Federal Register Vol. 81, No.219,

Title: Operating Guidelines, Forms and Waivers.

OMB Number: 0584-0083.

Forms: FNS-366A; FNS-366B; SNAP Waiver Request Form

Expiration Date: April 30, 2017.

Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.

Abstract: Section 16(a) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (the Act) authorizes 50 percent Federal reimbursement for State agency costs to administer the program. 7 CFR 272.2(a) of SNAP regulations requires that State agencies plan and budget program operations and establish objectives for the next year. The basic components of the State Plan of Operation are the Federal/State Agreement, the Budget Projection Statement (FNS-366A) and the Program Activity Statement (FNS-366B) (7 CFR 272.2(a)(2)). Under 7 CFR 272.2(c), the State agency shall submit to FNS for approval a Budget Projection Statement (which projects total Federal administrative costs for the upcoming fiscal year) and a Program Activity Statement (which provides program activity data for the preceding fiscal year). In addition, certain attachments to the plan as specified in subparagraphs (c) and (d) are to be submitted. As specified in subparagraph (f), State agencies only have to provide FNS with changes to these attachments as they occur. Consequently, these attachments are considered State plan updates. Under Section 11(o) of the Act each State agency is required to develop and submit plans for the use of automated data processing (ADP) and information retrieval systems to administer SNAP. Section 16(a) of the Act authorizes partial Federal reimbursement of State costs for State ADP systems that the Secretary determines will assist meeting the requirements of the Act, meets conditions prescribed by the Secretary, are likely to provide more efficient and effective administration of the program, and are compatible with certain other Federally-funded systems.

Under 7 CFR 277.18(c)(1) of SNAP regulations, State agencies must obtain prior written approval from FNS when it plans to acquire ADP equipment with a total acquisition cost of $5 million or more in Federal and State funds. The State agency must submit an Advance Planning Document (APD) prior to acquiring planning services and an Implementation APD prior to acquiring ADP equipment or services. Additionally, State agencies administering SNAP may submit formal written requests, SNAP waiver requests, to obtain approval from FNS to deviate from a specific program rule or regulation. Current procedures require that in order for FNS to approve a SNAP waiver request, the State agency must submit the SNAP Waiver Request Form via the SWIM application.

In 2014, FNS submitted a change justification for the SNAP Recipient Trafficking Data Survey, which added 26.5 hours to this burden. This survey is no longer being conducted, and the associated hours are removed from this collection with this notice. The reporting burden for forms FNS-366A and FNS-366B was merged in 2015 with the burden for the Food Programs Reporting System (OMB control number 0584-0594, expiration date September 30, 2019); therefore, reporting hours associated with these forms are removed from this collection with this notice. However, recordkeeping requirements for these forms remains in this OMB Control Number.

The burden within this collection consists of reporting and recordkeeping burden for the State Plan of Operation Updates and APD Plans or Updates; reporting burden for SNAP Waiver Requests via the SNAP Workflow Information Management (SWIM) system; and recordkeeping burden for forms FNS-366A and FNS-366B. The current burden is 2,754 hours. The revised estimated burden for this collection is 1,120.95 hours (1,088.62 reporting hours and 32.33 recordkeeping hours). This results in a decrease of 1,633 hours, which is a result of removing the reporting burden for forms FNS-366A and FNS-366B and the SNAP Trafficking Survey from this collection. The calculation of the burden for each of these components is described below:

Reporting Burden Estimates:

Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Government Agencies.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 53.

Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 8.35.

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 442.3.

Estimated Reporting Time per Response: 3.36.

Estimated Annual Reporting Burden Hours: 1,088.62.

State Plan of Operation Updates. Fifty-three (53) State agencies submit 1 response annually for a total of 53 annual responses. The reporting burden for submission of updates to State Plans of Operation is 6.58 hours per respondent, resulting in estimated burden hours of 348.99 (53 × 6.5847 = 348.99).

APD Plans or Updates. We estimate that up to 53 State agencies may submit on an average of four (4) APD, plan, or update submission for a total of 212 annual responses at an average estimate of 2.5 hours per respondent. The reporting burden is 530 hours.

SNAP Waiver Request Form. FNS estimates that out of 53 State agencies 45 State will submit 3.94 of the three identified waivers annually for a total number of 177 Waivers annually. Completion and submission of these waivers take approximately 1 hour for a total of 177 burden hours annually.

Recordkeeping Burden Estimates:

Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Government Agencies.

Estimated Number of Recordkeepers: 53.

Estimated Number of Records per Recordkeepers: 6.84.

Estimated Total Annual Records: 363.

Estimated Recordkeeping time per Recordkeepers: 0.07.

Estimated Annual Recordkeeping Burden Hours: 31.77.

FNS-366A. State agencies are required to submit to FNS for approval a Budget Projection Statement, Form FNS-366A, which includes projections of the total Federal costs for major areas of program operations. There is a total of 53 recordkeepers for each activity. Each State agency submits 1 response annually for a total of 53 annual responses. A copy is maintained for 3 years. It takes approximately 0.05 minutes to maintain each record. Total annual recordkeeping burden for FNS-366A is estimated at 2.65 hours annually per recordkeeper.

FNS-366B. State agencies are required to submit to FNS a Program Activity Statement, Form FNS-366B, providing a summary of program activity for the State agency's operations during its preceding fiscal year. Each State agency submits 1 response annually for a total of 53 annual responses; each record takes approximately 0.05 minutes to maintain. The annual recordkeeping burden for FNS-366B is estimated annually at 2.65 hours per recordkeeper.

State Plan of Operation Updates. Each State agency submits 1 response annually for a total of 45 annual responses; each record takes approximately 0.07 minutes to maintain. The annual recordkeeping burden for updates to State Plans of Operation as attachments to the FNS-366B is 3.15 hours per record-keeper.

Other APD Plans and Updates. FNS estimated that up to 53 State agencies may submit an average of 4 APD, Plan, or Update submissions and approximately 212 records at an average estimate of 0.11 minutes per record keeper for an estimated total of 23.32 recordkeeping burden for this activity hours.

This business meeting is open to the public. If you would like to listen to the business meeting, please contact the above for the call-in information.

Hearing-impaired persons who will attend the briefing and require the services of a sign language interpreter should contact Pamela Dunston at (202) 376-8105 or at [email protected] at least three business days before the scheduled date of the meeting.

I. Background

The Department of Commerce (Department) collects, compiles, analyzes, and disseminates a treasure trove of data, including data on the Nation's economy, population, and environment. This data is fundamental to the Department's mission and is used for the protection of life and property, for scientific purposes, and to enhance economic growth. However, the Department's capacity to disseminate the increasing amount of data held and to disseminate it in formats most useful to its customers is significantly constrained.

In order to realize the potential value of the data the Department collects, stores, and disseminates, the Department must minimize barriers to accessing and using the data. Consistent with privacy and security considerations, the Department is firmly committed to unleashing its untapped data resources in ways that best support downstream information access, processing, analysis, and dissemination.

The Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC) provides advice and recommendations, to include process and infrastructure improvements, to the Secretary on ways to make Commerce data easier to find, access, use, combine and disseminate. The aim of this advice shall be to maximize the value of Commerce data to all users including governments, businesses, communities, academia, and individuals.

The Secretary will draw CDAC membership from the data industry academia, non-profits and state and local governments with a focus on recognized expertise in collection, compilation, analysis, and dissemination. As privacy concerns span the entire data lifecycle, expertise in privacy protection also will be represented on the Council. The Secretary will select members that represent the entire spectrum of Commerce data including demographic, economic, scientific, environmental, patent, and geospatial data. The Secretary will select members from the information technology, business, non-profit, and academic communities, and state and local governments. Collectively, their knowledge will include all types of data Commerce distributes and the full lifecycle of data collection, compilation, analysis, and dissemination.

The Council shall advise the Secretary on ways to make Commerce data easier to find, access, use, combine, and disseminate. Such advice may include recommended process and infrastructure improvements. The aim of this advice shall be to maximize the value of Commerce data to governments, businesses, communities, and individuals.

In carrying out its duties, the Council may consider the following:

The Council meets up to four times a year, budget permitting. Special meetings may be called when appropriate.

Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), which sets forth standards for the formation and use of advisory committees, is the governing instrument for the CDAC.

1. The Council shall consist of up to 20 members.

2. The Secretary shall select and appoint members and members shall serve at the pleasure of the Secretary.

3. Members shall represent a cross-section of business, academic, non-profit, and non-governmental organizations.

4. The Secretary will choose members of the Council who ensure objectivity and balance, a diversity of perspectives, and guard against potential for conflicts of interest.

5. Members shall be prominent experts in their fields, recognized for their professional and other relevant achievements and their objectivity.

6. In order to ensure the continuity of the Commerce Data Advisory Council, the Council shall be appointed so that each year the terms expire of approximately one-third of the members of the Council.

7. Council members serve for terms of two years and may be reappointed to any number of additional terms. Initial appointments may be for 12-, 18- and 24-month increments to provide staggered terms.

8. Nominees must be able to actively participate in the tasks of the Council, including, but not limited to regular meeting attendance, Council meeting discussant responsibilities, and review of materials, as well as participation in conference calls, webinars, working groups, and special Council activities.

9. Should a council member be unable to complete a two-year term and when vacancies occur, the Secretary will select replacements who can best either replicate the expertise of the departing member or provide the CDAC with a new, identified needed area of expertise. An individual chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed for the remainder of the term of the member replaced or for a two-year term as deemed. A vacancy shall not affect the exercise of any power of the remaining members to execute the duties of the Council.

10. No employee of the federal government can serve as a member of the Census Scientific Advisory Committee.

All members of the Commerce Data Advisory Council shall adhere to the conflict of interest rules applicable to Special Government Employees as such employees are defined in 18 U.S.C. 202(a). These rules include relevant provisions in 18 U.S.C. related to criminal activity, Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (5 CFR part 2635), and Executive Order 12674 (as modified by Executive Order 12731).

1. Membership is under voluntary circumstances and therefore members do not receive compensation for service on the Commerce Data Advisory Council.

2. Members shall receive per diem and travel expenses as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703, as amended, for persons employed intermittently in the Government service.

The Secretary will consider nominations of all qualified individuals to ensure that the CDAC includes the areas of subject matter expertise noted above (see ”Background and Membership”). Individuals may nominate themselves or other individuals, and professional associations and organizations may nominate one or more qualified persons for membership on the CDAC. Nominations shall state that the nominee is willing to serve as a member of the Council.

A nomination package should include the following information for each nominee:

1. A letter of nomination stating the name, affiliation, and contact information for the nominee, the basis for the nomination (i.e., what specific attributes recommend him/her for service in this capacity), and the nominee's field(s) of expertise;

2. A biographical sketch of the nominee and a copy of his/her resume or curriculum vitae; and

3. The name, return address, email address, and daytime telephone number at which the nominator can be contacted.

The Department of Commerce is committed to equal opportunity in the workplace and seeks diverse Committee membership. The Department has special interest in assuring that women, minority groups, and the physically disabled are adequately represented on advisory committees; and therefore, extends particular encouragement to nominations for appropriately qualified female, minority, or disabled candidates. The Department of Commerce also encourages geographic diversity in the composition of the Council. All nomination information should be provided in a single, complete package and received by the stated deadline, November 10, 2016. Interested applicants should send their nomination package to the email or postal address provided above.

Potential candidates will be asked to provide detailed information concerning financial interests, consultancies, research grants, and/or contracts that might be affected by recommendations of the Council to permit evaluation of possible sources of conflicts of interest. Finally, nominees will be required to certify that they are not subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 U.S.C. 611) or the Lobbying Disclosure Act (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

Background

The Department published the initiation of this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Austria. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, correct two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modify language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). There is one mandatory respondent participating in this investigation. Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated “all others” rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted-average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero or de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

Voestalpine is the only respondent for which the Department calculated a company-specific rate.7 Therefore, for purposes of determining the “all others” rate and pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are using the estimated weighted-average dumping margin calculated for voestalpine as the all-others rate, as referenced in the “Preliminary Determination” section below.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Austria is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from Austria, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register, except for voestalpine, as described below.

Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of initiation of the investigation was published.

Because we have preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist with regard to imports produced and exported by the mandatory respondent voestalpine,8 we will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation of all entries of CTL plate from Austria, as described in the scope of the investigation, from voestalpine that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date that is 90 days prior to the date on which suspension of liquidation is first ordered, e.g., the date of publication of this notice.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit 9 equal to the weighted-average amount by which NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondent listed above will be the respondent-specific rate we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the public announcement of this preliminary determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.10 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.11 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.12 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.13 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents in this investigation must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondent voestalpine has requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination, i.e., no later than 135 days after the publication of the preliminary determination in the Federal Register, and agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.14

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.15

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 We selected two mandatory respondents in this investigation, China Steel Corporation (China Steel) and Shang Chen Steel Co., Ltd. (Shang Chen). For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Taiwan. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export price is calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act.7 For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Because mandatory respondent China Steel failed to cooperate to the best of its ability in responding to the Department's questionnaires, we preliminarily determine to use adverse facts available (AFA) with respect to this respondent, in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. For further discussion, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

In this investigation, because the margin for China Steel was determined entirely under section 776 of the Act, and hence, because Shang Chen was the only respondent for which we calculated a weighted-average dumping margin, we based our determination of the all-others rate on the estimated weighted-average dumping margin calculated for Shang Chen.8

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Taiwan is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of CTL plate from Taiwan, as described in the Scope of the Investigation in Appendix I, from Shang Chen that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative preliminary determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of initiation of the investigation was published.

Because we have preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist with regard to imports produced and exported by China Steel and “all other” companies,9 we will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation of all entries of CTL plate from Taiwan, as described in the scope of the investigation, from China Steel and the “all other” companies that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date that is 90 days prior to the date on which suspension of liquidation is first ordered (e.g., the date of publication of this notice).

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 10 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. The suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.11 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.12 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.13 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.14 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondents China Steel and Shang Chen have requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination, i.e., no later than 135 days after the publication of the preliminary determination in the Federal Register, and agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.15

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.16

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Italy. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

On October 7, 2016, the petitioners timely filed an amendment to the petition, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), alleging that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise.7 We preliminarily determine that critical circumstances do not exist for all non-individually examined companies, but do exist for NLMK Verona SpA (NVR) and Officine Tecnosider s.r.l. (OTS). Further, pursuant to sections 776(a)(1) and 776(a)(2)(A)-(D) and section 776(b) of the Act, we preliminarily find as adverse facts available (AFA) that critical circumstances do exist for Marcegaglia SpA (Marcegaglia), a non-participating mandatory respondent. For a full description of the methodology and results of our analysis, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Because mandatory respondent Marcegaglia failed to respond to the Department's questionnaire, we preliminarily determine to apply AFA to this respondent, in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. For further discussion, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

In this investigation, we based our calculation of the all-others rate on the weighted-average of the margins calculated for NVR and OTS using publicly-ranged data. Because we cannot apply our normal methodology of calculating a weighted-average margin due to requests to protect business-proprietary information, we find this rate to be the best proxy of the actual weighted-average margin determined for these respondents.8 For further discussion of this calculation, see the memorandum entitled “Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate from Italy: Calculation of the Preliminary Margin for All Other Companies,” dated concurrently with this notice.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Italy is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from Italy, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register, except for Marcegaglia, NVR, and OTS, as described below.

Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of initiation of the investigation was published.

Because we have preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist with regard to imports produced and exported by the mandatory respondents Marcegaglia, NVR, and OTS, we will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation of all entries of CTL plate from Italy, as described in the scope of the investigation, from Marcegaglia, NVR, and OTS, that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date that is 90 days prior to the date on which suspension of liquidation is first ordered, e.g., the date of publication of this notice.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 9 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the public announcement of this preliminary determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.10 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.11 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.12 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.13 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

OTS requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination by 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination, and agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.14 NVR also requested that the Department extend the deadline for the final determination and extend provisional measures.15

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.16

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Background

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Japan. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (“the Act”). There is one mandatory respondent participating in this investigation. Export price is calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Normal value (“NV”) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Because mandatory respondent JFE Steel Corporation (“JFE”) 7 and Shimabun Corporation (“Shimabun”) 8 failed to respond to the Department's questionnaire, we preliminarily determine to apply adverse facts available (“AFA”) to these respondents, in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. For further discussion, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd (“Tokyo Steel”) is the only respondent for which the Department calculated a company-specific margin. Therefore, for purposes of determining the “all others” rate and pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are using the dumping margin calculated for Tokyo Steel, as referenced in the “Preliminary Determination” section below.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Japan is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from Japan, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 9 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the public announcement of this preliminary determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.10 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.11 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.12 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief. 13 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondent Tokyo Steel requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination, i.e., to 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination, and agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.14

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Background

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Belgium. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

In this investigation, we based our calculation of the all-others rate on the weighted-average of the margins calculated for the two mandatory respondents participating in this investigation, Industeel Belgium S.A. (Industeel) and NLMK Belgium,7 using publicly-ranged data. Because we cannot apply our normal methodology of calculating a weighted-average margin due to requests to protect business-proprietary information, we find this rate to be the best proxy of the actual weighted-average margin determined for these respondents.8 For further discussion of this calculation, see the memorandum entitled “Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate from Italy: Calculation of the Preliminary Margin for All Other Companies,” dated concurrently with this notice.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Belgium is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from Belgium, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register, except for Industeel and NLMK Belgium, as described below.

Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of initiation of the investigation was published.

Because we preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist with regard to imports produced and exported by the mandatory respondents Industeel and NLMK Belgium,9 we will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation of all entries of CTL plate from Belgium, as described in the scope of the investigation, from the mandatory respondents that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date that is 90 days prior to the date on which suspension of liquidation is first ordered, e.g., the date of publication of this notice.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 10 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rates for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.11 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.12 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.13 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.14 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondents NLMK Belgium and Industeel requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination, and extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.15

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because: (1) Our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we intend to issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.16

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

On July 20, 2016, the Department of Commerce (“Department”) initiated an antidumping duty investigation concerning imports of dioctyl terephthalate (“DOTP”) from the Republic of Korea (“Korea”).1 The notice of initiation stated that, in accordance with section 733(b)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (“the Act”), and 19 CFR 351.205(b)(1), we would issue our preliminary determination no later than 140 days after the date of initiation, unless postponed. Currently, the preliminary determination in this investigation is due no later than December 7, 2016.

If the petitioner makes a timely request for a postponement, section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act allows the Department to postpone making the preliminary determination until no later than 190 days after the date on which the Department initiated the investigation. On October 28, 2016, Eastman Chemical Company (“Petitioner”) submitted a timely request for a postponement of the preliminary determination pursuant to section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(e), in order to provide the Department sufficient time to review all relevant information from the respondents and issue appropriate requests for clarification or additional information.2

For the reasons stated above, and because there are no compelling reasons to deny Petitioner's request, the Department is postponing the deadline for the preliminary determination to no later than 190 days after the day on which the investigation was initiated, in accordance with section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act. Accordingly, the Department intends to issue the preliminary determination no later than January 26, 2017. In accordance with section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1), the deadline for the final determination of this investigation will continue to be 75 days after the date of the preliminary determination, unless postponed at a later date.

