[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 198 (Tuesday, October 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61607-61609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24377]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-997]


Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic of 
China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final 
Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers/exporters of 
non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) from the People's Republic of 
China (PRC). The Department also determines critical circumstances 
exist for imports of the subject merchandise from the PRC. The period 
of investigation is January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.

DATES: Effective Date: October 14, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Morris or Thomas Schauer, 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-
1779 and (202) 482-0410, respectively.

Background

    The petitioner in this investigation is AK Steel Corporation 
(Petitioner). This investigation covers 30 government programs. The 
respondents in this investigation are the Government of the PRC (the 
GOC) and Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Baoshan). For this final 
determination, we continue to rely on facts available, with adverse 
inferences, for the GOC and for Baoshan, the only mandatory company-
respondent, because they did not act to the best of their abilities and 
did not respond to our requests for information. Further, we continue 
to draw an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts 
otherwise available to calculate the ad valorem rate for Baoshan.\1\
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    \1\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (the Act).
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Period of Investigation

    The period for which we are measuring subsidies, or period of 
investigation, is January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.

Case History

    The events that have occurred since the Department published the 
Preliminary Determination on March 25, 2014,\2\ are discussed in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum.\3\ The Issues Decision Memorandum is a 
public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and 
Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic 
Service System (IA ACCESS). IA ACCESS is available to registered users 
at http://iaaccess.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 Issues and Decision 
Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and electronic 
versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in 
content.
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    \2\ See Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic 
of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 
Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, and 
Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination, 79 FR 16293 (March 25, 2014) 
(Preliminary Determination).
    \3\ See Memorandum to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Non-
Oriented Electrical Steel from the People's Republic of China'' 
dated concurrently with and hereby adopted by this notice (Issues 
and Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation consists of NOES, 
which includes cold-rolled, flat-rolled, alloy steel products, whether 
or not in coils, regardless of width, having an actual thickness of 
0.20 mm or more, in which the core loss is substantially equal in any 
direction of magnetization in the plane of the material. For a complete 
description of the scope of the investigation, see Appendix I to this 
notice.

Critical Circumstances

    On February 25, 2014, Petitioner alleged that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of NOES from the PRC. In 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), we issued an affirmative 
preliminary critical circumstances determination not later than the 
date of the preliminary determination.\4\
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    \4\ See, e.g., Change in Policy Regarding Timing of Issuance of 
Critical Circumstances Determinations, 63 FR 55364 (October 15, 
1998).
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    We received no comments on our preliminary critical circumstances 
determination. Thus, in accordance with section 705(a)(2) of the Act, 
we determine critical circumstances exist with respect to Baoshan and 
all other producers/exporters.

[[Page 61608]]

Use of Facts Otherwise Available, Including Adverse Inferences

    As stated above, for purposes of this final determination, we 
relied on facts available and applied an adverse inference (AFA) in 
accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, with regard to each 
program under investigation. A full discussion of our decision to rely 
on AFA is presented under the section ``Use of Facts Otherwise 
Available and Adverse Inferences'' in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 705(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated a countervailing duty rate for the individually investigated 
producer/exporter of the subject merchandise, Baoshan. With respect to 
the all-others rate, section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act provides that 
if the countervailable subsidy rates established for all exporters and 
producers individually investigated are determined entirely in 
accordance with section 776 of the Act, the Department may use any 
reasonable method to establish an all-others rate for exporters and 
producers not individually investigated. In this case, the rate 
calculated for the investigated company is based entirely on adverse 
facts available under section 776 of the Act. There is no other 
information on the record upon which to determine an all-others rate. 
As a result, we used the adverse facts available rate assigned for 
Baoshan as the all-others rate. This method is consistent with the 
Department's past practice.\5\
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    \5\ See, e.g., Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination: Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products From 
Argentina, 66 FR 37007, 37008 (July 16, 2001); see also Final 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination: Prestressed Concrete 
Steel Wire Strand From India, 68 FR 68356 (December 8, 2003).
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    We determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Net subsidy
                         Company                          rate (percent)
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Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd...........................          158.88
All Others..............................................          158.88
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    As a result of our affirmative preliminary critical circumstances 
determination, pursuant to section 703(e)(2) of the Act, we instructed 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of subject merchandise from the PRC which were entered or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after December 25, 
2013, the date 90 days prior to the date of the publication of the 
Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register.
    In accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we later issued 
instructions to CBP to discontinue the suspension of liquidation for 
countervailing duty purposes for subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, on or after July 23, 2014, but to continue 
the suspension of liquidation of all entries from December 25, 2013, 
through July 22, 2014.
    We will issue a countervailing duty order and reinstate the 
suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of the Act if the United 
States International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final affirmative 
injury determination, and we will instruct CBP to require a cash 
deposit of estimated countervailing duties for such entries of 
merchandise in the amounts indicated above. If the ITC determines that 
material injury, or threat of material injury, does not exist, this 
proceeding will be terminated and all estimated duties deposited or 
securities posted as a result of the suspension of liquidation will be 
refunded or canceled.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. In addition, we are making available to the 
ITC all non-privileged and non-proprietary information related 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 (APO), without the written 
consent of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Return or Destruction of Proprietary Information

