<NOTICE>
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
<SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY>
<DEPDOC>[C-428-853]</DEPDOC>
<SUBJECT>Melamine From Germany: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination</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) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of melamine from Germany. The period of investigation is January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
</SUM>
<DATES>
<HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD>
Applicable July 22, 2024.
</DATES>
<FURINF>
<HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD>
Bob Palmer or Faris Montgomery, 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) 482-9068 or (202) 482-1537, respectively.
</FURINF>
<SUPLINF>
<HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD>
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024.
<SU>1</SU>
<FTREF/>
On April 11, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation until July 15, 2024.
<SU>2</SU>
<FTREF/>
<FTNT>
<SU>1</SU>
<E T="03">See Melamine from Germany, India, Qatar and Trinidad and Tobago: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigations,</E>
89 FR 17381 (March 11, 2024) (
<E T="03">Initiation Notice</E>
).
</FTNT>
<FTNT>
<SU>2</SU>
<E T="03">See Melamine from Germany, India, Qatar and Trinidad and Tobago: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations of Antidumping Duty Investigations,</E>
89 FR 27714 (April 18, 2024).
</FTNT>
For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation,
<E T="03">see</E>
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
<SU>3</SU>
<FTREF/>
A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at
<E T="03">https://access.trade.gov.</E>
In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at
<E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.</E>
<FTNT>
<SU>3</SU>
<E T="03">See</E>
Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Affirmative Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Melamine from Germany,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
</FTNT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Investigation</HD>
The product covered by this investigation is melamine from Germany. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation,
<E T="03">see</E>
Appendix I.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope Comments</HD>
In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,
<SU>4</SU>
<FTREF/>
the
<E T="03">Initiation Notice</E>
set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage (
<E T="03">i.e.,</E>
scope).
<SU>5</SU>
<FTREF/>
No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the
<E T="03">Initiation Notice.</E>
<FTNT>
<SU>4</SU>
<E T="03">See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,</E>
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
</FTNT>
<FTNT>
<SU>5</SU>
<E T="03">See Initiation Notice.</E>
</FTNT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Methodology</HD>
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a subsidy,
<E T="03">i.e.,</E>
a financial contribution by an “authority” that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific.
<SU>6</SU>
<FTREF/>
<FTNT>
<SU>6</SU>
<E T="03">See</E>
sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
</FTNT>
Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied, in part, on facts available and, because it finds that one or more respondents did not act to the best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for information, it drew an adverse inference where appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available.
<SU>7</SU>
<FTREF/>
For further information,
<E T="03">see</E>
the “Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences” section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
<FTNT>
<SU>7</SU>
<E T="03">See</E>
sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
</FTNT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Alignment</HD>
As noted in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, in accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), Commerce is aligning the final countervailing duty (CVD) determination in this investigation with the final determination in the companion antidumping duty (AD)
investigation of melamine from Germany based on a request made by the petitioner.
<SU>8</SU>
<FTREF/>
Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the same date as the final AD determination, which is currently scheduled to be issued no later than November 25, 2024, unless postponed.
<FTNT>
<SU>8</SU>
<E T="03">See</E>
Petitioner's Letter, “Petitioner's Request to Align Countervailing Duty Investigation Final Determination with Antidumping Duty Investigation Final Determination,” dated June 11, 2024. The petitioner is Cornerstone Chemical Company.
</FTNT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">All-Others Rate</HD>
Sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for companies not individually examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated subsidy rates established for those companies individually examined, excluding any zero and
<E T="03">de minimis</E>
rates and any rates based entirely under section 776 of the Act.
Pursuant to section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act, if the individual estimated countervailable subsidy rates established for all exporters and producers individually examined are zero,
<E T="03">de minimis,</E>
or determined based entirely on facts otherwise available, Commerce may use any reasonable method to establish the estimated subsidy rate for all other producers or exporters. Commerce has preliminarily determined the individually estimated subsidy rate for the individually examined respondent under section 776 of the Act. Consequently, as a reasonable method, Commerce is determining the all-others rate based on the rate determined for LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz GmbH (LAT Nitrogen), the mandatory respondent in this investigation, as determined under section 776 of the Act.
<SU>9</SU>
<FTREF/>
For a full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's analysis,
<E T="03">see</E>
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
<FTNT>
<SU>9</SU>
<E T="03">See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of Germany,</E>
73 FR 21909, 21912 (April 23, 2008), unchanged in
<E T="03">Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of Germany,</E>
73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8, 2008), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2;
<E T="03">see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Raw Flexible Magnets from Taiwan,</E>
73 FR 39673, 39674 (July 10, 2008); and
<E T="03">Steel Threaded Rod from Thailand: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances,</E>
78 FR 79670, 79671 (December 31, 2013), unchanged in
<E T="03">Steel Threaded Rod from Thailand: Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances,</E>
79 FR 14476, 14477 (March 14, 2014).
</FTNT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Determination</HD>
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated countervailable subsidy rates exist:
<GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,tp0,i1" CDEF="s100,12">
<TTITLE> </TTITLE>
<CHED H="1">Company</CHED>
<CHED H="1">
Subsidy rate
(percent
<E T="03">ad valorem</E>
<ENT I="01">LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz GmbH</ENT>
<ENT>29.72</ENT>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<ENT I="01">All Others</ENT>
<ENT>29.72</ENT>
</ROW>
</GPOTABLE>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Suspension of Liquidation</HD>
In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries of subject merchandise as described in the scope of the investigation section entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the
<E T="04">Federal Register</E>
. Further, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the rates indicated above.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Disclosure</HD>
Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis performed to interested parties in this preliminary determination within five days of its public announcement, or if there is no public ann
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