Notice2026-06016
Thermal Paper From Germany: Preliminary Results and Rescission, in Part, of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024
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
March 27, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that sales of thermal paper from Germany were not made at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR), November 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024. We are also rescinding this review, in part, with respect to 14 companies. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 59 (Friday, March 27, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 59 (Friday, March 27, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14809-14812]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06016]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-428-850]
Thermal Paper From Germany: Preliminary Results and Rescission,
in Part, of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that sales of thermal paper from Germany were not made at
less than normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR), November
1, 2023, through October 31, 2024. We are also rescinding this review,
in part, with
[[Page 14810]]
respect to 14 companies. Interested parties are invited to comment on
these preliminary results.
DATES: Applicable March 27, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anne Entz, AD/CVD Operations, Office
IX, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3845.
Background
On November 22, 2021, Commerce published in the Federal Register
the antidumping duty (AD) order on thermal paper from Germany.\1\ On
December 18, 2024, based on timely requests for review, in accordance
with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), we initiated an administrative review of
the Order.\2\ On January 29, 2025, Commerce selected Koehler Paper SE
and Koehler Kehl GmbH (collectively, Koehler) and Matra Atlantic GmbH
(Matra) as the mandatory respondents in this review.\3\
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\1\ See Thermal Paper from Germany, Japan, the Republic of
Korea, and Spain: Antidumping Duty Orders, 86 FR 66284 (November 22,
2021) (Order).
\2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Reviews, 89 FR 102856 (December 18, 2024).
\3\ See Memorandum, ``Respondent Selection,'' dated January 29,
2025.
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Due to the lapse in appropriations and Federal Government shutdown,
on November 14, 2025, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative
proceedings by 47 days.\4\ Additionally, due to a backlog of documents
that were electronically filed via Enforcement and Compliance's
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service
System (ACCESS) during the Federal Government shutdown, on November 24,
2025, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative proceedings by an
additional 21 days.\5\ Further, on December 19, 2025, January 16, 2026,
February 25, 2026, and March 12, 2026, Commerce extended the time limit
for these preliminary results.\6\ Accordingly, the deadline for the
preliminary results is now March 24, 2026.
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\4\ See Memorandum, ``Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of the
Federal Government,'' dated November 14, 2025.
\5\ See Memorandum, ``Tolling of all Case Deadlines,'' dated
November 24, 2025.
\6\ See Memoranda, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary
Results of 2023-2024 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated
December 19, 2025; ``Second Extension of Deadline for Preliminary
Results of 2023-2024 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated
January 16, 2026; ``Third Extension of Deadline for Preliminary
Results of 2023-2024 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated
February 25, 2026; and ``Fourth Extension of Deadline for
Preliminary Results of 2023-2024 Antidumping Duty Administrative
Review,'' dated March 12, 2026.
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For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\7\
The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file
electronically via 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>.
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\7\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Results of the 2023-2024 Administrative Review of the Antidumping
Duty Order on Thermal Paper from Germany,'' dated concurrently with,
and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision
Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order
The merchandise subject to the Order is thermal paper from Germany.
For a complete description of the scope of the Order, see the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an
administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested a
review withdraws its request within 90 days of the date of publication
of notice of initiation. On January 2, 2025, pursuant to 19 CFR
351.213(d)(1), Domtar Corporation and Appvion, LLC (collectively, the
petitioners) timely withdrew their requests for review for the 14
producers and/or exporters listed in Appendix II.\8\ Because no other
party requested a review of these companies, we are rescinding this
review with respect to them, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1).
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\8\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Partial Withdrawal of Request for
Administrative Review,'' dated January 2, 2025. On June 30, 2025,
Commerce issued a memorandum noting its intent to rescind this
administrative review for companies with no suspended entries during
the POR, including Koehler Oberkirch GmbH (Koehler Oberkirch). See
Memorandum, ``Notice of Intent to Rescind Review, In Part,'' dated
June 30, 2025 (Intent to Rescind Memorandum). However, because
Koehler Oberkirch is an affiliate of Koehler, we are not rescinding
this review for it. Moreover, we note that the petitioners withdrew
their requests for review for the remaining companies in the Intent
to Rescind Memorandum.
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Review-Specific Rate for Non-Examined Companies
The Act and Commerce's regulations do not address the establishment
of a weighted-average dumping margin to be applied to companies not
selected for individual examination when Commerce limits its
examination in an administrative review pursuant to section 777A(c)(2)
of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Generally, Commerce
looks to section 735(c)(5) of the Act, which provides instructions for
calculating the all-others rate in a less-than-fair-value (LTFV)
investigation, for guidance when calculating the weighted-average
dumping margin for companies which were not selected for individual
examination in an administrative review. Under section 735(c)(5)(A) of
the Act, the all-others rate is normally ``an amount equal to the
weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins
established for exporters and producers individually investigated,
excluding any zero or de minimis margins, and any margins determined
entirely {on the basis of facts available{time} .'' Therefore, because
the rate calculated for Koehler in this administrative review is a
zero, consistent with section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for the
companies not selected for individual examination in this review (i.e.,
Convertidoras PCM, S.A. de C.V. (Convertidoras) and Papeles y
Conversiones de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (Papeles)), we are preliminarily
assigning the most recent above-de minimis rate calculated in this
proceeding as the review-specific rate, i.e., 0.76 percent.
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section
751(a) of the Act. We calculated constructed export price in accordance
with section 772 of the Act. We calculated NV in accordance with
section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology
underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A
list of the topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is
attached as Appendix I to this notice.