    In the event that the ITC issues a final negative injury 
determination, this notice will serve as the only reminder to parties 
subject to an APO of their responsibility concerning the destruction of 
proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.305(a)(3). Timely written notification of the return/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 that is subject to sanction.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act.

     Dated: October 6, 2014.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation consists of non-
oriented electrical steel (NOES), which includes cold-rolled, flat-
rolled, alloy steel products, whether or not in coils, regardless of 
width, having an actual thickness of 0.20 mm or more, in which the 
core loss is substantially equal in any direction of magnetization 
in the plane of the material. The term ``substantially equal'' means 
that the cross grain direction of core loss is no more than 1.5 
times the straight grain direction (i.e., the rolling direction) of 
core loss. NOES has a magnetic permeability that does not exceed 
1.65 Tesla when tested at a field of 800 A/m (equivalent to 10 
Oersteds) along (i.e., parallel to) the rolling direction of the 
sheet (i.e., B<INF>800</INF> value). NOES contains by weight more 
than 1.00 percent of silicon but less than 3.5 percent of silicon, 
not more than 0.08 percent of carbon, and not more than 1.5 percent 
of aluminum. NOES has a surface oxide coating, to which an 
insulation coating may be applied.
    NOES is subject to this investigation whether it is fully 
processed (i.e., fully annealed to develop final magnetic 
properties) or semi-processed (i.e., finished to final thickness and 
physical form but not fully annealed to develop final magnetic 
properties). Fully processed NOES is typically made to the 
requirements of ASTM specification A 677, Japanese Industrial 
Standards (JIS) specification C 2552, and/or International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specification 60404-8-4. Semi-
processed NOES is typically made to the requirements of ASTM 
specification A 683. However, the scope of this investigation is not 
limited to merchandise meeting the ASTM, JIS, and IEC specifications 
noted immediately above.
    NOES is sometimes referred to as cold-rolled non-oriented 
(CRNO), non-grain oriented (NGO), non-oriented (NO), or cold-rolled 
non-grain oriented (CRNGO) electrical steel. These terms are 
interchangeable.
    Excluded from the scope of this investigation are flat-rolled 
products not in coils that, prior to importation into the United 
States, have been cut to a shape and undergone all punching, 
coating, or other operations necessary for classification in Chapter 
85 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) as 
a part (i.e., lamination) for use in a device such as a motor, 
generator, or transformer.
    The subject merchandise is provided for in subheadings 
7225.19.0000, 7226.19.1000, and 7226.19.9000 of the HTSUS. Subject 
merchandise may also be entered under subheadings 7225.50.8085, 
7225.99.0090, 7226.92.5000, 7226.92.7050, 7226.92.8050, 7226.99.0180 
of the HTSUS. Although HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
scope is dispositive.

[[Page 61609]]

Appendix II

List of Comments in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
V. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2014-24377 Filed 10-10-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P