Notice2022-06557
Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers and Parts Thereof From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
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Published
March 29, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of certain walk-behind snow throwers and parts thereof (snow throwers) from the People's Republic of China (China) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is July 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 60 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17984-17987]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06557]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-141]
Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers and Parts Thereof From the
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at
Less Than Fair Value
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports
of certain walk-behind snow throwers and parts thereof (snow throwers)
from the People's Republic of China (China) are being, or are likely to
be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The
period of investigation is July 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
DATES: Applicable March 29, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brendan Quinn or Laurel LaCivita, AD/
CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5848 or (202)
482-4243, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On October 26, 2021, Commerce published its Preliminary
Determination of sales at LTFV of snow throwers from China, in which we
also postponed this final determination until 135 days after the date
of publication of the preliminary determination, pursuant to section
735(a)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\1\ A summary
of the events that occurred since Commerce published the Preliminary
Determination, as well as a full discussion of the issues raised by
parties for this final determination, may be found in the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.\2\
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\1\ See Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers and Parts Thereof from
the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of
Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 86 FR
61135 (November 5, 2021) (Preliminary Determination), and
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the
Final Affirmative Antidumping Duty Determination in the Less-Than-
Fair-Value Investigation of Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers and
Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China,'' dated
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and
Decision Memorandum).
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The Issues and Decision Memorandum is a public document and is
available electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping
and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS).
ACCESS is available to registered users at <a href="https://access.trade.gov">https://access.trade.gov</a>. In
addition, a complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can
be accessed directly at <a href="https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx</a>.
Scope of the Investigation
The products covered by this investigation are snow throwers from
China. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation,
see Appendix I.
Scope Comments
There have been no scope comments since the Preliminary
Determination. As a result, Commerce has made no changes to the scope
of this investigation since the Preliminary Determination.
[[Page 17985]]
Analysis of Comments Received
All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs submitted by
interested parties in this investigation are discussed in the Issues
and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues raised by parties and
responded to by Commerce in the Issues and Decision Memorandum is
attached to this notice as Appendix II.
Verification
Commerce was unable to conduct on-site verification of the
information relied upon in making its final determination in this
investigation. However, we took additional steps in lieu of an on-site
verification to verify the information relied upon in making this final
determination, in accordance with section 782(i) of the Act.\3\
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\3\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers
and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China: Questionnaire
in Lieu of Verification,'' dated November 23, 2021; see also
Zhejiang Zhouli's Letters, ``Certain Walk-Behind Snow Throwers from
the People's Republic China: Submission of Minor Corrections Before
Verification,'' dated November 30, 2021; and ``Certain Walk-Behind
Snow Throwers and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic China:
Submission of Zhejiang Zhouli's Response in Lieu of Verification,''
dated November 30, 2021.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
Based on our analysis of the comments received and additional
information obtained since our Preliminary Determination, we made
certain changes to the margin calculations for Zhejiang Zhouli
Industrial Co., Ltd. (Zhejiang Zhouli). For a discussion of these
changes, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
Separate Rate Companies
No party commented on our preliminary separate rate determinations
with respect to the mandatory respondents and the non-individually
examined companies; thus, we find no basis to reconsider our
preliminary determinations with respect to separate rate status, and we
have continued to grant these companies separate rates in this final
determination.
China-Wide Entity Rate and the Use of Adverse Facts Available
Commerce continues to find that the use of facts available is
warranted in determining the rate for the China-wide entity, pursuant
to sections 776(a)(1) and (a)(2)(A)-(C) of the Act. As discussed in the
Issues and Decision Memorandum, Commerce finds that the use of adverse
facts available (AFA) is warranted with respect to the China-wide
entity because the China-wide entity failed to cooperate by not acting
to the best of its ability to comply with our requests for information
and, accordingly, we applied adverse inferences in selecting from the
facts available, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.308(a).
For the final determination, as AFA, we are assigning the China-
wide entity a dumping margin of 223.07 percent, which represents
highest individual dumping margin calculated for Zhejiang Zhouli.\4\
Because this rate is not secondary information, but rather is based on
information obtained in the course of the investigation, Commerce need
not corroborate this rate pursuant to section 776(c) of the Act.\5\
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\4\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain
Walk-Behind Snow Throwers and Parts Thereof from the People's
Republic of China: Analysis Memorandum for the Final Determination:
Zhejiang Zhouli Industrial Co., Ltd.,'' dated concurrently with this
notice, at Attachment 3, page 243.
\5\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at 18 (explaining that
because Commerce is applying a calculated margin to the China-wide
entity, it is not using secondary information as the basis of any
margins. As a consequence, it is not necessary to conduct a
corroboration analysis for this determination).
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Combination Rates
Consistent with the Preliminary Determination, Commerce calculated
exporter/producer combination rates for the respondents that are
eligible for a separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin
05.1 describes this practice.\6\
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\6\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1,
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on
Commerce's website at <a href="http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf">http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf</a>.
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Final Determination
The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:
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Estimated Cash deposit
weighted- rate (adjusted
Exporter Producer average for subsidy
dumping margin offsets)
(percent) (percent)
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Zhejiang Zhouli Industrial Co., Ltd........... Zhejiang Zhouli Industrial Co., 163.27 142.19
Ltd.
Ningbo Scojet Import & Export Trade Co., Ltd.. Ninghai Yiyi Garden Tools Co., 163.27 142.19
Ltd.
Sumec Hardware and Tools Co., Ltd............. Zhejiang KC Mechanical & 163.27 142.19
Electrical Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Amerisun Technology Co., Ltd......... Zhejiang Dobest Power Tools Co., 163.27 142.19
Ltd.
Zhejiang KC Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd.. Zhejiang KC Mechanical & 163.27 142.19
Electrical Co., Ltd.
China-Wide Entity............................. ................................ 223.07 201.99
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Disclosure
We intend to disclose to interested parties the calculations and
analysis performed in this final determination within five days of any
public announcement, or, if there is no public announcement in the
Federal Register, within five days of the date of the publication of
this notice to parties in this proceeding in accordance with 19 CFR
351.224(b).
Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we intend to
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of snow throwers from
China, as described in Appendix I to this notice, which were entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after November 5,
2021, the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination of this
investigation in the Federal Register.
Furthermore, pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act, upon
the publication of this notice, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to
require a cash deposit equal to the weighted-average amount by which
the normal value exceeds U.S. price as follows: (1) The cash deposit
rate for the exporter/producer combinations listed in the table above
will be the rate identified in the table; (2) for all combinations of
[[Page 17986]]
Chinese exporters/producers of subject merchandise that have not
received their own separate rate above, the cash deposit rate will be
the cash deposit rate established for the China-wide entity; and (3)
for all non-Chinese exporters of subject merchandise which have not
received their own separate rate above, the cash deposit rate will be
the cash deposit rate applicable to the Chinese exporter/producer
combination that supplied that non-Chinese exporter. These suspension
of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
To determine the cash deposit rate, Commerce normally adjusts the
estimated weighted-average dumping margin by the amount of domestic
subsidy pass-through and export subsidies determined in a companion
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding when CVD provisional measures are
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce makes an affirmative
determination for domestic subsidy pass-through or export subsidies,
Commerce offsets the calculated estimated weighted-average dumping
margin by the appropriate rates. Commerce continues to find that
Zhejiang Zhouli, and all non-individually-examined companies found
eligible for a separate rate qualify for a double-remedy adjustment.\7\
Further, we have continued to adjust the cash deposit rates for
Zhejiang Zhouli, all non-individually-examined separate rate companies,
and the China-wide entity for export subsidies in the companion CVD
investigation by the appropriate export subsidy rates as indicated in
the above chart. However, suspension of liquidation according to
provisional measures in the companion CVD case has been discontinued
effective January 8, 2022; therefore, we are not instructing CBP to
collect cash deposits based upon the adjusted estimated weighted-
average dumping margin for those export subsidies and double remedy
adjustment at this time.
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\7\ See Preliminary Determination PDM at 26.