Preliminary Results of Review
As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine that the
following weighted-average dumping margins exist for the period
November 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024:
[[Page 14811]]
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Weighted-average
Exporter/producer dumping margin
(percent)
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Koehler Paper SE; Koehler Kehl GmbH............ 0.00
Convertidoras PCM, S.A. de C.V................. 0.76
Papeles y Conversiones de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.. 0.76
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Disclosure
Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis
performed for these preliminary results to interested parties within
five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public
announcement, within five days of the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance. Pursuant to 19 CFR
351.309(c)(1)(ii), we have modified the deadline for interested parties
to submit case briefs to Commerce to no later than 21 days after the
date of the publication of this notice.\9\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to
issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed no 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\
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\9\ Commerce is exercising its discretion to alter the time
limit for filing of case briefs. See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
\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).
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As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2)(iii) and (d)(2)(iii), we
request that 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 review.
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\
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\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.
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Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to
request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via
ACCESS, by 5 p.m. Eastern time, 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 issues
to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those
raised in the respective case briefs. If a request for a hearing is
made, Commerce will inform interested parties of the scheduled date for
the hearing.\14\
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\14\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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All submissions, including case and rebuttal briefs, as well as
hearing requests, should be filed via ACCESS.\15\ An electronically
filed document must be received successfully in its entirety in ACCESS
by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the established deadline.
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\15\ See 19 CFR 351.303.
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Assessment Rates
Upon completion of the administrative review, Commerce shall
determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate
entries covered by this review. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1),
because Koehler did not report the entered value for all of its U.S.
sales, we calculated importer-specific per-unit duty assessment rates
by aggregating the total amount of antidumping duties calculated for
the examined sales and dividing this amount by the total quantity of
those sales. Where either Koehler's weighted-average dumping margin is
zero or de minimis within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.106(c), or an
importer-specific rate is zero or de minimis, we will instruct CBP to
liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping duties.
Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice will apply to entries
of subject merchandise during the POR produced by Koehler for which it
did not know that the merchandise it sold to an intermediary (e.g., a
reseller, trading company, or exporter) was destined for the United
States. In such instances, we will instruct CBP to liquidate those
entries at the all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate
company(ies) involved in the transaction.\16\
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\16\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties,
68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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For Convertidoras and Papeles which were not selected for
individual review, we will assign an assessment rate based on the most
recent above-de minimis rate calculated in this proceeding as the
review-specific rate, i.e., 0.76 percent, as discussed in the section
``Review-Specific Rate for Non-Examined Companies,'' above.
For the companies listed in Appendix II for which Commerce is
rescinding this review, Commerce will instruct CBP to assess
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries at a rate equal to the
cash deposit of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of
entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, during the period
November 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024, in accordance with 19 CFR
351.212(c)(l)(i). Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to
CBP regarding these companies no earlier than 35 days after the date of
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
In accordance with section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, the final
results of this review shall be the basis for the assessment of
antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by the final
results of this review and for future deposits of estimated duties,
where applicable. Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to
CBP regarding Koehler, Convertidoras, and Papeles no earlier than 35
days after the date of publication of the final results of this review
in the Federal Register. If a timely summons is filed at the U.S. Court
of International Trade, the assessment instructions will direct CBP not
to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties to file a
request for a statutory injunction has expired (i.e., within 90 days of
publication).
Cash Deposit Requirements
The following deposit requirements will be effective for all
shipments of the
[[Page 14812]]
subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption on or after the publication date of the final results of
this administrative review, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the
Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for the companies listed above will be
that established in the final results of this review, except if the
rate is less than 0.50 percent and, therefore, de minimis within the
meaning of 19 CFR 351.106(c)(1), in which case the cash deposit rate
will be zero; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies not
covered by this review, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the
company-specific rate published for the most recently completed segment
of this proceeding in which the company participated; (3) if the
exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the
LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will
be the rate established for the most recent segment for the
manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all
other manufacturers and/or exporters will be 6.27 percent, the all-
others rate established in the Amended Final Determination.\17\ These
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until
further notice.
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\17\ See Order, 86 FR at 66286; see also Thermal Paper from
Germany: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony with the Final
Determination of Antidumping Investigation; Notice of Amended Final
Determination; Notice of Amended Order, In Part, 90 FR 60617
(December 29, 2025) (Amended Final Determination).
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Notification to Importers
This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation
of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply
with this requirement could result in the Commerce's presumption that
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent
assessment of double antidumping duties.
Notification to Interested Parties
We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.213(d), (h)
and 351.221(b)(4).
Dated: March 24, 2026.
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
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Discussion of the Methodology
V. Currency Conversion
VI. Recommendation
Appendix II
Companies Rescinded From Review
1. Akon Rulo Kagit Plastik Imalat IHR [Idot]TH. SAN. T[Idot]C.
A.[Scedil].
2. Amtress (M) Sdn. Bhd.
3. Besto Sdn. Bhd.
4. Dor Etiket San VE Tic. Ltd.
5. Engin Kagir Mamulleri San. Tic.
6. Formas para Negocios, S.A. de C.V.
7. Formularios de M[eacute]xico S.A. de C.V.
8. Kagit Mamulleri San. Tic. Ltd., Stl.
9. Kooka Paper Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd.
10. Sailing Paper (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
11. ShenZhen Sailing Paper Co., Ltd.
12. Tele-Paper (M) Sdn. Bhd.
13. Wellden (M) Sdn. Bhd.
14. Wingle Industrial (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
[FR Doc. 2026-06016 Filed 3-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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