This notice is issued and published pursuant to section 733(c)(2) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(f)(1).

Background

On October 1, 2015, the Department published a notice of “Opportunity to Request Administrative Review” of the antidumping order on steel wire garment hangers from the PRC.1 In November 2015, the Department received multiple timely requests to conduct an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel wire garment hangers from the PRC.2 Based upon these requests, on December 3, 2015, the Department published a notice of initiation of an administrative review (“AR”) of the Order covering the period October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015.3 The Department initiated the administrative review with respect to 46 companies.4 On December 16, 2015, Petitioner withdrew its request for an administrative review on 44 companies.5 On June 2, 2016, the Department extended the period for issuing the preliminary results by 120 days.6 As explained in the memorandum from the Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, the Department exercised its discretion to toll deadlines because of the closure of the Federal Government.7 The preliminary results were extended by four business days.8 The revised deadline for the preliminary results is November 4, 2016.

Background

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 We selected two mandatory respondents in this investigation, Dillinger France S.A. (Dillinger) and Industeel France S.A. (Industeel). For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination, and hereby adopted by, this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from France. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act.

In this investigation, we cannot apply our normal methodology of calculating a weighted-average margin due to requests to protect business-proprietary information. Therefore, we based our calculation of the all-others rate on the simple average of the margins calculated for Dillinger and Industeel. For further discussion of this calculation, see the memorandum entitled “Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate from France: Calculation of the Preliminary Margin for All Other Companies,” dated concurrently with this notice.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from France is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from France, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 7 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the public announcement of this preliminary determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.8 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.9 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.10 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.11 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondents Dillinger and Industeel have requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination by 60 days, i.e., to 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination.12 Further, Industeel agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) Industeel accounts for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.13

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 We selected POSCO and POSCO Daewoo International Corp. as mandatory respondents in this investigation. For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decisiom Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from the Republic of Korea. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the the Act. Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. In this investigation, because we individually investigated only one exporter or producer, we based our calculation of the all-others rate on the weighted-average dumping margin calculated for POSCO.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL Palte from the Republic of Korea is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from the Republic of Korea, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 7 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, adjusted where appropriate for export subsidies.8 However, the preliminary determination in the concurrent countervailing duty investigation was negative.9 Therefore, no adjustments for export subsidies will be applied to the weighted average dumping margin preliminarily calculated for POSCO, and for the all-other rates. The Department will instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the weighted average amount by which NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondent listed above will be the respondent-specific rate we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.10 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.11 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.12 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief. 13 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce. All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. Section 351.210(e)(2) of the Department's regulations requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondent POSCO has requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination, i.e., to 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination. Further, POSCO agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.14

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.15

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Based on a request from Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee (Petitioner),1 on March 21, 2016, the Department initiated its anti-circumvention inquiry 2 pursuant to sections 781(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) to determine whether extruded aluminum products that meet the chemical specifications for 5050-grade aluminum alloy, which are heat-treated, and are exported by China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively, Zhongwang), are circumventing the AD and CVD orders on aluminum extrusions from the PRC.3 We also indicated in our Initiation Notice that we intended to consider whether the inquiry should apply to all such imports of extruded aluminum products, regardless of producer, exporter, or importer, from the PRC. During the course of the proceeding, the Department issued a questionnaire to Zhongwang, who did not respond, and also received additional factual information and comments from Petitioner and Endura Products Inc., a domestic interested party.

The merchandise covered by the Orders are aluminum extrusions from the People's Republic of China. The merchandise subject to the orders are currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS): 8481.90.9060, 8481.90.9085, 9031.90.9195, 8424.90.9080, 9405.99.4020, 9031.90.90.95, 7616.10.90.90, 7609.00.00, 7610.10.00, 7610.90.00, 7615.10.30, 7615.10.71, 7615.10.91, 7615.19.10, 7615.19.30, 7615.19.50, 7615.19.70, 7615.19.90, 7615.20.00, 7616.99.10, 7616.99.50, 8479.89.98, 8479.90.94, 8513.90.20, 9403.10.00, 9403.20.00, 7604.21.00.00, 7604.29.10.00, 7604.29.30.10, 7604.29.30.50, 7604.29.50.30, 7604.29.50.60, 7608.20.00.30, 7608.20.00.90, 8302.10.30.00, 8302.10.60.30, 8302.10.60.60, 8302.10.60.90, 8302.20.00.00, 8302.30.30.10, 8302.30.30.60, 8302.41.30.00, 8302.41.60.15, 8302.41.60.45, 8302.41.60.50, 8302.41.60.80, 8302.42.30.10, 8302.42.30.15, 8302.42.30.65, 8302.49.60.35, 8302.49.60.45, 8302.49.60.55, 8302.49.60.85, 8302.50.00.00, 8302.60.90.00, 8305.10.00.50, 8306.30.00.00, 8414.59.60.90, 8415.90.80.45, 8418.99.80.05, 8418.99.80.50, 8418.99.80.60, 8419.90.10.00, 8422.90.06.40, 8473.30.20.00, 8473.30.51.00, 8479.90.85.00, 8486.90.00.00, 8487.90.00.80, 8503.00.95.20, 8508.70.00.00, 8515.90.20.00, 8516.90.50.00, 8516.90.80.50, 8517.70.00.00, 8529.90.73.00, 8529.90.97.60, 8536.90.80.85, 8538.10.00.00, 8543.90.88.80, 8708.29.50.60, 8708.80.65.90, 8803.30.00.60, 9013.90.50.00, 9013.90.90.00, 9401.90.50.81, 9403.90.10.40, 9403.90.10.50, 9403.90.10.85, 9403.90.25.40, 9403.90.25.80, 9403.90.40.05, 9403.90.40.10, 9403.90.40.60, 9403.90.50.05, 9403.90.50.10, 9403.90.50.80, 9403.90.60.05, 9403.90.60.10, 9403.90.60.80, 9403.90.70.05, 9403.90.70.10, 9403.90.70.80, 9403.90.80.10, 9403.90.80.15, 9403.90.80.20, 9403.90.80.41, 9403.90.80.51, 9403.90.80.61, 9506.11.40.80, 9506.51.40.00, 9506.51.60.00, 9506.59.40.40, 9506.70.20.90, 9506.91.00.10, 9506.91.00.20, 9506.91.00.30, 9506.99.05.10, 9506.99.05.20, 9506.99.05.30, 9506.99.15.00, 9506.99.20.00, 9506.99.25.80, 9506.99.28.00, 9506.99.55.00, 9506.99.60.80, 9507.30.20.00, 9507.30.40.00, 9507.30.60.00, 9507.90.60.00, and 9603.90.80.50.

Products subject to these orders may also enter under HTSUS: 7610.10, 7610.90, 7615.19, 7615.20, and 7616.99 as well as under other HTSUS chapters. Subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS numbers: 8418.99.80.50 and 8418.99.80.60. While HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of these Orders is dispositive.4

The products covered by this inquiry are heat-treated extruded aluminum products that meet the chemical specifications for 5050-grade aluminum alloy (inquiry merchandise), regardless of producer, exporter, or importer, from the PRC.

The Department has conducted this circumvention inquiry in accordance with section 781(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225(j). For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 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 http://access.trade.gov and is available to all parties in the Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, the signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content. A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is attached as an Appendix to this notice.

Based on our analysis, as detailed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, we preliminarily find that all imports from the PRC of heat-treated extruded aluminum products that meet the chemical specifications for 5050-grade aluminum alloy, regardless of producer, exporter, or importer, constitute later-developed merchandise that is circumventing, and should be included within, the scope of the Orders. 5 In addition, if in our final determination we affirm our preliminary determination pursuant to section 781(d) of the Act, the Department intends to rescind its minor alterations anti-circumvention inquiry pursuant to section 781(c) of the Act.

In accordance with 19 CFR 351.225(l)(2), the Department will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of inquiry merchandise from the PRC (regardless of producer, exporter, or importer), entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or after March 21, 2016, the date of publication of the initiation of this inquiry. The Department will also instruct CBP to require a cash deposit of estimated duties at the rate applicable to the exporter, on all unliquidated entries of inquiry merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after March 21, 2016.

In light of the Department's preliminary finding of circumvention, the Department intends to consider whether to require importers of certain aluminum extrusions who claim their merchandise is not subject to the Orders to maintain a certification certifying that their aluminum extrusions were not produced from heat-treated 5050 grade aluminum alloy. The Department intends to invite comments on this issue.

As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, because the Department has preliminarily determined, for purposes of sections 781(d)(1) and (e) of the Act, that the inquiry merchandise does not incorporate a significant technological advance or significant alteration of an earlier product, the Department is not notifying the ITC of its preliminary determination.

The Department may solicit new factual information in this inquiry. Additionally, should a party seek to submit new factual information, the Department intends to consider requests to accept new factual information on a case-by-case basis.

The Department will invite comments on this preliminary determination and issue a memorandum establishing a briefing schedule. Interested parties may submit case briefs and rebuttal briefs within the designated timeframe outlined in the memorandum. Rebuttals to case briefs are limited to issues raised in the case briefs. Parties who submit case or rebuttal briefs are requested to submit with the argument: (a) A statement of the issue, (b) a brief summary of the argument, and (c) a table of authorities. Parties submitting briefs should do so using the Department's electronic filing system, ACCESS.

Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed electronically using ACCESS. A written request for a hearing must be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.6 Hearing requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues parties intend to present at the hearing. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and location to be determined.

Pursuant to section 781(f) of the Act, the final determination with respect to this anti-circumvention inquiry, including the results of the Department's analysis of any written comments, will be issued no later than January 9, 2017, unless extended.7

This preliminary affirmative anti-circumvention determination is published in accordance with section 781(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225.

Background

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from Germany. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation,” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. There are two mandatory respondents participating in this investigation, AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Dillinger) and Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH, Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech GmbH, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH, and Salzgitter Mannesmann International GmbH (collectively, Salzgitter).7 Export price and, where appropriate, constructed export price, are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5) of the Act, the Department also calculated an estimated all-others rate. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero, and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. Because we calculated a de minimis weighted average dumping margin for Salzgitter, we have based the all-others rate on the estimated weighted-average dumping margin calculated for Dillinger, the other mandatory respondent in this investigation.

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from Germany is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from Germany, with the exception of those produced and/or exported by Salzgitter, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Because the estimated preliminary weighted-average dumping margin for Salzgitter is zero, we are not directing CBP to suspend liquidation of entries of the merchandise it produced and/or exported.

Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require cash deposits 8 equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above, as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of the public announcement of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify information relied upon in making our final determination.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.9 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.10 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.11 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.12 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the petitioner. 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2) requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a final determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months in duration.

Respondents Dillinger and Salzgitter have requested that, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination in this investigation, the Department postpone its final determination by 60 days (i.e., to 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination).13 Further, Salzgitter agreed to extend the application of the provisional measures prescribed under section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), from a four-month period to a period not to exceed six months.

In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) our preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) Salzgitter accounts for a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, we are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days after the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.14

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

The Department initiated this investigation on April 28, 2016.1 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the memorandum that is dated concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice.2 A list of topics in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice.

The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

The product covered by this investigation is CTL plate from the PRC. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I of this notice.

In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,3 the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, i.e., scope.4 Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the concurrent CTL plate investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the records of this and the concurrent CTL plate investigations, and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the Department's Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum and the Department's Additional Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.5 The Department has preliminarily modified the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice to clarify the exclusion for stainless steel plate, corrected two tariff numbers that were misidentified in the Petitions and in the Initiation Notice, and modified language pertaining to existing steel plate and hot-rolled flat-rolled steel orders.6

The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (“the Act”). For purposes of this preliminary LTFV determination, the Department continues to treat the PRC as a non-market economy country within the meaning of section 771(18) of the Act. Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Works Co., Ltd., the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation, is not entitled to a separate rate, and is included within the PRC-wide entity. Furthermore, because the PRC-wide entity did not cooperate to the best of its ability with the Department's requests for information, the Department preliminarily determines that the application of adverse facts available (“AFA”) is warranted for this preliminary determination, in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.308. For a full discussion of the Department's methodology, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

In the Initiation Notice, the Department stated that it would calculate combination rates for the respondents that are eligible for a separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin 05.1 describes this practice.7 However, as described in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, all parties subject to this investigation are preliminarily found to be part of the PRC-wide entity, to which we do not assign a separate combination rate.8

The Department preliminarily determines that CTL plate from the PRC is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant to section 733 of the Act, and that the following estimated dumping margin exists:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from the PRC, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Pursuant to section 733(d) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the margin indicated in the chart above.10 These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

We normally adjust antidumping duty cash deposit rates by the amount of export subsidies, where appropriate. However, the Department is making no adjustments to the PRC-wide entity's antidumping cash deposit rate of 68.27 percent because the Department made no findings in the companion CVD investigation that any of the programs are export subsidies.11

Further, pursuant to section 777A(f) of the Act, we normally adjust cash deposit rates for estimated domestic subsidy pass-through, where appropriate. However, in this case there is no basis to grant a domestic subsidy pass-through adjustment.12

Normally, the Department discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of the date of public announcement of a preliminary determination, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because the Department established only one rate in this investigation based entirely on AFA in accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are no calculations to disclose. Accordingly, the calculations performed in connection with this preliminary determination are not proprietary in nature, and are described in the Petition and in the PRC AD Initiation Checklist.13

Because the only rate established in this investigation is based entirely on AFA, we do not intend to conduct verification.

Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.14 Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

The Department established separate deadlines for interested parties to provide comments on scope issues.15 Specifically, case briefs on scope issues were to be submitted no later than October 21, 2016. Scope rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, were to be submitted no later than November 1, 2016.16 The Department explained that parties should limit comments on scope issues to their scope case brief and their scope rebuttal brief.17 Thus, comments on scope issues belong in parties' scope case briefs and scope rebuttal briefs only and not in other case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in this investigation. The Department intends to address parties' scope comments in a final scope memorandum.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Pursuant to section 735(a)(1) of the Act, we intend to make our final determination no later than 75 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the ITC of our affirmative preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Background

On June 3, 2015, AK Steel Corporation, ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc., and the United States Steel Corporation (collectively, Petitioners) filed petitions seeking the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of CORE from India, Italy, the Republic of Korea, PRC, and Taiwan. Following the Department's affirmative determinations of dumping and countervailable subsidies,1 and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) finding of material injury,2 the Department issued antidumping duty and countervailing duty Orders 3 on imports of CORE from the PRC.

On September 22, 2016, pursuant to section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.225(h), Steel Dynamics, Inc. and California Steel Industries submitted requests for the Department to initiate anti-circumvention inquiries to determine whether producers in Vietnam of CORE are circumventing the Orders on CORE from the PRC by exporting to the United States CORE products completed or assembled in various Vietnamese facilities, from inputs of HRS and CRS sourced from the PRC.4 On September 23, 2016, pursuant to section 781(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.225(h), ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, and AK Steel Corporation, collectively, submitted a request for the Department to initiate anti-circumvention inquiries and to issue in conjunction with initiation of the inquiries preliminary determinations of circumvention of the Orders to suspend liquidation of imports of CORE from Vietnam.5

On October 17, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from Domestic Producers from Metallia U.S.A., LLC, Metallia, A Division of Hartree Partners, LP, Nippon Steel and Sumiken Bussan Americas Inc., Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., and Marubeni-Itochu Steel America Inc. (collectively, Metallia).6 Also on October 17, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from Minmetals, Inc. (Minmetals).7 On October 20, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from China Steel Sumikin Vietnam Joint Stock Company (CSVC) 8 and from Duferco Steel Inc. (Duferco).9 On October 21, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from T.Co Metals LLC (TCO).10 On October 26, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from Summit Global Trading, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (Sumitomo).11 On October 28, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from thyssenkrupp Materials NA, Inc.12 On October 31, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from Hoa Sen Group (HSG) 13 and from Maruichi Sun Steel Joint Stock Company (Maruichi).14 Also on October 31, 2016, we received a letter objecting to the allegations from Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.15 On November 3, 2016, we received comments objecting to the allegations from Ton Dong A Company.16

On October 13, 2016, we received comments supporting the allegations from the United Steel Workers.17

The products covered by these orders are certain flat-rolled steel products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel- or iron-based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished, laminated, or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in addition to the metallic coating. The products covered include coils that have a width of 12.7 mm or greater, regardless of form of coil (e.g., in successively superimposed layers, spirally oscillating, etc.). The products covered also include products not in coils (e.g., in straight lengths) of a thickness less than 4.75 mm and a width that is 12.7 mm or greater and that measures at least 10 times the thickness. The products covered also include products not in coils (e.g., in straight lengths) of a thickness of 4.75 mm or more and a width exceeding 150 mm and measuring at least twice the thickness. The products described above may be rectangular, square, circular, or other shape and include products of either rectangular or non-rectangular cross-section where such cross-section is achieved subsequent to the rolling process, i.e., products which have been “worked after rolling” (e.g., products which have been beveled or rounded at the edges). For purposes of the width and thickness requirements referenced above:

(1) Where the nominal and actual measurements vary, a product is within the scope if application of either the nominal or actual measurement would place it within the scope based on the definitions set forth above, and

(2) where the width and thickness vary for a specific product (e.g., the thickness of certain products with non-rectangular cross-section, the width of certain products with non-rectangular shape, etc.), the measurement at its greatest width or thickness applies.

Steel products included in the scope of these orders are products in which: (1) Iron predominates, by weight, over each of the other contained elements; (2) the carbon content is 2 percent or less, by weight; and (3) none of the elements listed below exceeds the quantity, by weight, respectively indicated:

Unless specifically excluded, products are included in this scope regardless of levels of boron and titanium.

For example, specifically included in this scope are vacuum degassed, fully stabilized (commonly referred to as interstitial-free (IF)) steels and high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels. IF steels are recognized as low carbon steels with micro-alloying levels of elements such as titanium and/or niobium added to stabilize carbon and nitrogen elements. HSLA steels are recognized as steels with micro-alloying levels of elements such as chromium, copper, niobium, titanium, vanadium, and molybdenum.

Furthermore, this scope also includes Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) and Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS), both of which are considered high tensile strength and high elongation steels.

Subject merchandise also includes corrosion-resistant steel that has been further processed in a third country, including but not limited to annealing, tempering, painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, punching and/or slitting or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the orders if performed in the country of manufacture of the in-scope corrosion resistant steel.

All products that meet the written physical description, and in which the chemistry quantities do not exceed any one of the noted element levels listed above, are within the scope of these orders unless specifically excluded. The following products are outside of and/or specifically excluded from the scope of these orders:

• Flat-rolled steel products either plated or coated with tin, lead, chromium, chromium oxides, both tin and lead (“terne plate”), or both chromium and chromium oxides (“tin free steel”), whether or not painted, varnished or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in addition to the metallic coating;

• Clad products in straight lengths of 4.7625 mm or more in composite thickness and of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness; and

• Certain clad stainless flat-rolled products, which are three-layered corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel products less than 4.75 mm in composite thickness that consist of a flat-rolled steel product clad on both sides with stainless steel in a 20%-60%-20% ratio.

