Notice2025-16653
Certain Monomers and Oligomers From Taiwan: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 29, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain monomers and oligomers (monomers and oligomers) from Taiwan during the period of investigation (POI), January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 166 (Friday, August 29, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 166 (Friday, August 29, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42184-42187]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16653]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-583-880]
Certain Monomers and Oligomers From Taiwan: Preliminary
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to
producers and exporters of certain monomers and oligomers (monomers and
oligomers) from Taiwan during the period of investigation (POI),
January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024. Interested parties are
invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable August 29, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suresh Maniam, 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) 482-1603.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section
703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). On April 23,
2024, Commerce published the notice of initiation of this
countervailing duty investigation in the Federal Register.\1\ On June
4, 2025, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this
investigation until August 25, 2025.\2\ On August 18, 2025, the
petitioner alleged that, pursuant to section 703(e)(1) of the Act and
19 CFR 351.206, critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of
monomers and oligomers from Taiwan.\3\ As the allegation was submitted
less than 20 days before the scheduled date of the preliminary
determination, Commerce's intends to issue a separate preliminary
critical circumstances determination no later than 30 days after the
submission of the allegation consistent with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(ii).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Certain Monomers and Oligomers from Taiwan: Initiation
of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 90 FR 17032 (April 23, 2025)
(Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Certain Monomers and Oligomers from Taiwan: Postponement
of Preliminary Determination in the Countervailing Duty
Investigation, 90 FR 23672 (June 4, 2025).
\3\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Allegation of Critical
Circumstances,'' dated August 18, 2025.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\4\ 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 <a href="https://access.trade.gov">https://access.trade.gov</a>. In addition, a complete
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly
at <a href="https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain
Monomers and Oligomers from Taiwan,'' dated concurrently with, and
hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scope of the Investigation
The product covered by this investigation is monomers and oligomers
from Taiwan. For a complete description of the scope of this
investigation, see Appendix I.
Scope Comments
In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,\5\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage, (i.e., scope).\6\ No interested
party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the
Initiation Notice. Thus, the scope of the investigation is unchanged
from the Initiation Notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
\6\ See Initiation Notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 42185]]
Methodology
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, i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that gives
rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is
specific.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ See 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied 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.\8\ For further
information, see the ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse
Inferences'' section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All-Others Rate
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 de minimis 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, de minimis, 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. In this investigation, Commerce has
preliminarily determined the estimated subsidy rate for the
individually examined respondents under section 776 of the Act. This is
the only rate available in this proceeding for deriving the all-others
rate. Consequently, pursuant to sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of
the Act, Commerce established the all-others rate by applying the
countervailable subsidy rate assigned to the non-responsive companies
listed below.
Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
countervailable subsidy rates exist:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsidy rate
Company (percent ad
valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eternal Materials Co., Ltd.............................. * 159.71
Qualipoly Chemical Corporation.......................... * 159.71
All Others.............................................. 159.71
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 703(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
Federal Register.
Further, pursuant to section 703(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.107(e), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal
to the estimated company-specific countervailable subsidy rate or the
estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for
the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific
estimated individual countervailable subsidy rates determined in this
preliminary determination; (2) if both the producer and exporter of the
subject merchandise have company-specific estimated subsidy rates
determined in this preliminary determination, and their rates differ,
then the applicable cash deposit rate will be the higher of these two
rates; (3) if either the producer or the exporter, but not both, of the
subject merchandise have a company-specific estimated subsidy rate
determined in this preliminary determination, the applicable cash
deposit rate will be that company's company-specific rate; and (4) the
cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal
to the estimated all-others subsidy rate.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five
days of its public announcement or, if there is no public announcement,
within five days of the date of publication of the notice of
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied
adverse facts available with respect to the benefit to the individually
examined companies, Eternal Materials Co., Ltd. and Qualipoly Chemical
Corporation, in this investigation in accordance with section 776 of
the Act, there are no calculations to disclose.
Verification
Because the mandatory respondents in this investigation, as well as
the Taiwan Authorities, did not provide requested information, Commerce
preliminarily determines each of these parties to be uncooperative;
thus, verification will not be conducted.
Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 20
days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination.
Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be
filed not later than five days after the date for filing case
briefs.\9\ Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs
in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each
issue; and (2) a table of authorities.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Administrative Protective
Order, Service, and Other Procedures in Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Proceedings, 88 FR 67069, 67077 (September 29,
2023) (APO and Service Final Rule).
\10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior
proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an
executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages
total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request
that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a
public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\11\
Further, we request that interested parties limit their executive
summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including
citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis
of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum
that will accompany the final determination in this investigation. We
request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant
citations in the public executive summary of each issue. Note that
Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the
[[Page 42186]]
service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f).\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\12\ See APO and Service Final Rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for
Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce within 30 days
after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain:
(1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of
participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3)
a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is
made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a time and date to be
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
Final Determination
Section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provides that
Commerce intends to issue the final determination within 75 days after
the date of its preliminary determination.
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification
In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify
the ITC of its determination. If the final determination is
affirmative, the ITC will determine, before the later of 120 days after
the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after the final
determination, whether imports of monomers and oligomers from Taiwan
are materially injuring the U.S. industry.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: August 25, 2025.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
Scope of the Investigation
The products subject to this investigation are certain
multifunctional acrylate and methacrylate monomers, and acrylated
bisphenol-A epoxy based oligomers (collectively, certain monomers
and oligomers or CMOs) that are derived from chemical reactions
involving the use of acrylic or methacrylic acid. Products within
the scope are listed below and have the following Chemical Abstracts
Service (CAS) numbers:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAS No. Description Molecular Formula
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
109-16-0................................ Triethylene glycol dimethacrylate C14H22O6.
(TEGDMA).
13048-33-4.............................. 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA)......... C12H18O4.
42978-66-5.............................. Tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA)... C15H24O6.
3290-92-4............................... Trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate C18H26O6.
(TMPTMA).
15625-89-5.............................. Trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA)... C15H20O6.
28961-43-5.............................. Ethoxylated trimethylol-propane (C2H4O)n(C2H4O)n(C2H4O)nC15
triacrylate (EOTMPTA). H20O6.
57472-68-1.............................. Dipropylene glycol diacrylate (DPGDA).... C12H18O5.
55818-57-0.............................. Bisphenol-A-epichlorohydrin copolymer (C15H16O2.C3H5ClO)x.xC3H4O2
acrylate (EPOXY ACRYLATE). .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The monomers are generally known as multifunctional acrylates
(MFAs) or multifunctional methacrylates (MFMAs) depending on whether
the functional groups are acrylate or methacrylate. The monomers
generally contain stabilizers/inhibitors, which include but are not
limited to Hydroquinone, Methyl Hydroquinone, and Butylated Hydroxy
Toluene. The monomers are either difunctional or trifunctional
(having 2 or 3 functional groups/molecule), have viscosities of 9 to
15 centipoise (cPs) at 25 degrees Celsius (if difunctional) or 44 to
110 cPs at 25 degrees Celsius (if trifunctional), have
(meth)acrylate equivalent weights (molecular weight per number of
functional groups) between 99 and 158 and molecular weights between
226 and 472 grams per mol.
The acrylated bisphenol-A epoxy based oligomer is commonly
referred to as epoxy acrylate or acrylated epoxy. In contrast to
epoxy resin, the main characteristic of the epoxy acrylate oligomer
is that it contains acrylate functional groups which make them
curable by free-radical polymerization. The epoxy acrylate has a
molecular weight between 508 to 536 grams per mol and a viscosity of
2400 to 3600 cPs at 65 degrees Celsius. The epoxy acrylate generally
contains stabilizers/inhibitors, which include but are not limited
to Hydroquinone, Methyl Hydroquinone, and Butylated Hydroxy Toluene.
Certain monomers and oligomers are subject to the scope even if
an in-scope monomer or oligomer is blended or mixed with one or more
other in-scope monomers or oligomers.
Certain monomers and oligomers in any blend or mixture are also
subject to the scope, so long as the blend or mixture contains no
less than 20 percent by weight of in-scope CMOs.
The scope includes merchandise matching the above description
that has been processed in a third country, including by
commingling, diluting, introducing, or removing ingredients, or
performing any other processing that would not otherwise remove the
merchandise from the scope of the investigation if performed in the
subject country.
The scope also includes CMOs that are commingled, mixed or
blended with in-scope product from sources not subject to this
investigation.
Only the subject component(s) of such blends, mixtures or
commingled products described above is covered by the scope of this
investigation. Subject merchandise contained in a blended, mixed or
commingled product described above will not have undergone a
chemical reaction as a result of being blended, mixed or commingled.
Notwithstanding the above, specifically excluded from the scope
are downstream products, including but not limited to, inks,
coatings and overprint varnishes. For purposes of this exclusion,
the downstream product requires only the application of energy to be
cured, e.g., inks or varnish applied to packaging, coatings applied
to wood flooring, etc. The energy source required to cure the
downstream product to its substrate can be thermal, ultraviolet
radiation, visible light, electron beam radiation, or infrared
radiation.
This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings
2916.12.5050, 2916.14.2050, 3824.99.2900, 3907.29.0000 and
3907.30.0000. Subject merchandise may also be entered under
subheadings 2916.12.1000 and 3824.99.9397. The HTSUS subheadings and
CAS registry numbers are provided for convenience and customs
purposes only; the written description of the scope is dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Injury Test
IV. Diversification of China's Economy
V. Analysis of China's Financial System
VI. Use of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
VII. Analysis of Programs
[[Page 42187]]
VIII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2025-16653 Filed 8-28-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 29, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.