2022-22153. Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products From the People's Republic of China: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty Order

AGENCY:

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

SUMMARY:

As a result of the determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on certain biaxial integral geogrid products (geogrids) from the People's Republic of China (China) would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping, countervailable subsidies, and material injury to an industry in the United States, Commerce is publishing a notice of continuation of the AD and CVD orders.

DATES:

Applicable October 12, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kabir Archuletta, AD/CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 3, 2017, Commerce published the AD and CVD orders on geogrids from China.^[1] On February 1, 2022, the ITC instituted,^[2] and Commerce initiated, the first sunset reviews of the Orders, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).^[3] As a result of its reviews, Commerce determined that revocation of the Orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and countervailable subsidies and, therefore, notified the ITC of the magnitude of the margins and net countervailable subsidy rates likely to prevail should the Orders be revoked.^[4]

On October 4, 2022, the ITC published its determination, pursuant to sections 751(c) and 752(a) of the Act, that revocation of the Orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to an industry in the United States within a reasonably foreseeable time.^[5]

Scope of the Orders

The products covered by the scope are certain biaxial integral geogrid products. Biaxial integral geogrid products are a polymer grid or mesh material (whether or not finished, slit, cut-to-length, attached to woven or non-woven fabric or sheet material, or packaged) in which four-sided openings in the form of squares, rectangles, rhomboids, diamonds, or other four-sided figures predominate. The products covered have integral strands that have been stretched to induce molecular orientation into the material (as evidenced by the strands being thinner in width toward the middle between the junctions than at the junctions themselves) constituting the sides of the openings and integral junctions where the strands intersect. The scope includes products in which four-sided figures predominate whether or not they also contain additional strands intersecting the four-sided figures and whether or not the inside corners of the four-sided figures are rounded off or not sharp angles. As used herein, the term “integral” refers to strands and junctions that are homogenous with each other. The products covered have a tensile strength of greater than 5 kilonewtons per meter (kN/m) according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Test Method D6637/D6637M in any direction and average overall flexural stiffness of more than 100,000 milligram-centimeter according to the ASTM D7748/D7748M Standard Test Method for Flexural Rigidity of Geogrids, Geotextiles and Related Products, or other equivalent test method standards.

Subject merchandise includes material matching the above description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise further processed in a third country, including by trimming, slitting, coating, cutting, punching holes, stretching, attaching to woven or nonwoven fabric or sheet material, or any other finishing, packaging, or other further processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the Orders if performed in the country of manufacture of the biaxial integral geogrid.

The products subject to the scope are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under the following subheading: 3926.90.9995. Subject merchandise may also enter under subheadings 3920.20.0050 and 3925.90.0000. The HTSUS subheadings set forth above are provided for convenience and U.S. Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope is dispositive.

Continuation of the Orders

As a result of the determinations by Commerce and the ITC that revocation of the Orders would likely lead to a continuation or a recurrence of dumping and countervailable subsidies, as well as material injury to an industry in the United States, pursuant to section 751(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce hereby orders the continuation of the Orders. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue to collect AD and CVD cash deposits at the rates in effect at the time of entry for all imports of subject merchandise.

The effective date of the continuation of the Orders will be the date of publication in the Federal Register of this notice of continuation. Pursuant to section 751(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce intends to initiate the next five-year reviews of the Orders not later than 30 days prior to the fifth anniversary of the effective date of continuation.

Administrative Protective Order

This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3), which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely notification of return/destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of the APO is a sanctionable violation.

Notification to Interested Parties

These five-year sunset reviews and this notice are in accordance with section 751(c) of the Act and published in accordance with section 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(f)(4).

Dated: October 5, 2022.

Lisa W. Wang,

Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Footnotes

1.   See Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order,82 FR 12440 (March 3, 2017); and Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order,82 FR 12437 (March 3, 2017) (collectively, Orders).

2.   See Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from China; Institution of Five-Year Reviews,87 FR 5508 (February 1, 2022).

3.   See Initiation of Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews,87 FR 5467 (February 1, 2022).

4.   See Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic of China: Final Results of the Expedited First Sunset Review of Antidumping Duty Order,87 FR 34847 (June 8, 2022); and Certain Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from the People's Republic of China: Final Results of the Expedited First Sunset Review of the Countervailing Duty Order,87 FR 31521 (May 24, 2022).

5.   See Biaxial Integral Geogrid Products from China,87 FR 60199 (October 4, 2022).