81 FR 25375 - Subsidy Programs Provided by Countries Exporting Softwood Lumber and Softwood Lumber Products to the United States; Request for Comment

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 82 (April 28, 2016)

The Department of Commerce (Department) seeks public comment on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, provided by certain countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood lumber products to the United States during the period July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 82 (Thursday, April 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25375-25376]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09887]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Subsidy Programs Provided by Countries Exporting Softwood Lumber 
and Softwood Lumber Products to the United States; Request for Comment

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Department) seeks public comment 
on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, provided by certain 
countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood lumber products to the 
United States during the period July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.

DATES: Comments must be submitted within 30 days after publication of 
this notice.

ADDRESSES: See the Submission of Comments section below.

[[Page 25376]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Terpstra, Office III, 
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3965.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 18, 2008, section 805 of Title VIII of the Tariff Act of 
1930 (the Softwood Lumber Act of 2008) was enacted into law. Under this 
provision, the Secretary of Commerce is mandated to submit to the 
appropriate Congressional committees a report every 180 days on any 
subsidy provided by countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood 
lumber products to the United States, including stumpage subsidies.
    The Department submitted its last subsidy report on December 16, 
2015. As part of its newest report, the Department intends to include a 
list of subsidy programs identified with sufficient clarity by the 
public in response to this notice.

Request for Comments

    Given the large number of countries that export softwood lumber and 
softwood lumber products to the United States, we are soliciting public 
comment only on subsidies provided by countries whose exports accounted 
for at least one percent of total U.S. imports of softwood lumber by 
quantity, as classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule code 4407.1001 
(which accounts for the vast majority of imports), during the period 
July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. Official U.S. import data 
published by the United States International Trade Commission Tariff 
and Trade DataWeb indicate that only two countries, Canada and Chile, 
exported softwood lumber to the United States during that time period 
in amounts sufficient to account for at least one percent of U.S. 
imports of softwood lumber products. We intend to rely on similar 
previous six-month periods to identify the countries subject to future 
reports on softwood lumber subsidies. For example, we will rely on U.S. 
imports of softwood lumber and softwood lumber products during the 
period January 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016, to select the countries 
subject to the next report.
    Under U.S. trade law, a subsidy exists where an authority: (i) 
Provides a financial contribution; (ii) provides any form of income or 
price support within the meaning of Article XVI of the GATT 1994; or 
(iii) makes a payment to a funding mechanism to provide a financial 
contribution to a person, or entrusts or directs a private entity to 
make a financial contribution, if providing the contribution would 
normally be vested in the government and the practice does not differ 
in substance from practices normally followed by governments, and a 
benefit is thereby conferred.\1\
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    \1\ See section 771(5)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
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    Parties should include in their comments: (1) The country which 
provided the subsidy; (2) the name of the subsidy program; (3) a brief 
description (at least 3-4 sentences) of the subsidy program; and (4) 
the government body or authority that provided the subsidy.

Submission of Comments

    Persons wishing to comment should file comments by the date 
specified above. Comments should only include publicly available 
information. The Department will not accept comments accompanied by a 
request that a part or all of the material be treated confidentially 
due to business proprietary concerns or for any other reason. The 
Department will return such comments or materials to the persons 
submitting the comments and will not include them in its report on 
softwood lumber subsidies. The Department requests submission of 
comments filed in electronic Portable Document Format (PDF) submitted 
on CD-ROM or by email to the email address of the EC Webmaster, below.
    The comments received will be made available to the public in PDF 
on the Enforcement and Compliance Web site at the following address: 
http://enforcement.trade.gov/sla2008/sla-index.html. Any questions 
concerning file formatting, access on the Internet, or other electronic 
filing issues should be addressed to Laura Merchant, Enforcement and 
Compliance Webmaster, at (202) 482-0367, email address: 
[email protected].
    All comments and submissions in response to this Request for 
Comment should be received by the Department no later than 5 p.m. 
Eastern Standard Time on the above-referenced deadline date.

    Dated: April 21, 2016.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2016-09887 Filed 4-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P