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AGENCY:
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that aluminum lithographic printing plates (printing plates) from the People's Republic of China (China) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023.
DATES:
Applicable September 27, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Benito Ballesteros, AD/CVD Operations, Office IX, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-7425.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On May 1, 2024, Commerce published the Preliminary Determination in this investigation and invited interested parties to comment. On June 3, 2024, in response to significant ministerial error allegations raised by Eastman Kodak Company (the petitioner), Commerce amended the Preliminary Determination. On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. The deadline for the final determination is now September 20, 2024.
See Aluminum Lithographic Printing Plates from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, and Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional Measure, 89 FR 35062 (May 1, 2024) ( Preliminary Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Determination Memorandum (PDM).
See Aluminum Lithographic Printing Plates from the People's Republic of China: Amended Preliminary Determination of the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation, 89 FR 47516 (June 3, 2024) ( Amended Preliminary Determination), and accompanying Memorandum, “Allegations of Ministerial Errors in the Preliminary Determination,” dated May 28, 2024.
See Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,” dated July 22, 2024.
For a complete description of the events that occurred since the Preliminary Determination, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum. 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.
See Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Final Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Aluminum Lithographic Printing Plates from the People's Republic of China,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is printing plates from China. 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.
Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances
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 printing plates exported by Fujifilm Printing Plate (China) Co., Ltd. (Fujifilm) and the China-wide entity. 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 Fujifilm and the China-wide entity.
See Preliminary Determination, 89 FR at 35062-63.
See Preliminary Determination PDM at 26-28.
Verification
As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, in May and June 2024, respectively, Commerce conducted on-site verifications of the data reported by Fujifilm and its U.S. affiliate, Fujifilm North America Corporation, using standard verification procedures.
See Memoranda, “Verification of the Questionnaire Responses of Fujifilm Printing Plate (China) Co., Ltd.,” dated July 9, 2024; and “Verification of the U.S. Sales Response of Fujifilm North America Corporation,” dated July 15, 2024.
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. For a list of the issues raised by interested parties and addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, see Appendix II.
Changes Since the Amended 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 margin calculations for Fujifilm. For a discussion of these changes, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
Application of Total Adverse Facts Available With Respect to the China-Wide Entity
Consistent with the Preliminary Determination, Commerce continues to find, pursuant to sections 776(a)(1) and (a)(2)(A)-(C) of the Act, that the use of facts available is warranted in determining the rate of the China-wide entity. Furthermore, we continue to find that an adverse inference is warranted in selecting from the facts otherwise available, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308(a), because the China-wide entity failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with Commerce's requests for information. As adverse facts available (AFA), we continue to apply the highest individual margin calculated for Fujifilm ( i.e., 317.44 percent) because it is a rate derived from information submitted on the record and achieves the goal of inducing future cooperation by the uncooperative respondent.
See Preliminary Determination PDM at 12.
Id.
See Amended Preliminary Determination, 89 FR at 47516-17.
Combination Rates
Consistent with the Initiation Notice, the Preliminary Determination, and Policy Bulletin 05.1, Commerce calculated a combination rate for Fujifilm, which is the sole respondent eligible for a separate rate in this investigation.
See Aluminum Lithographic Printing Plates from the People's Republic of China and Japan: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 88 FR 73316, 73320 (October 25, 2023) ( Initiation Notice).
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,” dated April 5, 2005 (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on Commerce's website at https://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
Final Determination
The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins are listed below: