Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From the People's Republic of Taiwan: Notice of Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review, and Consideration of Revocation of the Antidumping Order, in Part

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-583-853]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From the People's Republic of Taiwan: Notice of Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review, and Consideration of Revocation of the Antidumping Order, in Part</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> Based on a request from Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. (Lutron), the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating a changed circumstances review (CCR) to consider the possible revocation, in part, of the antidumping duty (AD) order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic products (solar products) from Taiwan with respect to certain small, low-wattage, off grid crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells as described below. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable October 21, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Mark Hoadley, AD/CVD Operations, Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3148. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On February 18, 2015, Commerce published the AD order on solar products from Taiwan. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On August 28, 2024, Lutron, a domestic producer, importer and exporter of subject merchandise, requested, through a CCR, revocation of the <E T="03">Order,</E> in part, with respect to certain small, low-wattage, off-grid CSPV cells, pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.216(b). <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> Within its Lutron's CCR request, Lutron included a letter from the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing (the Alliance), a domestic interested party in this proceeding, in which the Alliance stated that it did not oppose the partial revocation of the <E T="03">Order</E> proposed by Lutron. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> No interested parties filed comments opposing the CCR request. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products from Taiwan: Antidumping Duty Order,</E> 80 FR 8596 (February 18, 2015) ( <E T="03">Order</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Lutron's Letter, “Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.'s Request for Changed Circumstances Reviews and Request to Combine Initiation and Preliminary Results,” dated August 28, 2024 (CCR Request). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> at Exhibit 2 and 3. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Order</HD> The merchandise covered by the <E T="03">Order</E> is crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, and modules, laminates and/or panels consisting of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not partially or fully assembled into other products, including building integrated materials. Subject merchandise includes crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells of thickness equal to or greater than 20 micrometers, having a p/n junction formed by any means, whether or not the cell has undergone other processing, including, but not limited to, cleaning, etching, coating, and/or addition of materials (including, but not limited to, metallization and conductor patterns) to collect and forward the electricity that is generated by the cell. Modules, laminates, and panels produced in a third-country from cells produced in Taiwan are covered by the <E T="03">Order</E> . However, modules, laminates, and panels produced in Taiwan from cells produced in a third-country are not covered by the <E T="03">Order</E> . Excluded from the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> are thin film photovoltaic products produced from amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). Also excluded from the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> are crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, not exceeding 10,000mm <SU>2</SU> in surface area, that are permanently integrated into a consumer good whose function is other than power generation and that consumes the electricity generated by the integrated crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. Where more than one cell is permanently integrated into a consumer good, the surface area for purposes of this exclusion shall be the total combined surface area of all cells that are integrated into the consumer good. Further, also excluded from the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> are any products covered by the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from the People's Republic of China (PRC). <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Antidumping Duty Orde</E> r, 77 FR 73018 (December 7, 2012); <E T="03">see also Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order,</E> 77 FR 73017 (December 7, 2012). </FTNT> Also excluded from the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> are modules, laminates, and panels produced in the PRC from crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells produced in Taiwan that are covered by an existing proceeding on such modules, laminates, and panels from the PRC. Additionally, excluded from the scope of these orders are solar panels that are: (1) less than 300,000mm <SU>2</SU> in surface area; (2) less than 27.1 watts in power; (3) coated across their entire surface with a polyurethane doming resin; and (4) joined to a battery charging and maintaining unit (which is an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) box that incorporates a light emitting diode (LED)) by coated wires that include a connector to permit the incorporation of an extension cable . The battery charging and maintaining unit utilizes high-frequency triangular pulse waveforms designed to maintain and extend the life of batteries through the reduction of lead sulfate crystals. The above-described battery charging and maintaining unit is currently available under the registered trademark “SolarPulse.” Merchandise covered by the <E T="03">Order</E> is currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under subheadings 8501.61.0000, 8507.20.8030, 8507.20.8040, 8507.20.8060, 8507.20.8090, 8541.40.6020, 8541.40.6030, and 8501.31.8000. These HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes; the written description of the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> is dispositive. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Proposed Partial Revocation of the Order</HD> The products subject to the proposed revocation are certain small, low-wattage, off-grid CSPV cells that are permanently attached to an aluminum extrusion that controls natural light, whether or not assembled into a fully completed automation device that controls natural light. Lutron requests that the following language to be added to the scope of the <E T="03">Order</E> to implement the requested exclusion: <EXTRACT> Also excluded from the scope of these investigations are off-grid CSPV panels in rigid form, with or without a glass cover, permanently attached to an aluminum extrusion that is an integral component of an automation device that controls natural light, whether or not assembled into a fully completed automation device that controls natural light, with the following characteristics: 1. A total power output of 20 watts or less per panel; 2. A maximum surface area of 1,000 cm <SU>2</SU> per panel; 3. Does not include a built-in inverter for powering third party devices. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Lutron's Letter at 3. </FTNT> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Initiation of CCR and Consideration of Revocation of the Order, in Part</HD> Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Act, when Commerce receives information concerning, or a request from an interested party  <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> for a review of, a final affirmative determination that resulted in an AD order, which shows changed circumstances sufficient to warrant a review of an order, Commerce shall conduct a CCR of the order. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> In accordance with 19 CFR 351.216(d), Commerce determines that the information submitted by Lutron and the letter of no opposition to partial revocation of the <E T="03">Order</E> with respect to the products described by Lutron constitute a sufficient basis to conduct a CCR of the <E T="03">Order</E> . <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>  Lutron stated in its CCR Request that it is an U.S. importer of solar panels. As such, Lutron is an interested party pursuant to section 771(9)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.102(b)(29)(ii). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.216(d). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> CCR Request at Exhibit 2. </FTNT> Section 782(h)(2) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i) provide that Commerce may revoke an order (in whole or in part) if it determines that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product have expressed a lack of interest in the order, in whole or in part. In its administrative practice, Commerce has interpreted “substantially all” to mean producers accounting for at least 85 percent of the total U.S. production of the domestic like product covered by the order. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> One domestic interested party, the Alliance ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 14k characters. 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