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AGENCY:
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is amending the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from Canada to correct certain ministerial errors. The period of review (POR) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.
DATES:
Applicable September 24, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Maisha Cryor, AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5831.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On August 19, 2024, Commerce published, in the Federal Register , the final results of the administrative review of the AD order on softwood lumber from Canada for the POR. On August 21, 2024, we received a timely submitted ministerial error allegation from West Fraser Mills, Ltd. (West Fraser), a mandatory respondent in this administrative review. We are amending the Final Results to correct the ministerial error alleged by West Fraser.
See Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, Partial Rescission of Administrative Review and Final Determination of No Shipments; 2022, 89 FR 67067 (August 19, 2024) ( Final Results), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum (IDM).
See West Fraser's Letter, “Request for Correction of Ministerial Errors in the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review Calculations,” dated August 21, 2024, at Attachment I (West Fraser Ministerial Error Allegation).
See Memorandum, “Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Analysis of Ministerial Error Allegations,” dated concurrently with this notice (Ministerial Error Memorandum).
Legal Framework
Section 751(h) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), defines a “ministerial error” as including “errors in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical errors resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and any other unintentional error which the administering authority considers ministerial.” With respect to final results of administrative reviews, 19 CFR 351.224(e) provides that Commerce “will analyze any comments received and, if appropriate, correct any . . . ministerial error by amending the final results of review . . .”
See19 CFR 351.224(f).
Ministerial Errors
In the Final Results, we made certain revisions to our preliminary results calculations for West Fraser, including setting the stage of the proceeding in the comparison market program to final. In its ministerial error comments, West Fraser alleged that Commerce failed to make the same adjustment in the corresponding margin calculation program, i.e., setting the stage of the review segment in the margin program to “final.” West Fraser alleged that by failing to set the stage of the review segment to final (instead of preliminary) in the margin calculation program, Commerce inadvertently accessed certain databases from the preliminary results margin program. West Fraser also alleged that the preliminary results margin program databases at issue did not incorporate the calculation changes that Commerce made for the Final Results .
See Memorandum, “Analysis for the Final Results of the Fifth Antidumping Duty Administrative Review—West Fraser Mills Ltd.,” dated August 12, 2024, at Attachment I.
See West Fraser Ministerial Error Allegation.
Id.
Id.
We agree with West Fraser that we made a ministerial error in the Final Results, pursuant to section 751(h) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(f), and have amended our calculations to correct the stage of the review segment section of the margin program. As a result, we also revised our calculation of the dumping margin for the non-selected companies.
See Ministerial Error Memorandum; see also Memorandum, “West Fraser Amended Final Calculation Memorandum,” dated concurrently with this notice (WF Amended Final Calculation Memorandum).
See Memorandum, “Calculation of the Rate for Non-Selected Respondents,” dated concurrently with this notice (Non-Selected Rate Analysis Memorandum). A list of the non-selected companies under review is included here as an appendix.
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e), we are amending the Final Results to correct this ministerial error in the calculation of the weighted-average dumping margin for West Fraser, which changes from 5.32 percent to 5.04 percent. Furthermore, we are also amending the rate for the companies not selected for individual examination in this review based on the weighted-average dumping margins calculated for the mandatory respondents, which changes from 7.80 percent to 7.66 percent. For a complete discussion of the ministerial error allegation, as well as Commerce's analysis, see the accompanying Ministerial Error Memorandum. The Ministerial Error 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 .
See Ministerial Error Memorandum; see also WF Amended Final Calculation Memorandum.
The margin for the other mandatory respondent, Canfor Corporation, remains unchanged from the Final Results and continues to be 10.44 percent.
See Non-Selected Rate Analysis Memorandum.
See Ministerial Error Memorandum; see also WF Amended Final Calculation Memorandum.
Amended Final Results of Review
As a result of correcting the ministerial errors described above, we determine the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022: