Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Ecuador: Amended Preliminary Determination of Countervailing Duty Investigation

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[C-331-806]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Ecuador: Amended Preliminary Determination of Countervailing Duty Investigation</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) published a notice in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on April 1, 2024, in which Commerce preliminarily determined that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Ecuador. Based on comments filed by interested parties in this investigation, Commerce is amending the preliminary affirmative countervailing duty (CVD) determination on shrimp from Ecuador to correct significant ministerial errors. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable April 25, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Zachary Shaykin or Reginald Anadio, AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-2638 or (202) 482-3166, respectively. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> In accordance with section 703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.205(b), on April 1, 2024, Commerce published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> the preliminary affirmative CVD determination for shrimp from Ecuador, and alignment of the final determination with the final antidumping duty determination. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> From March 28 through April 2, 2024, we received timely-filed ministerial error allegations from Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila S.A. (Santa Priscila), Sociedad Nacional de Galápagos C.A. (SONGA), the petitioner, <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> and the Government of Ecuador (GOE). <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> Santa Priscila, SONGA, and the GOE alleged in their ministerial error allegations that Commerce made significant ministerial errors in the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination</E> with respect to Santa Priscila and SONGA's subsidy rates. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Ecuador: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final Determination With the Final Antidumping Duty Determination,</E> 89 FR 22379 (April 1, 2024) ( <E T="03">Preliminary Determination</E> ), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  The petitioner in this investigation is the American Shrimp Processors Association. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Santa Priscila's Letter, “Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador—Request for Correction of Ministerial Errors with Respect to Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila S.A. and Request for Meeting,” dated March 28, 2024 (Santa Priscila's Ministerial Error Allegation); SONGA's Letter, “Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador—Request for Correction of Ministerial Error in Preliminary Determination,” dated March 29, 2024 (SONGA's Ministerial Error Allegation); <E T="03">see also</E> Petitioner's Letter, “Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador: Ministerial Error Comments,” dated April 2, 2024; and GOE's Letter, “Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador—Request for Correction of Ministerial Errors with Respect to Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila S.A. and Request for Meeting,” dated April 2, 2024 (GOE's Ministerial Error Allegation). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Santa Priscila's Ministerial Error Allegation; <E T="03">see also</E> SONGA's Ministerial Error Allegation; and GOE's Ministerial Error Allegation. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Period of Investigation</HD> The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Investigation</HD> The products covered by this investigation are shrimp from Ecuador. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, <E T="03">see Preliminary Determination</E> at Appendix I. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Analysis of Significant Ministerial Error Allegations</HD> Commerce will analyze any comments received and, if appropriate, correct any significant ministerial error by amending the preliminary determination according to 19 CFR 351.224(e). A ministerial error is defined in 19 CFR 351.224(f) as “an error 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 the Secretary considers ministerial.”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> A significant ministerial error is defined as a ministerial error, the correction of which, singly or in combination with other errors, would result in: (1) a change of at least five absolute percentage points in, but not less than 25 percent of, the CVD rate calculated in the original preliminary determination; or (2) a difference between a CVD rate of zero (or <E T="03">de minimis</E> ) and a CVD rate greater than <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or vice versa. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> section 705(e) of the Act. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.224(g). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Amended Preliminary Determination</HD> Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e) and (g)(1), Commerce is amending the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination</E> to reflect the correction of two ministerial errors made in the calculation of the countervailable subsidy rate for Santa Priscila. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Specifically, when calculating a countervailable subsidy rate attributable to Santa Priscila under the Tax Incentives for Priority Sectors under the 2010 Organic Production Code (Priority Sectors) program, we inadvertently used the wrong tax deduction amount with which to calculate the benefit attributable to Santa Priscila under the Priority Sectors Program. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> Further, we inadvertently calculated a countervailable subsidy rate attributable to Santa Priscila under both the Priority Sectors program and the Investment Contract program that should have only been calculated pursuant to one program, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> the Priority Sectors Program. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> Commerce finds that these ministerial errors are significant ministerial errors within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.224(g) because correction of these errors decreases Santa Priscila's countervailing subsidy rate from 13.41 to 2.89 percent, which is a change that is at least five absolute percentage points in, and more than 25 percent of, the subsidy rate calculated for Santa Priscila in the original <E T="03">Preliminary Determination.</E> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Countervailing Duty Investigation of Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador: Allegations of Significant Ministerial Errors in the Preliminary Determination,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Ministerial Error Memorandum). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See Preliminary Determination</E> PDM at 15 through 17. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> at 15 through 17 and 23 through 26. </FTNT> Furthermore, in the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination,</E> we calculated a 1.69 percent subsidy rate for SONGA and indicated that we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to require a cash deposit equal to that rate. Section 703(b)(4)(B) of the Act, provides that Commerce will apply a <E T="03">de minimis</E> threshold of two percent to a country designated by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as a developing country for purposes of the CVD law. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> Ecuador is designated as a developing country by the USTR under CVD law and is subject to a <E T="03">de minimis</E> standard of two percent. <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> As stated by SONGA and the GOE, <SU>12</SU> <FTREF/> we inadvertently did not designate the preliminary <E T="03">ad valorem</E> subsidy rate assigned to SONGA as <E T="03">de minimis</E> as stipulated by section 703(b)(4)(B) of the Act. Therefore, for SONGA, we will not direct CBP to suspend liquidation of entries of the subject merchandise from Ecuador, in accordance with section 703(b)(4)(B) of the Act. <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> section 703(b)(4)(B) of the Act; <E T="03">see also</E> section 771(36) of the Act. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>   <E T="03">See Designations of Developing and Least Developed Countries Under the Countervailing Duty Law,</E> 85 FR 7613, 7615 (February 10, 2020); <E T="03">see also Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation,</E> 88 FR 81053, 81056 (November 21, 2023). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>12</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> SONGA's Ministerial Error Allegation; <E T="03">see also</E> GOE's Ministerial Error Allegation. </FTNT> In addition, as a result of this inadvertent error and as stipulated by section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are correcting the all-others rate to equal the amended preliminary CVD rate established for Santa Priscila, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> 2.89 percent <E T="03">ad valorem,</E> as this is the only rate that is not zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or based entirely on the facts otherwise available. Also, we listed an incorrect name for one of Santa Priscila's cross-owned companies, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> Tropical Packing Ecuador S.A. <SU>13</SU> <FTREF/> Moreover, we inadvertently stated “aluminum extr ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 14k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━