Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Continuation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders

AGENCY:

Enforcement and Compliance, formerly Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY:

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (the USITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) order and revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires (OTR Tires) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and a continuation or recurrence of net countervailable subsidies and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of these AD and CVD orders.

DATES:

Effective Date: February 4, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Andrew Huston (AD) or Demitrios Kalogeropoulos (CVD), 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) 482-4261 or (202) 482-2623, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On August 1, 2013, the Department initiated a sunset review of these orders, pursuant to sections 751(c) and 752 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). As a result of its review, the Department determined that revocation of the AD order on OTR Tires from the PRC would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and that revocation of the CVD order on OTR Tires from the PRC would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of net countervailable subsidies and, therefore, notified the USITC of the magnitude of the margins of dumping and the subsidy rates likely to prevail should the order be revoked. On January 22, 2014, the USITC published its determination, pursuant to sections 751(c) and 752 of the Act, that revocation of the AD and CVD orders on OTR Tires from the PRC would lead to a continuation or recurrence of material injury to an industry in the United States within a reasonably foreseeable time.

Scope of the Order

The products covered by the scope of these Orders are new pneumatic tires designed for off-the-road (OTR) and off-highway use, subject to exceptions identified below. Certain OTR tires are generally designed, manufactured and offered for sale for use on off-road or off-highway surfaces, including but not limited to, agricultural fields, forests, construction sites, factory and warehouse interiors, airport tarmacs, ports and harbors, mines, quarries, gravel yards, and steel mills. The vehicles and equipment for which certain OTR tires are designed for use include, but are not limited to: (1) Agricultural and forestry vehicles and equipment, including agricultural tractors, combine harvesters, agricultural high clearance sprayers, industrial tractors, log-skidders, agricultural implements, highway-towed implements, agricultural logging, and agricultural, industrial, skid-steers/mini-loaders; (2) construction vehicles and equipment, including earthmover articulated dump products, rigid frame haul trucks, front end loaders, dozers, lift trucks, straddle carriers, graders, mobile cranes, compactors; and (3) industrial vehicles and equipment, including smooth floor, industrial, mining, counterbalanced lift trucks, industrial and mining vehicles other than smooth floor, skid-steers/mini-loaders, and smooth floor off-the-road counterbalanced lift trucks. The foregoing list of vehicles and equipment generally have in common that they are used for hauling, towing, lifting, and/or loading a wide variety of equipment and materials in agricultural, construction and industrial settings. Such vehicles and equipment, and the descriptions contained in the footnotes are illustrative of the types of vehicles and equipment that use certain OTR tires, but are not necessarily all-inclusive. While the physical characteristics of certain OTR tires will vary depending on the specific applications and conditions for which the tires are designed (e.g., tread pattern and depth), all of the tires within the scope have in common that they are designed for off-road and off-highway use. Except as discussed below, OTR tires included in the scope of the proceeding range in size (rim diameter) generally but not exclusively from 8 inches to 54 inches. The tires may be either tube-type or tubeless, radial or non-radial, and intended for sale either to original equipment manufacturers or the replacement market. The subject merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings: 4011.20.10.25, 4011.20.10.35, 4011.20.50.30, 4011.20.50.50, 4011.61.00.00, 4011.62.00.00, 4011.63.00.00, 4011.69.00.00, 4011.92.00.00, 4011.93.40.00, 4011.93.80.00, 4011.94.40.00, and 4011.94.80.00. While HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the scope is dispositive.

Specifically excluded from the scope are new pneumatic tires designed, manufactured and offered for sale primarily for on-highway or on-road use, including passenger cars, race cars, station wagons, sport utility vehicles, minivans, mobile homes, motorcycles, bicycles, on-road or on-highway trailers, light trucks, and trucks and buses. Such tires generally have in common that the symbol “DOT” must appear on the sidewall, certifying that the tire conforms to applicable motor vehicle safety standards. Such excluded tires may also have the following designations that are used by the Tire and Rim Association:

Prefix letter designations:

• P—Identifies a tire intended primarily for service on passenger cars;
• LT—Identifies a tire intended primarily for service on light trucks; and,
• ST—Identifies a special tire for trailers in highway service.

Suffix letter designations:

• TR—Identifies a tire for service on trucks, buses, and other vehicles with rims having specified rim diameter of nominal plus 0.156″ or plus 0.250″
• MH—Identifies tires for Mobile Homes;
• HC—Identifies a heavy duty tire designated for use on “HC” 15″ tapered rims used on trucks, buses, and other vehicles. This suffix is intended to differentiate among tires for light trucks, and other vehicles or other services, which use a similar designation.
• Example: 8R17.5 LT, 8R17.5 HC;
• LT—Identifies light truck tires for service on trucks, buses, trailers, and multipurpose passenger vehicles used in nominal highway service; and
• MC—Identifies tires and rims for motorcycles.

The following types of tires are also excluded from the scope: Pneumatic tires that are not new, including recycled or retreaded tires and used tires; non-pneumatic tires, including solid rubber tires; tires of a kind designed for use on aircraft, all-terrain vehicles, and vehicles for turf, lawn and garden, golf and trailer applications. Also excluded from the scope are radial and bias tires of a kind designed for use in mining and construction vehicles and equipment that have a rim diameter equal to or exceeding 39 inches. Such tires may be distinguished from other tires of similar size by the number of plies that the construction and mining tires contain (minimum of 16) and the weight of such tires (minimum 1500 pounds).

Continuation of the Order

As a result of the determinations by the Department and the USITC that revocation of the AD and CVD orders would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and net countervailable subsidies and material injury to an industry in the United States, pursuant to section 751(d)(2) of the Act, the Department hereby orders the continuation of the AD and CVD Orders on OTR Tires from the PRC. U.S Customs and Border Protection will continue to collect AD duty and CVD cash deposits at the rates in effect at the time of entry for all imports of subject merchandise. The effective date of this continuation of the Orders will be the date of publication in the Federal Register of this notice of continuation. Pursuant to section 751(c)(2) of the Act, the Department intends to initiate the next five-year review of the Orders not later than 30 days prior to the effective date of the continuation.

The five-year (sunset) review and this notice are in accordance with section 751(c) of the Act and published pursuant to section 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(f)(4).