SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 1, 2026, Commerce published in the Federal Register the Preliminary Determination of the less-than-fair-value investigation of truck bed covers from the People's Republic of China.^[1] On October 6, 2026, a non-selected respondent who had qualified for a separate rate, Ningbo Scarman International Trading Co., Ltd (Ningbo Scarman) timely alleged that Commerce made significant ministerial errors in assigning its estimated weighted-average dumping margins.^[2]

Scope of the Investigation

The products covered by this investigation are truck bed covers from China. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see the Preliminary Determination.^[3]

Legal Framework

A ministerial error is defined as including “errors in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical error resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and any other similar type of unintentional error which {Commerce} considers ministerial.” ^[4] A ministerial error is considered to be “significant” if its correction, either singly or in combination with other errors, would result in: (1) a change of at least f/ive absolute percentage points in, but not less than 25 percent of, the weighted-average dumping margin calculated in the preliminary determination; or (2) a difference between a weighted-average dumping margin of zero (or de minimis) and a weighted-average dumping margin of greater than de minimis or vice versa.^[5] Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce “will analyze any comments received and, if appropriate, correct any significant ministerial error by amending the preliminary determination.”

Analysis of Significant Ministerial Errors

In the Preliminary Determination, Commerce made a significant ministerial error within the meaning of section 735(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(f) and (g)(1) in incorrectly listing the producer when assigning a non-selected preliminary weighted-average dumping margin to Ningbo Scarman and its producer Ningbo Scarman Auto Parts Co., Ltd (Ningbo Auto Parts). Accordingly, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce is amending its Preliminary Determination to correct this error by correctly noting the producer/exporter chain as Ningbo Scarman/Ningbo Auto Parts chain, and assigning this chain the non-selected separate rate calculated in the Preliminary Determination.^[6] For a detailed discussion of the alleged ministerial errors, as well as Commerce's analysis, see the Ministerial Error Memorandum.^[7]

Amended Preliminary Determination

As a result of correcting this error specific to the producer/exporter combination discussed above, Commerce determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margin exists for the producer/exporter chain of Ningbo Scarman/Ningbo Auto Parts; no other changes have been made to any other producer/exporter combination as published in the Preliminary Determination:

Disclosure

Because no changes were made to the margin calculations from the Preliminary Determination as a result of this ministerial error, there are no new calculations to disclose.

Amended Cash Deposits and Suspension of Liquidation

The collection of cash deposits and suspension of liquidation will be ( printed page 68944) revised according to the rates calculated in this amended preliminary determination, in accordance with section 733(d) of the Act. Because we incorrectly identified this producer/exporter combination rate in the Preliminary Determination, this producer/exporter combination would have been suspended at the China-wide entity rate. Therefore, this notice corrects the Ningbo Scarman/Ningbo Auto Parts producer/exporter combination from the Preliminary Determination, to correct any inadvertent suspension at the incorrect cash deposit rate; the corrected producer/exporter combination identified above has a lower cash deposit rate than the China-wide entity rate that the producer and/or exporter may have been subject to since the Preliminary Determination published. As a result, the cash deposit instructions for this amended preliminary determination will be effective retroactively to October 1, 2026, the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination. We will also instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to issue instructions for requesting a refund of the difference between the amount of cash deposits paid as a result of the application of the Preliminary Determination rates applied and the amount due as a result of this amended preliminary determination.

U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission of our amended preliminary determination.

Notification to Interested Parties

This notice is issued and published in accordance with sections 735(e) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and 19 CFR 351.224(e).

91 FR 68943