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International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the
International Trade Commission (ITC) of the final affirmative
determination of sales at LTFV. Because the final determination in this
proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the
Act, the ITC will make its final determination as to whether the
domestic industry in the United States is materially injured, or
threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of snow throwers
from China no later than 45 days after our final determination. If the
ITC determines that material injury or threat of material injury does
not exist, the proceeding will be terminated, and all cash deposits
will be refunded. If the ITC determines that material injury or threat
of material injury does exist, Commerce will issue an antidumping duty
order directing CBP to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce,
antidumping duties on all imports of the subject merchandise, entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective
date of the suspension of liquidation.
Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders
This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely notification of the
return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial
protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the
regulations and terms of an APO is a violation subject to sanction.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.210(c).
Dated: March 21, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by this investigation consists of gas-
powered, walk-behind snow throwers (also known as snow blowers),
which are snow moving machines that are powered by internal
combustion engines and primarily pedestrian-controlled. The scope of
the investigation covers certain snow throwers (also known as snow
blowers), whether self-propelled or non-self-propelled, whether
finished or unfinished, whether assembled or unassembled, and
whether containing any additional features that provide for
functions in addition to snow throwing. Subject merchandise also
includes finished and unfinished snow throwers that are further
processed in a third country or in the United States, including, but
not limited to, assembly or any other processing that would not
otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of this
investigation if performed in the country of manufacture of the in-
scope snow throwers.
Walk-behind snow throwers subject to the scope of this
investigation are powered by internal combustion engines which are
typically spark ignition, single or multiple cylinder, and air-
cooled with power take off shafts.
For the purposes of this investigation, an unfinished and/or
unassembled snow thrower means at a minimum, a subassembly comprised
of an engine, auger housing (i.e., intake frame), and an auger (or
``auger paddle'') packaged or imported together. An intake frame is
the portion of the snow thrower--typically of aluminum or steel--
that houses and protects an operator from a rotating auger and is
the intake point for the snow. Importation of the subassembly
whether or not accompanied by, or attached to, additional components
including, but not limited to, handle(s), impeller(s), chute(s),
track tread(s), or wheel(s) constitutes an unfinished snow thrower
for purposes of this investigation. The inclusion in a third country
of any components other than the snow thrower sub-assembly does not
remove the snow thrower from the scope. A snow thrower is within the
scope of this investigation regardless of the origin of its engine.
Specifically excluded is merchandise covered by the scope of the
antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain vertical shaft
engines between 225cc and 999cc, and parts thereof from the People's
Republic of China. See Certain Vertical Shaft Engines Between 225cc
and 999cc, and Parts Thereof, from the People's Republic of China:
Amended Final Antidumping Duty Determination and Antidumping Duty
Order, 86 FR 12623 (March 4, 2021) and Certain Vertical Shaft
Engines Between 225cc and 999cc, and Parts Thereof from the People's
Republic of China: Countervailing Duty Order and Amended Final
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 86 FR 12619 (March 4,
2021).
Also specifically excluded is merchandise covered by the scope
of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain
vertical shaft engines between 99cc and Up to 225cc, and parts
thereof from the People's Republic of China. See Certain Vertical
Shaft Engines Between 99cc and Up to 225cc, and Parts Thereof from
the People's Republic of China: Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Orders, 86 FR 023675 (May 4, 2021).
The snow throwers subject to this investigation are typically
entered under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) subheading 8430.20.0060. Certain parts of snow throwers
subject to this investigation may also enter under HTSUS
8431.49.9095. The HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and
customs purposes only, and the written description of the
merchandise under investigation is dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. China-Wide Rate
VI. Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
VII. Discussion of the Issues
[[Page 17987]]
Comment 1: China's Designation as a Non-Market Economy
Comment 2: Selection of the Primary Surrogate Country
Comment 3: Selection of Surrogate Financial Statements
Comment 4: The Calculation of Surrogate Financial Ratios
Comment 5: Selection of Surrogate Values for Gasoline Engines
Comment 6: Selection of Surrogate Values for Tires and Wheel
Hubs
Comment 7: Zhejiang Zhouli's By-Product Offset
VIII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2022-06557 Filed 3-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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