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AGENCY:
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies were provided to producers and exporters of certain metal lockers and parts thereof (metal lockers) from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of review (POR) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. In addition, Commerce, intends to rescind this review with respect to four companies. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.
DATES:
Applicable September 12, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Delgado, AD/CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1468.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On October 18, 2023, based on timely requests for review, Commerce initiated this administrative review of the countervailing duty order on metal lockers from China. On December 18, 2023, Commerce selected Hangzhou Evernew Machinery and Equipment Company Limited (Hangzhou Evernew) and Xingyi Metalworking Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (Xingyi Metalworking) as the mandatory respondents in this review. On April 1, 2024, Commerce extended the deadline for the preliminary results of this review until August 30, 2024. On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days, and therefore the deadline for these preliminary results is September 6, 2024.
See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 71829 (October 18, 2023) ( Initiation Notice); see also See Certain Metal Lockers and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China: Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders,86 FR 46826 (August 20, 2021) ( Order).
See Memorandum, “Respondent Selection,” dated December 19, 2023.
See Memorandum, “Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,” dated April 1, 2024.
See Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,” dated July 22, 2024.
For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is provided in the appendix to this notice. The Preliminary 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 Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx .
See Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Results of the Administrative Review of the Countervailing Duty Order on Certain Metal Lockers and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China; 2022,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
Scope of the Order
The product covered by the Order is metal lockers from China. For a complete description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Intent To Rescind Administrative Review, in Part
It is Commerce's practice to rescind an administrative review of a countervailing duty order, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), when there are no reviewable entries of subject merchandise during the POR for which liquidation is suspended. Normally, upon completion of an administrative review, the suspended entries are liquidated at the countervailing duty assessment rate calculated for the review period. Therefore, for an administrative review of a company to be conducted, there must be a reviewable, suspended entry that Commerce can instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate at the calculated countervailing duty assessment rate calculated for the review period.
See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at “Partial Rescission of Administrative Review.”
See19 CFR 351.212(b)(2).
See19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).
According to the CBP import data on the record, there are four companies subject to this review that did not have reviewable entries of subject merchandise during the POR for which liquidation is suspended: Kunshan Dongchu Precision Machinery Co., Ltd.; Pingchu Chenda Storage Office Co., Ltd.; Tianjin Jia Mei Metal Furniture Ltd.; and Zhejiang Xingyi Metal Products Co., Ltd. Accordingly, in the absence of reviewable, suspended entries of subject merchandise during the POR, we intend to rescind this administrative review with respect to these four companies, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this administrative review in accordance with 751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each of the subsidy programs found countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an “authority” that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific. For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, including our reliance, in part, on facts otherwise available with adverse inferences pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
Rate for Non-Selected Companies Under Review
The Act and Commerce's regulations do not address the establishment of a rate to apply to companies not selected for individual examination when Commerce limits its examination in an administrative review pursuant to section 777A(e)(2) of the Act. However, Commerce normally determines the rates for non-selected companies in reviews in a manner that is consistent with section 705(c)(5) of the Act, which provides instructions for calculating the all-others rate in an investigation. Section 777A(e)(2) of the Act provides that “the individual countervailable subsidy rates determined under subparagraph (A) shall be used to determine the all-others rate under section 705(c)(5) {of the Act}.” Section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that for companies not investigated, in general, we will determine an all-others rate by weight averaging the countervailable subsidy rates established for each of the companies individually investigated, excluding zero and de minimis rates or any rates based entirely on facts available.
Accordingly, to determine the rate for companies not selected for individual examination, Commerce's practice is to weight average the net subsidy rates for the selected mandatory respondents, excluding rates that are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts available. In this administrative review, we calculated preliminary individual estimated countervailable subsidy rates for Hangzhou Evernew and Xingyi Metalworking that are not zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts otherwise available. Commerce calculated the rate assigned to the companies under review that were not selected for individual examination using a simple average of the individual estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents.
See, e.g., Certain Pasta from Italy: Final Results of the 13th (2008) Countervailing Duty Administrative Review,75 FR 37386, 37387 (June 29, 2010).
With two respondents under examination, Commerce normally calculates: (A) a weighted-average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents; (B) a simple average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents; and (C) a weighted-average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents using each company's publicly-ranged U.S. sales values for the merchandise under consideration. Commerce then compares (B) and (C) to (A) and selects the rate closest to (A) as the most appropriate rate for all other producers and exporters. See, e.g., Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, Final Results of Changed-Circumstances Review, and Revocation of an Order in Part,75 FR 53661, 53662 (September 1, 2010), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 1. As complete publicly ranged sales data were not available, Commerce based the all-others rate on a simple average of the mandatory respondents' estimated subsidy rates.
Preliminary Results of Review
As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the following net countervailable subsidy rates exist for the POR, January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022:
As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with Hangzhou Evernew: Zhejiang Yinghong Metalware Co., Ltd.
In the Initiation Notice, we initiated a review of both Hangzhou Xline Machinery and Hangzhou Xline Machinery & Equipment Co., Ltd. We preliminarily determine that these are two names for the same company, and thus, we are assigning the non-selected rate to the full name of the company, Hangzhou Xline Machinery & Equipment Co., Ltd.