Lemon Juice From Argentina: Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-357-818]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Lemon Juice From Argentina: Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping 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) and a representative of the signatory lemon juice producers/exporters accounting for substantially all imports of lemon juice from Argentina have signed an amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina (2016 Agreement) (collectively, amended 2016 Agreement). The amendment to the 2016 Agreement revises the reference prices and provides for enhanced monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable January 17, 2025. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Sally C. Gannon or Jill Buckles at (202) 482-0162 or (202) 482-6230, respectively; Bilateral Agreements Unit, Office of Policy, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On September 10, 2007, Commerce entered into an agreement to suspend the antidumping duty investigation on lemon juice from Argentina. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On October 20, 2016, Commerce and producers/exporters accounting for substantially all imports of lemon juice from Argentina signed the 2016 Agreement. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Suspension of Antidumping Duty Investigation: Lemon Juice From Argentina, 72 FR 53991 (September 21, 2007) (2007 Agreement). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See Lemon Juice from Argentina: Continuation of Suspension of Antidumping Investigation,</E> 81 FR 74395 (October 26, 2016). </FTNT> On May 22, 2024, Commerce formally opened consultations with the signatory producers/exporters with respect to possible revisions to the 2016 Agreement. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> On December 20, 2024, Commerce released a draft initialed agreement and invited comments from interested parties. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> On January 2, 2025, Commerce released its draft statutory assessment memorandum pursuant to the draft amendment and invited interested party comments. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> We received comments on the draft amendment from the following parties: Ventura Coastal, LLC (petitioner); Latin Lemon S.A. and Cooperativa de Productores Citricolas de Tafi Viejo (collectively, Latin Lemon and COTA); the Government of Argentina (GOA); and S.A. San Miguel A.G.I.C.I. y F, La Moraleja S.A., Citromax S.A.C.I., Vicente Trapani S.A., Citrusvil S.A., Pablo Padilla, Ledesma S.A.A.I., Ramón Tuma S.A., Argenti Lemon S.A., FGF Trapani S.A., Acheral, Litoral Citrus, Veracruz, Los Pempa Agroganadera S.A., and Inducítrica S.A (collectively, Argentine Exporters). In addition, Commerce received comments on the draft statutory assessment memorandum from the GOA. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Commerce's Letter, “Consultations on Potential Amendment to the 2016 Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina,” dated May 22, 2024. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Commerce's Letter, “Draft Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina,” dated December 20, 2024. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Commerce's Letter, “Draft Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina: Draft Assessment of Statutory Requirements Memorandum,” dated January 2, 2025. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Amendment to the 2016 Agreement</HD> On January 17, 2025, after consideration of the interested party and other comments received, Commerce and a representative of the signatory producers/exporters accounting for substantially all imports of lemon juice from Argentina signed a finalized amendment to the 2016 Agreement. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> In accordance with section 734(c) of the Act, we have determined that extraordinary circumstances, as defined by section 734(c)(2)(A) of the Act, exist with respect to the amended 2016 Agreement. We have also determined that the amended 2016 Agreement will eliminate completely the injurious effect of exports to the United States of the subject merchandise and prevent the suppression or undercutting of price levels of domestic lemon juice by imports of that merchandise from Argentina, as required by section 734(c)(1) of the Act. We have also determined that the amended 2016 Agreement is in the public interest and can be monitored effectively, as required under section 734(d) of the Act. For these reasons, we find that the amended 2016 Agreement meets the criteria of section 734(c) and (d) of the Act. The text of the amendment to the 2016 Agreement follows in the Annex of this notice. <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina,” dated January 17, 2025. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Amended 2016 Agreement</HD> The product covered by this amended 2016 Agreement is lemon juice for further manufacture, with or without addition of preservatives, sugar, or other sweeteners, regardless of the GPL (grams per liter of citric acid) level of concentration, brix level, brix/acid ratio, pulp content, clarity, grade, horticulture method ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> organic or not), processed form ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> frozen or not-from-concentrate), FDA standard of identity, the size of the container in which packed, or the method of packing. Excluded from the scope are: (1) Lemon juice at any level of concentration packed in retail-sized containers ready for sale to consumers, typically at a level of concentration of 48 GPL; and (2) beverage products such as lemonade that typically contain 20% or less lemon juice as an ingredient. Lemon juice is classifiable under subheadings 2009.39.6020, 2009.31.6020, 2009.31.4000, 2009.31.6040, and 2009.39.6040 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). While HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the scope of this 2016 Agreement is dispositive. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Administrative Protective Order Access</HD> The administrative protective order (APO) Commerce granted in the suspension agreement segment of this proceeding remains in place and effective for the amended 2016 Agreement. All new interested parties requesting access to business proprietary information submitted during the administration of the amended 2016 Agreement, under the APO currently in effect, must submit an APO application in accordance with Commerce's regulations currently in effect. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> section 777(c)(1) of the Act; <E T="03">see also</E> 19 CFR 351.103, 351.304, 351.305, and 351.306. </FTNT> We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with section 734(f)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.208(g)(2). <SIG> <DATED>Dated: January 17, 2025.</DATED> <NAME>Abdelali Elouaradia,</NAME> Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. </SIG> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Annex: Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice From Argentina</HD> The Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina signed on October 20, 2016 (2016 Agreement) is amended as set forth below (2025 Amendment) (collectively, Agreement). If a provision of the 2016 Agreement conflicts with a provision of this 2025 Amendment, the provision of the 2025 Amendment shall supersede the provision of the 2016 Agreement to the extent of the conflict. All other provisions of the 2016 Agreement and their applicability continue with full force. The United States Department of Commerce (the Department) and the signatory producers and exporters of Lemon Juice from Argentina (individually, Signatory; collectively, Signatories) hereby agree as follows: <HD SOURCE="HD1">Section II—Definitions—is amended as follows:</HD> Section II.D is replaced with the following ( <E T="03">changes in italics</E> ): “Effective Date <E T="03">of the 2016 Agreement”</E> means the date on which the Department and the signatory producers and exporters sign <E T="03">ed</E> the <E T="03">2016</E> Agreement. <E T="03">Additionally, the “Effective Date of the 2025 Amendment” means the date on which the Department and the Signatories sign the 2025 Amendment.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">New Section II.K is added as follows:</HD> “Adjustment Mechanism” is the means by which the Reference Prices may change as described in Appendix I. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Section VI—Price Undertaking—is amended as follows:</HD> The first paragraph is replaced with the following ( <E T="03">changes in italics</E> ): Each Signatory individually agrees that, to prevent price suppression or undercutting, it will not sell for export to the United States, on or after the Effective Date <E T="03">of the 2025 Amendment,</E> Lemon Juice at prices that are less than the Reference Prices established in Appendix <E T="7603">1</E> <E T="03">I (as amended by the 2025 Amendment), except for shipments pursuant to Section VII.C.4 which must be sold at prices that are at or above the Reference Prices established in Appendix I of the 2016 Agreement for sales from signatory producers/exporters to the 2016 Agreement.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">S ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 25k characters. 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