Notice2025-17285
Certain Monomers and Oligomers From Taiwan: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances
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
September 9, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that certain monomers and oligomers from Taiwan are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is 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 172 (Tuesday, September 9, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 172 (Tuesday, September 9, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43409-43412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17285]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-583-879]
Certain Monomers and Oligomers From Taiwan: Preliminary
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that certain monomers and oligomers from Taiwan are being,
or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value
(LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2024, through
December 31, 2024. Interested parties are invited to comment on this
preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable September 9, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jaron Moore or Katerina Katsiadas, AD/
CVD Operations, Office VIII, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3640 or (202)
482-4929, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on April 23,
2025.\1\ For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\2\ A list of topics included 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>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Certain Monomers and Oligomers from the Republic of
Korea and Taiwan: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations,
90 FR 17044 (April 23, 2025) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value 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 products covered by this investigation are certain 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,\3\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\4\ No interested party
commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the
Initiation Notice. Therefore, Commerce is not preliminarily modifying
the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
\4\ See Initiation Notice, 90 FR at 17044-45.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce
has preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available for Eternal
Materials Co., Ltd. (Eternal Materials), Qualipoly Chemical Corporation
(Qualipoly), and Synth-Edge Advanced Material Co., Ltd. (Synth-Edge),
the mandatory respondents in this investigation, because each failed to
submit the necessary information to calculate an antidumping margin in
this investigation. Furthermore, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of
the Act, Commerce has preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise
available, with adverse inferences for Eternal Materials, Qualipoly,
and Synth-Edge. For a full description of the methodology underlying
the preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances
In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206,
Commerce preliminarily finds that critical circumstances exist for
Eternal Materials, Qualipoly, Synth-Edge, and all-other companies not
selected for individual examination. For a full description of the
methodology and results of Commerce's critical circumstances analysis,
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
All-Others Rate
Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that, in
the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated
all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually
examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for
exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero
and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under
section 776 of the Act.
In this investigation, Commerce preliminary assigned a rate based
entirely on facts available under section 776 of the Act to the three
mandatory respondents. Consequently, pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B)
of the Act, Commerce's normal practice under these circumstances has
been to calculate the all-others rate as a simple average of the
alleged dumping margin(s) from the petition.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at
Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of
Germany, 73 FR 21909, 21912 (April 23, 2008), unchanged in Notice of
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite
from the Federal Republic of Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8,
2008), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2;
see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value: Raw Flexible Magnets from Taiwan, 73 FR 39673, 39674 (July
10, 2008); Steel Threaded Rod from Thailand: Preliminary
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, 78 FR 79670,
79671 (December 31, 2013), unchanged in Steel Threaded Rod from
Thailand: Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and
Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances, 79 FR
14476, 14477 (March 14, 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 43410]]
In the Petition,\6\ Arkema, Inc. (the petitioner) provided two
estimated dumping margins, 112.81 and 286.12 percent. Therefore,
consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this
investigation, we preliminarily assigned a simple average of the
dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 199.47 percent.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Petition for the Imposition of
Antidumping and Countervailing Duties,'' dated March 27, 2025
(Petition); see also Checklist, ``AD Investigation Initiation
Checklist,'' dated April 16, 2025 (Initiation Checklist); see also
Petitioner's Letter, ``Response to Volume II Supplemental
Questions'' dated April 4, 2025 (Taiwan AD Supplement) at Exhibit
Supp-II-14.
\7\ See Petition; Initiation Checklist; and Taiwan AD
Supplement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
weighted-
average
Exporter/producer dumping
margin
(percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eternal Materials Co., Ltd.................................. * 286.12
Qualipoly Chemical Corporation.............................. * 286.12
Synth-Edge Advanced Material Co., Ltd....................... * 286.12
All Others.................................................. 199.47
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Rate based on AFA.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 733(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 Appendix I, 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 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will
instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-
average dumping margins or the estimated all-others rate, as follows:
(1) the cash deposit rate for the respondent listed above will be equal
to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin
determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is
not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash
deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-
average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject
merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and
exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average
dumping margin.
Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative
determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation
shall apply to unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of: (a)
the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of
liquidation was first ordered; or (b) the date on which notice of
initiation of the investigation was published. Commerce preliminarily
finds that critical circumstances exist for imports of subject
merchandise produced or exported by Eternal Materials; Qualipoly; and
Synth Edge. In accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the
suspension of liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of
shipments of subject merchandise from the producers or exporters
identified in this paragraph that were entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date which is 90 days before
the publication of this notice.
Commerce normally adjusts cash deposits for estimated antidumping
duties by the amount of export subsidies countervailed in a companion
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding, when CVD provisional measures are
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce preliminarily made an
affirmative determination for countervailable export subsidies,
Commerce has offset the estimated weighted-average dumping margin by
the appropriate CVD rate. Any such adjusted cash deposit rate may be
found in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section above. The CVD
investigation of certain monomers and oligomers from Taiwan
preliminarily found no export subsidies; accordingly, we are making no
offsets to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See Certain Monomers and Oligomers from Taiwan: Preliminary
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 90 FR 42184 (August
29, 2025), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These suspension-of-liquidation instructions will remain in effect
until further notice.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five
days of any 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 AFA
to the three individually examined companies in this investigation, in
accordance with section 776 of the Act, and the applied AFA rate is
based solely on the petition, there are no calculations to disclose.
Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if
appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial
errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent
with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete
allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR
351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce
will address such allegations in the final determination together with
issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.
Verification
Because the individually-examined respondents in this investigation
did not act to the best of their abilities to provide information
requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the
examined respondent is uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.
Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14
days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination.\9\
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.\10\ Interested parties who submit case or rebuttal briefs in
this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each
issue; and (2) a table of authorities.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for
general filing requirements).
\10\ 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).
\11\ 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 briefs that should be limited to five pages
total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request
that
[[Page 43411]]
interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public,
executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\12\ Further,
we request that interested parties limit their public 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
service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f).\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\13\ 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 in the Federal Register.
Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone
number, the number of participants and whether any participant is a
foreign national, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a
request for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at
a date and time 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 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that
Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the
date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make
its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date
of this preliminary determination.
U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify
the U.S. International Tade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary
determination of sales at LTFV. 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 certain monomers and oligomers from
Taiwan are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the
U.S. industry.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: September 3, 2025.
Christopher Abbott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the
non-exclusive functions and duties of the 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 C14H22O6.
dimethacrylate
(TEGDMA).
13048-33-4............. 1,6-hexanediol C12H18O4.
diacrylate (HDDA).
42978-66-5............. Tripropylene glycol C15H24O6.
diacrylate (TPGDA).
3290-92-4.............. Trimethylolpropane C18H26O6.
trimethacrylate
(TMPTMA).
15625-89-5............. Trimethylolpropane C15H20O6.
triacrylate (TMPTA).
28961-43-5............. Ethoxylated trimethylol- (C2H4O)n(C2H4O)n(C2H4O
propane triacrylate )nC15H20O6.
(EOTMPTA).
57472-68-1............. Dipropylene glycol C12H18O5.
diacrylate (DPGDA).
55818-57-0............. Bisphenol-A- (C15H16O2.C3H5ClO)x.xC
epichlorohydrin 3H4O2.
copolymer 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 investigations 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
[[Page 43412]]
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. Period of Investigation
IV. Application Of Facts Available With Adverse Inferences
V. Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances
VI. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for Export Subsidies in the
Companion Countervailing Duty Investigation
VII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2025-17285 Filed 9-8-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 9, 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.