Proposed Modification to Regulation Concerning the Revocation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Proposed Modification to Regulation; Request for Comments.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce (“the Department”) proposes to modify our regulations which govern the revocation of antidumping and countervailing duty orders, in whole or in part, and the termination of suspended antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. The modification, if adopted, would eliminate the provision for revocation of an antidumping or countervailing duty order with respect to individual exporters or producers based on those individual exporters or producers having received antidumping margins of zero for three consecutive years, or countervailing duty rates of zero for five consecutive years.

DATES:

To be assured of consideration, comments must be received no later than April 20, 2011.

Submission of Comments: As specified above, to be assured of consideration, comments must be received no later than April 20, 2011. All comments must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov , Docket No. ITA-2011-0001, unless the commenter does not have access to the Internet. Commenters that do not have access to the Internet may submit the original and two copies of each set of comments by mail or hand delivery/courier. All comments should be addressed to Ronald K. Lorentzen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, Room 1870, Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230. The comments should also be identified by Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 0625-AA86.

The Department will consider all comments received before the close of the comment period. The Department will not accept comments accompanied by a request that part or all of the material be treated confidentially because of its business proprietary nature or for any other reason. All comments responding to this notice will be a matter of public record and will be available for inspection at Import Administration's Central Records Unit (Room 7046 of the Herbert C. Hoover Building) and online at http://www.Regulations.gov and on the Department's Web site at http://www.trade.gov/ia/ .

Any questions concerning file formatting, document conversion, access on the Internet, or other electronic filing issues should be addressed to Andrew Lee Beller, Import Administration Webmaster, at (202) 482-0866, e-mail address: webmaster-support@ita.doc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James Maeder at (202) 482-3330, Mark Ross at (202) 482-4794, or Jonathan Zielinski at (202) 482-4384.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Department proposes to modify its regulations that provide for revocation of antidumping and countervailing duty orders pursuant to the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Currently, 19 CFR 351.222 provides requirements and procedures for the Department to determine in the context of an administrative review, based on an absence of dumping or countervailable subsidization, whether to (1) revoke an order in whole, or (2) partially revoke an order with respect to an individual exporter or producer. The Department proposes to eliminate the latter category of revocations as it pertains to revocations from an antidumping or countervailing duty order based on individual exporters or producers having received antidumping margins of zero for three consecutive years, or countervailing duty rates of zero for five consecutive years. The Department will retain, with some conforming modifications, the former category of revocations. The Department is not proposing any change with respect to revocations as described under paragraphs (g) through (l) of 19 CFR 351.222. To implement this modification, the Department would withdraw 19 CFR 351.222(b)(2) and (3) (dumping) and 351.222(c)(3) and (4) (countervailable subsidy), and make conforming modifications as necessary to the remaining paragraphs of 19 CFR 351.222.

Company-specific revocations are not required by the Act. Accordingly, the Department has considered several factors in issuing this proposal. First, pursuant to the existing regulation, the Department is required to expend additional resources, including additional mandatory verifications, in conducting administrative reviews where a request for company-specific revocation is being considered. Second, while the Department annually conducts administrative reviews of hundreds of foreign companies subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders, only a small fraction of the reviewed companies are ultimately found to be eligible for a company-specific revocation under the regulations at issue here. Third, to the extent that eligible companies maintain antidumping duty or countervailing duty rates of zero percent, the proposal would not change the amount of duties applied to entries subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders. Finally, the Department has considered the fact that many of the companies for which reviews have been requested may not have the opportunity to amass the three antidumping rates of zero percent (demonstrating an absence of dumping for three consecutive years) or five countervailing duty rates of zero percent (demonstrating an absence of countervailable subsidies for five consecutive years) necessary to be eligible for a company-specific revocation. Pursuant to the Act, the Department frequently limits the examination of companies for which reviews have been requested, as it is not practicable to examine all companies. Companies not selected for review will normally receive an antidumping or countervailing duty rate based upon the average of the rates calculated for the individually reviewed companies. Rather than administering the company-specific revocation regulations in a manner that does not afford equitable opportunity to all companies to seek revocation, and in light of the additional factors noted, the Department proposes to eliminate the company-specific revocation regulations.

In addition, the Department proposes to clarify 19 CFR 351.222(f)(2) to make it clear that a request for revocation that does not conform with the requirements of paragraph (e) does not require the Secretary to undertake the actions provided for in paragraphs (f)(2)(i) through (f)(2)(vi). Finally, the Department proposes to correct a grammatical error in the third sentence of 19 CFR 351.222(a) (change “have” to “has”) and delete 19 CFR 351.222(m) (a transition rule related to the Uruguay Round Agreements Act that is no longer applicable).

Classification

Executive Order 12866

The rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Chief Counsel for Regulation has certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) under the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 605(b), that the proposed rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small business entities. A summary of the need for, objectives of, and legal basis for this rule is provided in the preamble, and is not repeated here.

The entities upon which this rulemaking could have an impact include foreign exporters and producers, some of whom are affiliated with U.S. companies, and U.S. importers. Some of these entities may be considered small entities under the SBA small business size standard. Although the Department is not able to estimate the number of small entities this proposed rule will affect, the Department anticipates that it will not be a substantial number. For example, while the Department annually conducts administrative reviews of hundreds of foreign companies subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders, only a small fraction of the reviewed companies could be considered eligible for a company-specific revocation under the regulations at issue here (i.e., 19 CFR 351.222(b)(2) and (3) (dumping) and 351.222(c)(3) and (4) (countervailable subsidy)). In the past five years, despite conducting administrative reviews of well over five hundred companies, only 15 companies (of various sizes) have obtained a company-specific revocation under the relevant portions of 19 CFR 351.222. Also, in relation to the proposed rule's economic impact on small entities, the Department does not anticipate it will be significant because the proposed rule will have no effect on any antidumping or countervailing duty liability determined for any party. This is because the proposed rule does not involve any aspect of the calculation of an antidumping or countervailing duty margin. Rather, as explained above, the proposed rule eliminates the possibility for foreign exporters or producers to obtain company-specific revocations based upon an absence of dumping for three consecutive years or countervailable subsidization for five consecutive years. Consequently, the amount of duties applied to entries subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders will not change as a result of the proposed rule.

Since this proposed modification to 19 CFR 351.222, if adopted, will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not required and, therefore, has not been prepared.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This rule does not contain a collection of information for purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as amended (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 351

• Administrative practice and procedure
• Antidumping
• Business and industry
• Cheese
• Confidential business information
• Countervailing duties
• Freedom of information
• Investigations
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements

For the reasons stated, 19 CFR part 351 is proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 351—ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTIES

1. The authority citation for 19 CFR part 351 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 1202 note; 19 U.S.C. 1303 note; 19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.; and 19 U.S.C. 3538.

2. In § 351.222, revise paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (f), remove paragraph (m), and redesignate paragraph (n) as paragraph (m) to read as follows: