Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony With the Final Determination of Antidumping Investigation; Notice of Amended Final Determination; and Notice of Amended Antidumping Duty Order

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-570-093]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony With the Final Determination of Antidumping Investigation; Notice of Amended Final Determination; and Notice of Amended Antidumping Duty Order</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> On November 25, 2024, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued its final judgment in <E T="03">New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, sustaining the U.S. Department of Commerce's (Commerce) third remand redetermination pertaining to the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation of refillable stainless steel kegs (kegs) from the People's Republic of China (China) covering the period of investigation (POI) January 1, 2018, through June 30, 2018. Commerce is notifying the public that the CIT's final judgment is not in harmony with Commerce's final determination in that investigation, and that Commerce is amending the final determination and the resulting antidumping duty (AD) order with respect to the dumping margin for certain respondents eligible for a separate rate, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Master), Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Jingye), and Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Ulix). The merchandise exported by these three exporters is included in the amended AD order. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable December 5, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Dmitry Vladimirov, AD/CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0665. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On October 24, 2019, Commerce published its <E T="03">Final Determination</E> in the LTFV investigation of kegs from China. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On December 16, 2019, Commerce subsequently published the AD order on kegs from China. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> New American Keg, d/b/a American Keg Company appealed Commerce's <E T="03">Final Determination.</E> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part,</E> 84 FR 57010 (October 24, 2019) ( <E T="03">Final Determination</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Orders,</E> 84 FR 68405 (December 16, 2019) ( <E T="03">Order</E> ). </FTNT> On March 23, 2021, the CIT remanded the <E T="03">Final Determination</E> to Commerce, ordering Commerce to reconsider or further explain: (1) its selection of the Malaysian surrogate labor data over the Brazilian surrogate labor data to value factors of production (FOPs) for labor; and (2) whether Guangzhou Ulix is eligible for a separate rate. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> In the <E T="03">First Redetermination,</E> Commerce determined that “Malaysian data does not constitute the best available information for valuing Ningbo Master's labor FOPs because it is linked to forced labor.”  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> Commerce further determined that “based on the information on the record, {it}selected the Mexican labor {surrogate value (SV)} from {Conference Board's International Labor Comparisons (ILC)} as the best information available to value Ningbo Master's labor FOPs” and “inflated the Mexican labor SV from ILC to the {POI using Brazilian inflator} and recalculated Ningbo Master's margin.”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> In the <E T="03">First Redetermination,</E> Commerce also examined certain evidence requested by the CIT and determined that Guangzhou Ulix remained eligible for a separate rate. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 21-30 (CIT March 23, 2021). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 21-30 (CIT March 23, 2021), dated July 7, 2021 ( <E T="03">First Redetermination</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> On September 13, 2022, the CIT remanded the <E T="03">First Redetermination</E> and ordered Commerce to reconsider or further explain: (1) the use of the Mexican surrogate labor data inflated with Brazilian consumer price index (CPI) when the Brazilian surrogate labor data are available on the record; and (2) the evidence in the administrative record that supports granting Guangzhou Ulix a separate rate. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> In the <E T="03">Second Redetermination,</E> after filing the <E T="03">First Redetermination</E> and requesting a voluntary remand, Commerce acknowledge that it was improper to inflate the Mexican labor wage rate from the ILC using Brazilian CPI. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> Notwithstanding, Commerce continued to determine that the Mexican labor wage data are superior to the Brazilian labor wage data and, in order to achieve an accurate calculation, Commerce re-opened the record and placed on the record data from the International Labour Organization (ILO). <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> Consequently, in the <E T="03">Second Redetermination,</E> Commerce used the Mexican wage rate from the ILO data for 2018 (contemporaneous with the POI) and recalculated Ningbo Master's margin accordingly. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> In the <E T="03">Second Redetermination,</E> Commerce also determined that Guangzhou Ulix has met its burden for a separate rate status. <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 22-106 (CIT September 13, 2022). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 22-106 (CIT September 13, 2022), dated November 10, 2022 ( <E T="03">Second Redetermination</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> On January 31, 2024, the CIT remanded the <E T="03">Second Redetermination,</E> holding that Commerce abused its discretion in reopening the record to use Mexican ILO wage data, because Commerce made no showing that the Brazilian wage information on the record was inaccurate or otherwise unsuitable for the calculation of Ningbo Master's margin. <SU>12</SU> <FTREF/> In its third final remand redetermination, Commerce used the Brazilian labor SV from 2016, inflated to the POI, and recalculated Ningbo Master's margin. <SU>13</SU> <FTREF/> On November 25, 2024, the CIT sustained Commerce's third final remand redetermination. <SU>14</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>12</SU>   <E T="03">See New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 24-11 (CIT January 31, 2024). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>13</SU>   <E T="03">See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 24-11 (CIT January 31, 2024), dated March 25, 2024. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>14</SU>   <E T="03">See New American Keg</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> Court No. 20-00008, Slip Op. 24-129 (CIT November 25, 2024). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Timken Notice</HD> In its decision in <E T="03">Timken,</E> <SU>15</SU> <FTREF/> as clarified by <E T="03">Diamond Sawblades,</E> the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that, pursuant to section 516A(c) and (e) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), Commerce must publish a notice of court decision that is not “in harmony” with a Commerce determination and must suspend liquidation of entries pending a “conclusive” court decision. The CIT's November 25, 2024, judgment constitutes a final decision of the CIT that is not in harmony with Commerce's <E T="03">Final Determination.</E> Thus, this notice is published in fulfillment of the publication requirements of <E T="03">Timken.</E> <FTNT> <SU>15</SU>   <E T="03">See Timken Co.</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 1990) ( <E T="03">Timken</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>16</SU>   <E T="03">See Diamond Sawblades Manufacturers Coalition</E> v. <E T="03">United States,</E> 626 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2010) ( <E T="03">Diamond Sawblades</E> ). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Amended Final Determination</HD> Because there is now a final court judgment, Commerce is amending its <E T="03">Final Determination</E> with respect to the following exporter-producer combinations: <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,nj,tp0,i1" CDEF="s50,r50,12,12"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Exporter</CHED> <CHED H="1">Producer</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Weighted average dumping margin (percent <E T="03">ad valorem</E> <ENT I="01">Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>Ningbo Major Draft Beer Equipment Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>4.23</ENT> <ENT> <SU>17</SU>  3.96 </ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Guangzh ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 14k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━