Vanillin From the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[C-570-173]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Vanillin From the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable June 25, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Jeff Pedersen, 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) 482-2769. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">The Petition</HD> On June 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) received a countervailing duty (CVD) petition concerning imports of vanillin from the People's Republic of China (China) filed in proper form on behalf of Solvay USA LLC (the petitioner), a domestic producer of vanillin. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The Petition was accompanied by an antidumping duty (AD) petition concerning imports of vanillin from China. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Petitioner's Letter, “Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties” dated June 5, 2024 (Petition). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> On June 7, 14, and 18, 2024, Commerce requested supplemental information from the petitioner regarding the Petition, to which the petitioner responded on June 11, 18, and 21, 2024, respectively. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Commerce's Letters, “Supplemental Questions,” dated June 7, 2024 (First General Issues Questionnaire); “Supplemental Questions,” dated June 14, 2024, and “Supplemental Questions,” dated June 18, 2024; <E T="03">see also</E> Memorandum, “Phone Call with Counsel to the Petitioner,” dated June 17, 2024 (June 17 Memorandum); <E T="03">see also</E> Petitioner's Letters, “Petitioner's Response to Supplemental Questions Regarding Common Issues and Injury Volume I of the Petitions,” dated June 11, 2024 (First General Issues Supplement); “Petitioner's Response to Supplemental Questions Regarding Common Issues and Injury Volume I of the Petitions” dated June 18, 2024 (Second General Issues Supplement); and “Petitioner's Response to Supplemental Questions Regarding Countervailing Duties Allegations Volume III of the Petitions,” dated June 21, 2024. </FTNT> In accordance with section 702(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), the petitioner alleges that the Government of China (GOC) is providing countervailable subsidies, within the meaning of sections 701 and 771(5) of the Act, to Chinese producers of vanillin, and that such imports are materially injuring, or threatening material injury to, the industry producing vanillin in the United States. Consistent with section 702(b)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.202(b), the alleged programs for which we are initiating this CVD investigation are supported by information in the Petition that is reasonably available to the petitioner. Commerce finds that the petitioner filed the Petition on behalf of the domestic industry because the petitioner is an interested party as defined in section 771(9)(C) of the Act. Commerce also finds that the petitioner demonstrated sufficient industry support with respect to the initiation of the requested CVD investigation. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> section on “Determination of Industry Support for the Petition,” <E T="03">infra.</E> </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Period of Investigation</HD> Because the Petition was filed on June 5, 2024, the period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.204(b)(2). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Investigation</HD> The merchandise covered by this investigation is vanillin from China. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, <E T="03">see</E> the appendix to this notice. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comments on Scope of the Investigation</HD> Between June 7 and June 17, 2024, Commerce requested information and clarification from the petitioner regarding the proposed scope to ensure that the scope language in the Petition is an accurate reflection of the products for which the domestic industry is seeking relief. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> Between June 11 and 18, 2024, the petitioner provided clarifications and revised the scope language. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> The description of merchandise covered by this investigation, as described in the appendix to this notice, reflects these clarifications. <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> First General Issues Questionnaire; <E T="03">see also</E> June 17 Memorandum. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> First General Issues Supplement at 2-4 and Exhibits I-Supp-2 and I-Supp-3; <E T="03">see also</E> Second General Issues Supplement at 2-3. </FTNT> As discussed in the <E T="03">Preamble</E> to Commerce's regulations, we are setting aside a period for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> scope). <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> Commerce will consider all scope comments received from interested parties and, if necessary, will consult with interested parties prior to the issuance of the preliminary determination. If scope comments include factual information, all such factual information should be limited to public information. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> To facilitate preparation of its questionnaires, Commerce requests that scope comments be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on July 15, 2024, which is 20 calendar days from the signature date of this notice. Any rebuttal scope comments, which may include factual information, must be filed by 5:00 p.m. ET on July 25, 2024, which is 10 calendar days from the initial comment deadline. <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties,</E> 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) ( <E T="03">Preamble</E> ); <E T="03">see also</E> 19 CFR 351.312. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.102(b)(21) (defining “factual information”). </FTNT> Commerce requests that any factual information that the parties consider relevant to the scope of the investigation be submitted during the time period identified above. However, if a party subsequently finds that additional factual information pertaining to the scope of the investigation may be relevant, the party may contact Commerce and request permission to submit the additional information. All scope comments must also be filed on the records of the concurrent AD and CVD investigations. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Filing Requirements</HD> All submissions to Commerce must be filed electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS), unless an exception applies. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> An electronically filed document must be received successfully in its entirety by the time and date it is due. <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>   <E T="03">See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Electronic Filing Procedures; Administrative Protective Order Procedures,</E> 76 FR 39263 (July 6, 2011); <E T="03">see also Enforcement and Compliance; Change of Electronic Filing System Name,</E> 79 FR 69046 (November 20, 2014), for details of Commerce's electronic filing requirements, effective August 5, 2011. Information on using ACCESS can be found at: <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/help.aspx</E> and <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/help/Handbook_on_Electronic_Filing_Procedures.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Consultations</HD> Pursuant to sections 702(b)(4)(A)(i) and (ii) of the Act, Commerce notified the GOC of the receipt of the Petition and provided an opportunity for consultations with respect to the Petition. <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> The GOC did not request consultations. <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Commerce's Letter “Invitation for Consultations to Discuss the Countervailing Duty Petition on Vanillin from the People's Republic of China,” dated June 12, 2024. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Determination of Industry Support for the Petition</HD> Section 702(b)(1) of the Act requires that a petition be filed on behalf of the domestic industry. Section 702(c)(4)(A) of the Act provides that a petition meets this requirement if the domestic producers or workers who support the petition account for: (i) at least 25 percent of the total production of the domestic like product; and (ii) more than 50 percent of the production of the domestic like product produced by that portion of the industry expressing support for, or opposition to, the petition. Moreover, section 702(c)(4)(D) of the Act provides that, if the petition does not establish support of domestic producers or workers accounting for more than 50 percent of the total production of the domestic like product, Commerce shall: (i) poll the industry or rely on other information in order to determine if there is support for the petition, as required by subparagraph (A); or (ii) determine industry support using a statistically valid sampling method to poll the “industry.” Section 771(4)(A) of the Act defines the “industry” as the producers as a whole of a domestic like product. Thus, to determine whether a petition has the requisite industry support, the statute directs Commerce to look to producers and workers who produce the domestic like product. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which is responsible for determining whether “the domestic in ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 29k characters. 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