The products subject to the orders are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under item numbers: 7210.30.0030, 7210.30.0060, 7210.41.0000, 7210.49.0030, 7210.49.0091, 7210.49.0095, 7210.61.0000, 7210.69.0000, 7210.70.6030, 7210.70.6060, 7210.70.6090, 7210.90.6000, 7210.90.9000, 7212.20.0000, 7212.30.1030, 7212.30.1090, 7212.30.3000, 7212.30.5000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, 7212.50.0000, and 7212.60.0000.

The products subject to the orders may also enter under the following HTSUS item numbers: 7210.90.1000, 7215.90.1000, 7215.90.3000, 7215.90.5000, 7217.20.1500, 7217.30.1530, 7217.30.1560, 7217.90.1000, 7217.90.5030, 7217.90.5060, 7217.90.5090, 7225.91.0000, 7225.92.0000, 7225.99.0090, 7226.99.0110, 7226.99.0130, 7226.99.0180, 7228.60.6000, 7228.60.8000, and 7229.90.1000.

The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of the orders is dispositive.

These anti-circumvention inquiries cover CORE exported from Vietnam produced from HRS or CRS manufactured in the PRC.

Domestic Producers request that the Department treat CORE imports from Vietnam as subject merchandise under the scope of the Orders and impose cash deposit requirements for estimated AD and CVD duties on all imports of CORE from Vietnam.18

Section 781(b)(1) of the Act provides that the Department may find circumvention of an AD or CVD order when merchandise of the same class or kind subject to the order is completed or assembled in a foreign country other than the country to which the order applies. In conducting an anti-circumvention inquiry, under section 781(b)(1) of the Act, the Department will rely on the following criteria: (A) Merchandise imported into the United States is of the same class or kind as any merchandise produced in a foreign country that is subject of an antidumping or countervailing duty order or finding; (B) before importation into the United States, such imported merchandise is completed or assembled in another foreign country from merchandise which is subject to the order or merchandise which is produced in the foreign country that is subject to the order; (C) the process of assembly or completion in the foreign country referred to in section (B) is minor or insignificant; (D) the value of the merchandise produced in the foreign country to which the AD or CVD order applies is a significant portion of the total value of the merchandise exported to the United States; and (E) the administering authority determines that action is appropriate to prevent evasion of such order or finding. As discussed below, Domestic Producers provided evidence with respect to these criteria.

The Domestic Producers claim that CORE exported to the United States is the same class or kind as the CORE covered by the Orders in these inquiries.19 Domestic Producers provided evidence to show that the merchandise from Vietnam enters the United States under the same tariff classification as the subject merchandise.20

Section 78l(b)(l)(B)(ii) of the Act requires the Department to determine if, “before import into the United States, such imported merchandise is completed or assembled in another foreign country from merchandise which is produced in the foreign country with respect to which such order or finding applies.” Domestic Producers presented evidence demonstrating how CORE in Vietnam is produced from HRS or CRS manufactured and imported from the PRC. Additionally, Domestic Producers provided evidence that there is currently no capacity in Vietnam to produce HRS, and thus any CORE manufactured in Vietnam must use imported HRS.21 Domestic Producers stated that while imports of CORE from the PRC into the United States significantly decreased after the imposition of the Orders, imports of CORE from Vietnam into the United States have increased significantly. All the while, imports of Chinese HRS and CRS into Vietnam have also increased significantly.22 Finally, Domestic Producers state that China Minmetals Corporation, the state-owned Chinese trading company, currently has arrangements to ship HRS and/or CRS from the PRC to Vietnam, and to convert the PRC-sourced HRS or CRS to CORE for export to the United States with the purpose of evading the Orders. 23

Under section 781(b)(2) of the Act, the Department is required to consider five factors to determine whether the process of assembly or completion is minor or insignificant. Domestic Producers alleged that the production of HRS and CRS in the PRC, which is subsequently further processed into CORE in Vietnam, comprises the majority of the value associated with the merchandise imported from Vietnam into the United States, and that the processing of HRS and CRS into CORE which occurs in Vietnam adds relatively little to the overall value.

Domestic Producers argue that the level of investment necessary to construct a factory which can produce CORE from CRS or HRS in Vietnam is insignificant. In support of their contention, Domestic Producers compare the investment necessary to install re-rolling and coating facilities with the investment necessary to produce HRS or CRS using a fully-integrated production process for melting iron and casting steel.24 Domestic Producers estimate that the investment necessary to construct re-rolling and coating (in some cases including a CRS mill) facilities in Vietnam that uses HRS and/or CRS substrate to produce CORE would be between $70 million and $90 million, with possible expansions of $150 million.25 In contrast, Domestic Producers estimate that the investment necessary to construct a fully integrated steel production facility, including a blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace in the PRC that produces HRS and/or CRS would be between $295 million and $10.1 billion.26 Domestic Producers also argue that using investment levels in the PRC for basic steel making including a blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace, as opposed to an electric arc furnace which relies on scrap steel, is appropriate as approximately 90 percent of the steel production in the PRC comes from a fully integrated steel mill.27

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. App., notice is hereby given that the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity (“the Commission”) will meet Monday, November 21, 2016 from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public. The Commission is authorized by Executive Order 13718, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.1 The Commission was established by the President and will make detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, State, local, tribal and territorial governments and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices.

The agenda is expected to include the following items:

Note that agenda items may change without notice. The final agenda will be posted on http://www.nist.gov/cybercommission. Attendees are asked to self-identify when they dial-in and lines will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Public Participation: Individuals and representatives of organizations who would like to offer comments and suggestions related to the Committee's affairs are invited to request an opportunity to speak and detailed instructions on how to join the call from a remote location in order to participate by submitting their request to Sara Kerman at the contact information indicated in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice, no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 17, 2016.

Approximately 15 minutes will be reserved from 9:45 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time for public comments; speaking times will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. The amount of time per speaker will be determined by the number of requests received, but is likely to be about three minutes each. Questions from the public will not be considered during this period. Speakers who wish to expand upon their oral statements, those who had wished to speak but could not be accommodated, and those who were unable to participate are invited to submit written statements by mail to Commission Executive Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 2000, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8900, or by email to [email protected]. Please use subject line “Open Meeting of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.”

All participants of the meeting are required to pre-register. Anyone wishing to participate must register by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, November 17, 2016, in order to be included. Please submit your full name, email address, and phone number Sara Kerman, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 2000, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 or 301-975-4634, or electronically by email to [email protected]. After pre-registering, participants will be provided with detailed instructions on how to join the call from a remote location in order to participate.

Pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.150(b), this Federal Register notice for this meeting is being published fewer than 15 calendar days prior to the meeting as exceptional circumstances exist. It is imperative that the meeting be held on November 21, 2016 to accommodate the scheduling priorities of the key participants, who must maintain a strict schedule of meetings in order to complete the Commission's report by December 1, 2016, as required by Executive Order 13718 § 3(e) (February 9, 2016). Notice of the meeting is also posted on the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Web site at http://www.nist.gov/cybercommission.

The agenda will include (a) EM Integration Analysis; (b) 2017 Pre-Implementation Plan; (c) Research and development in 2017 and (d) Other business and scheduling. The Agenda is subject to change, and the latest version will be posted, at http://www.npfmc.org/.

These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Shannon Gleason, at (907) 271-2809, at least 7 business days prior to the meeting date.

The purpose of the Productivity Workshop is to review proposed methods for modeling stock productivity in assessments for groundfish and coastal pelagic species. Public comments during the workshop will be received from attendees at the discretion of the chair.

Although non-emergency issues not identified in the workshop agenda may come before the workshop participants for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during this workshop. Formal action at the workshop will be restricted to those issues specifically listed in this notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that require emergency action under Section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, provided the public has been notified of the workshop participants' intent to take final action to address the emergency.

All visitors to the National Marine Fisheries Service Western Regional Center's Sand Point facility should bring one of the following forms of identification:

Visitors who are foreign nationals (defined as a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States) will require additional security clearance to access the Western Regional Center's Sand Point facility. Foreign national visitors should contact Dr. Martin Dorn at (206) 526-6548 at least two weeks prior to the meeting date to initiate the security clearance process.

This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for auxiliary aids should be directed to Mr. Kris Kleinschmidt at (503) 820-2425 at least 10 working days prior to the workshop date.

The Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils, in conjunction with NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions, have implemented the Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) process, a multi-step method for determining the status of fish stocks in the Southeast Region. SEDAR is a three-step process including: (1) Data Workshop; (2) Assessment Process utilizing webinars; and (3) Review Workshop. The product of the Data Workshop is a data report which compiles and evaluates potential datasets and recommends which datasets are appropriate for assessment analyses. The product of the Assessment Process is a stock assessment report which describes the fisheries, evaluates the status of the stock, estimates biological benchmarks, projects future population conditions, and recommends research and monitoring needs. The assessment is independently peer reviewed at the Review Workshop. The product of the Review Workshop is a Summary documenting panel opinions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the stock assessment and input data. Participants for SEDAR Workshops are appointed by the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils and NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office, Highly Migratory Species Management Division, and Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Participants include: data collectors and database managers; stock assessment scientists, biologists, and researchers; constituency representatives including fishermen, environmentalists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs); international experts; and staff of Councils, Commissions, and state and federal agencies.

Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come before this group for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during this meeting. Action will be restricted to those issues specifically identified in this notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that require emergency action under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, provided the public has been notified of the intent to take final action to address the emergency.

This meeting is accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for auxiliary aids should be directed to the SAFMC office (see ADDRESSES) at least 10 business days prior to the meeting.

On October, 17, 2016, the USPTO published in the Federal Register a notice of public roundtables and request for comments related to patent subject matter eligibility. (81 FR 71485). The USPTO publishes this notice to announce that in addition to those USPTO offices identified in the October 17, 2016 notice, the public is also invited to participate at Roundtable 2 by appearing, in person, at the USPTO Headquarters, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. Please see the October 17, 2016 notice for registration instructions and further information on the Roundtables.

The DTRA/SCC-WMD's notices for systems of records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended, have been published in the Federal Register and are available from the address in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or from the Defense Privacy, Civil Liberties, and Transparency Division Web site at http://dpcld.defense.gov/.

The proposed systems reports, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the Privacy Act, as amended, were submitted on October 19, 2016, to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to paragraph 4 of Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-130, “Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals,” revised November 28, 2000 (December 12, 2000 65 FR 77677).

The Department of Education (ED), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The Department of Education is especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology. Please note that written comments received in response to this notice will be considered public records.

Title of Collection: Application for Grants under the Upward Bound Math and Science Program.

OMB Control Number: 1840-0824.

Type of Review: A reinstatement of a previously approved information collection.

Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments; Private Sector.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 475.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 15,830.

Abstract: The purpose of the Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) Program is to generate in program participants the skills and motivation necessary to complete a program of secondary education and to enter and succeed in a program of postsecondary education that lead to careers in the fields of math and science.

Authority for this program is contained in Title IV, Part A, Subpart 2, Chapter 1, Section 402C of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, public or private agencies or organizations, including community-based organizations with experience in serving disadvantaged youth, secondary schools, and combinations of institutions, agencies, organizations, and secondary schools.

The Department is requesting a reinstatement, with change, of the application for grants under the UBMS Program. The Department is requesting a reinstatement with change because the previous UBMS application was discontinued in October 2014 and the application will be needed for a Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 competition for new awards. The FY 2017 application incorporates a competitive preference priority and an invitational priority and removes previously-used competitive preference priorities. The changes do not affect burden hours.

The Department of Education (ED), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The Department of Education is especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology. Please note that written comments received in response to this notice will be considered public records.

Title of Collection: Student Assistance General Provisions—Subpart K—Cash Management.

OMB Control Number: 1845-0038.

Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection.

Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments; Individuals or Households; Private Sector.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 26,266,031.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,194,318.

Abstract: This request is for a revision to the current information collection 1845-0038 that is expiring. This collection pertains to the recordkeeping requirements contained in the regulations related to the administration of the Subpart K—Cash Management section of the Student Assistance General Provisions. The regulatory language has not changed. These program regulations are designed to provide benefits to Title IV, HEA applicants, and protect the taxpayers' interest. The information collection requirements in these regulations are necessary to provide students with required information about their eligibility to receive funding under the federal student financial aid programs and to prevent fraud and abuse of program funds by allowing students to reduce or reject aid being offered as well as being made aware of when such funding can be expected to be available.

The Department of Education (ED), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The Department of Education is especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology. Please note that written comments received in response to this notice will be considered public records.

Title of Collection: William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Repayment Plan Selection Form.

OMB Control Number: 1845-0014.

Type of Review: An extension of an existing information collection.

Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 660,000.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 110,220.

Abstract: The Repayment Plan Request form serves as the means by which Direct Loan borrowers notify the Department of their choice of an initial repayment plan under the Standard, Extended or Graduated options before their loans enter repayment. The form may also be used by borrowers to request a change in the Standard, Extended or Graduated repayment plans options after their loans have entered repayment. If a borrower does not select an initial repayment plan, the borrower is placed on the Standard Repayment Plan in accordance with 34 CFR 685.210(a)(2).