Silicon Metal From the Lao People's Democratic Republic: Countervailing Duty Order

[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 73 (Thursday, April 16, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20403-20405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07466]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-553-002]


Silicon Metal From the Lao People's Democratic Republic: 
Countervailing Duty Order

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

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and U.S. International Trade 
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing a countervailing duty (CVD) order 
on silicon metal from the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos).

DATES: Applicable April 16, 2026.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shane Subler or Laurel Smalley, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VIII, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-6241 or (202) 
482-3456, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with sections 705(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), on February 23, 2026, Commerce published in 
the Federal Register its affirmative final determination that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters 
of silicon metal from Laos.\1\
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    \1\ See Silicon Metal from the Lao People's Democratic Republic: 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 91 FR 8425 
(February 23, 2026) (Final Determination), and accompanying Issues 
and Decision Memorandum.
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    On April 6, 2026, pursuant to section 705(d) of the Act, the ITC 
notified Commerce of its final affirmative determination that an 
industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of 
subsidized imports of silicon

[[Page 20404]]

metal from Laos, within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act.\2\
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    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determination,'' dated April 6, 2026.
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by this order is silicon metal from Laos. For a 
complete description of the scope of the order, see the appendix to 
this notice.

Order

    Based on the ITC's affirmative final determination that an industry 
in the United States is materially injured within the meaning of 
section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act by reason of subsidized imports of 
silicon metal from Laos,\3\ in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the 
Act, Commerce is issuing this CVD order. Moreover, because the ITC 
determined that imports of silicon metal from Laos are materially 
injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such merchandise from 
Laos entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, are subject 
to the assessment of countervailing duties.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce 
will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess, upon 
further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on all relevant 
entries of silicon metal from Laos, which are entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption, on or after September 26, 2025, the 
date of publication of the Preliminary Determination,\4\ but will not 
include entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional 
measures period and before the publication of the ITC's final injury 
determination under section 705(b) of the Act, as further described in 
the ``Provisional Measures'' section of this notice.
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    \4\ See Silicon Metal From the Lao People's Democratic Republic: 
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 90 FR 46384 (September 26, 2025) (Preliminary 
Determination).
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Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce intends to 
instruct CBP to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation of silicon 
metal from Laos, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's 
final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register. These 
instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further 
notice.
    Commerce also intends, pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of the Act, to 
instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the amounts as indicated 
below. Accordingly, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's 
final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register, CBP 
will require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit 
estimated customs duties on the subject merchandise, a cash deposit for 
each entry of subject merchandise equal to the subsidy rates listed 
below.\5\ The all-others rate applies to all producers or exporters not 
specifically listed below, as appropriate.
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    \5\ See section 706(a)(3) of the Act.

                 Estimated Countervailable Subsidy Rates
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                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                            (percent ad
                                                             valorem)
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Lao Silicon Co., Ltd....................................         * 69.10
All Others..............................................           69.10
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* This rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences.

Provisional Measures

    Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months. Commerce published the Preliminary 
Determination on September 26, 2025.\6\ As such, the four-month period 
beginning on the date of the publication of the Preliminary 
Determinations ended on January 23, 2026.
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    \6\ See Preliminary Determination, 90 FR at 46384.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we 
instructed CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to 
liquidate, without regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated 
entries of silicon metal from Laos entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption, on or after January 24, 2026, the date on 
which the provisional measures expired, until and through the day 
preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final injury 
determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation and 
the collection of cash deposits will resume on the date of publication 
of the ITC's final determination in the Federal Register.

Establishment of Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the 
Federal Register.\7\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published the 
Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\8\ The Final Rule and 
Procedural Guidance provide that Commerce will maintain an annual 
inquiry service list for each order or suspended investigation, and any 
interested party submitting a scope ruling application or request for 
circumvention inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request 
on the persons on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as 
well as any companion order covering the same merchandise from the same 
country of origin.\9\
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    \7\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \8\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \9\ Id.
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    In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in 
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an 
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and 
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at https://access.trade.gov, within five business days of publication of the 
notice of the order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in 
ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type 
called ``AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \10\
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    \10\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment 
Specific Information (SSI) field which will display the month in 
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was 
published in the Federal Register, also known as the anniversary 
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that 
was published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant 
segment and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January 
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry 
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will 
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
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    Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry 
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the 
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30 
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of 
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one 
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead 
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce 
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days 
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance,\11\ the new annual 
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when 
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is 
published.
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    \11\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR at 53206.
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    Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as

[[Page 20405]]

needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of 
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and 
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or 
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the 
ACCESS website at https://access.trade.gov.

Special Instructions for the Petitioners and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \12\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioners \13\ and the Government of Laos (GOL) should 
submit their initial entries of appearance after publication of this 
notice in order to appear in the first annual inquiry service list for 
this order. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.225(n)(3), the petitioners and the 
GOL will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each year to 
continue to be included on the annual inquiry service list. However, 
the petitioners and the GOL are responsible for making amendments to 
their entries of appearance during the annual update to the annual 
inquiry service list in accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \12\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
    \13\ The petitioners in this proceeding are Ferroglobe USA, Inc. 
and Mississippi Silicon LLC (collectively, the petitioners).
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the CVD order with respect to silicon metal 
from Laos, pursuant to section 706(a) of the Act. Interested parties 
can find a list of antidumping duty and CVD orders currently in effect 
at https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-orders-and-suspension-agreements.
    This CVD order is issued and published in accordance with section 
706(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: April 13, 2026.
Christopher Abbott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Order

    The scope of this order covers all forms and sizes of silicon 
metal, including silicon metal powder. Silicon metal contains at 
least 85.00 percent but less than 99.99 percent silicon, and less 
than 4.00 percent iron, by actual weight. Semiconductor grade 
silicon (merchandise containing at least 99.99 percent silicon by 
actual weight and classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS) subheading 2804.61.0000) is excluded from 
the scope of this order.
    Silicon metal is currently classifiable under subheadings 
2804.69.1000 and 2804.69.5000 of the HTSUS. While the HTSUS numbers 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope remains dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2026-07466 Filed 4-15-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P