......................           152.50
Hongye Engineering Materials Co., Ltd..................           152.50
Hubei Nete Geosynthetics Ltd...........................           152.50
Jiangsu Dingtai Engineering Material Co., Ltd..........           152.50
Jiangsu Jiuding New Material Ltd.......................           152.50
Lewu New Material Ltd..................................           152.50
Nanjing Jinlu Geosynthetics Ltd........................           152.50
Nanjing Kunchi Composite Material Ltd..................           152.50
Nanyang Jieda Geosynthetics Co., Ltd...................           152.50
Qingdao Hongda Plastics Corp...........................           152.50
Shandong Dexuda Geosynthetics Ltd......................           152.50
Shandong Haoyang New Engineering Materials Co., Ltd....           152.50
Shandong Tongfa Glass Fiber Ltd........................           152.50
Shandong Xinyu Geosynthetics Ltd.......................           152.50
Tai'an Haohua Plastics Co., Ltd........................           152.50
Taian Hengbang Engineering Material Co., Ltd...........           152.50
Taian Naite Geosynthetics Ltd..........................           152.50
Taian Road Engineering Materials Co., Ltd..............           152.50
Tenax..................................................           152.50
Hengshui Zhongtiejian Group Co.........................           152.50
Qingdao Sunrise Dageng Import and Export Co., Ltd......           152.50
All-Others.............................................            35.93
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Administrative Protective Order (APO)

    This notice serves as the only reminder to interested parties 
subject to an APO of their responsibility concerning the return or 
destruction of proprietary information disclosed under APO in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely 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 violation which is subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing these final results and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(c), 752(b), and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.218.

    Dated: May 18, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Order

    The products covered by the scope are certain biaxial integral 
geogrid products. Biaxial integral geogrid products are a polymer 
grid or mesh material (whether or not finished, slit, cut-to-length, 
attached to woven or non-woven fabric or sheet material, or 
packaged) in which four-sided openings in the form of squares, 
rectangles, rhomboids, diamonds, or other four-sided figures 
predominate. The products covered have integral strands that have 
been stretched to induce molecular orientation into the material (as 
evidenced by the strands being thinner in width toward the middle 
between the junctions than at the junctions themselves) constituting 
the sides of the openings and integral junctions where the strands 
intersect. The scope includes products in which four-sided figures 
predominate whether or not they also contain additional strands 
intersecting the four-sided figures and whether or not the inside 
corners of the four-sided figures are rounded off or not sharp 
angles. As used herein, the term ``integral'' refers to strands and 
junctions that are homogenous with each other. The products covered 
have a tensile strength of greater than 5 kilonewtons per meter (kN/
m) according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 
Standard Test Method D6637/D6637M in any direction and average 
overall flexural stiffness of more than 100,000 milligram-centimeter 
according to the ASTM D7748/D7748M Standard Test Method for Flexural 
Rigidity of Geogrids, Geotextiles and Related Products, or other 
equivalent test method standards.

[[Page 31523]]

    Subject merchandise includes material matching the above 
description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise further 
processed in a third country, including by trimming, slitting, 
coating, cutting, punching holes, stretching, attaching to woven or 
non-woven fabric or sheet material, or any other finishing, 
packaging, or other further processing that would not otherwise 
remove the merchandise from the scope of the Order if performed in 
the country of manufacture of the biaxial integral geogrid.
    The products subject to the scope are currently classified in 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under 
the following subheading: 3926.90.9995. Subject merchandise may also 
enter under subheadings 3920.20.0050 and 3925.90.0000. The HTSUS 
subheadings set forth above are provided for convenience and U.S. 
Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope is 
dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. History of the Order
V. Legal Framework
VI. Discussion of the Issues
    1. Likelihood of Continuation or Recurrence of a Countervailable 
Subsidy
    2. Net Countervailable Subsidy Rate Likely to Prevail
    3. Nature of the Subsidies
VII. Final Results of Review
VIII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2022-11158 Filed 5-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P