Silicon Metal From Australia and Norway: Countervailing Duty Orders

Issuing agencies

Abstract

Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing countervailing duty (CVD) orders on silicon metal from Australia and Norway.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 161 (Friday, August 21, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 161 (Friday, August 21, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54305-54306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-17049]



[[Page 54305]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-602-814, C-403-807]


Silicon Metal From Australia and Norway: Countervailing Duty 
Orders

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade 
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing countervailing duty (CVD) orders 
on silicon metal from Australia and Norway.

DATES: Applicable August 21, 2026.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kyle Clahane at (202) 482-5449 
(Australia) or Stefan Smith at (202) 482-4342 (Norway), AD/CVD 
Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In accordance with sections 705(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), on June 30, 2026, Commerce published in the 
Federal Register its affirmative final determinations in the CVD 
investigations of silicon metal from Australia and Norway.\1\ On August 
14, 2026, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative 
determinations, pursuant to sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 705(d) of the 
Act, that an industry in the United States is materially injured by 
reason of subsidized imports of silicon metal from Australia and 
Norway.\2\
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    \1\ See Silicon Metal from Australia: Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, 91 FR 39598 (June 30, 2026); see 
also Silicon Metal from Norway: Final Affirmative Countervailing 
Duty Determination, 91 FR 39601 (June 30, 2026).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determinations,'' dated August 14, 2026.
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Scope of the Orders

    The product covered by these orders is silicon metal from Australia 
and Norway. For a complete description of the scope of these orders, 
see the appendix to this notice.

CVD Orders

    Based on the above-referenced affirmative final determinations by 
the ITC that an industry in the United States is materially injured by 
reason of subsidized imports of silicon metal from Australia and 
Norway,\3\ and in accordance with sections 705(c)(2) and 706 of the 
Act, Commerce is issuing these CVD orders. Because the ITC determined 
that imports of silicon metal from Australia and Norway are materially 
injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such merchandise from 
Australia and Norway entered or withdrawn from warehouse for 
consumption, are subject to the assessment of countervailing duties.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce 
will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess, upon 
further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on unliquidated 
entries of silicon metal from Australia and Norway. With the exception 
of entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional measures 
period and before the publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury 
determinations, as further described below, countervailing duties will 
be assessed on unliquidated entries of silicon metal from Australia and 
Norway entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after September 26, 2025, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determinations in the Federal Register.\4\
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    \4\ See Silicon Metal from Australia: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final 
Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 90 FR 46390 
(September 26, 2025); and Silicon Metal from Norway: Preliminary 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of 
Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 90 FR 
46386 (September 26, 2025) (collectively, Preliminary 
Determinations).
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Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce will direct CBP 
to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation of silicon metal from 
Australia and Norway, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's 
notice of final determinations in the Federal Register, and to assess, 
upon further instruction by Commerce pursuant to section 706(a)(1) of 
the Act, countervailing duties for each entry of the subject 
merchandise in an amount based on the net countervailable subsidy rates 
for the subject merchandise. On or after the date of publication of the 
ITC's final injury determinations in the Federal Register, CBP must 
require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated 
duties on this merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the rates noted 
below. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect 
until further notice.

Estimated Countervailable Subsidy Rates

    The estimated countervailable subsidy rates are as follows, the 
all-others rate applies to all producers or exporters not specifically 
listed below.

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                                                            Subsidy rate
                          Company                            (percent ad
                                                              valorem)
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                                Australia
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Simcoa Operations Pty, Ltd \5\............................         32.57
All Others................................................         32.57
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                                 Norway
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Elkem ASA \6\.............................................         17.27
All Others................................................         17.27
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Provisional Measures
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    \5\ Commerce found the following companies to be cross-owned 
with Simcoa: Silicon Metal Company of Australia Pty Ltd.; Simcoa 
Mines Pty Ltd.; and Microsilica Pty Ltd.
    \6\ Commerce found the following companies to be cross-owned 
with Elkem: Elkem Carbon AS; Elkem International AS; and Elkem 
Silicon Product Development AS.
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    Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months. In the underlying investigations, 
Commerce published the Preliminary Determinations on September 26, 
2025.\7\ Therefore, entries of silicon metal from Australia and Norway 
made on or after January 24, 2026, and prior to the date of publication 
of the ITC's final determinations in the Federal Register, are not 
subject to the assessment of countervailing duties due to Commerce's 
discontinuation of the suspension of liquidation.
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    \7\ See Preliminary Determinations.
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    In accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, Commerce instructed 
CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, 
without regard to countervailing duties, certain unliquidated entries 
of silicon metal from Australia and Norway entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after January 24, 2026, the date on 
which the provisional CVD measures expired, until and through the day 
preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final injury 
determinations in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation and 
the collection of cash deposits will resume on the date of publication 
of the ITC final injury determinations in the Federal Register.

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Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service List

    On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the 
Federal Register.\8\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published the 
Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\9\ The Final Rule and 
Procedural Guidance provide that Commerce will maintain an annual 
inquiry service list for each order or suspended investigation, and any 
interested party submitting a scope ruling application or request for 
circumvention inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request 
on the persons on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as 
well as any companion order covering the same merchandise from the same 
country of origin.\10\
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    \8\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement of 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September 20, 
2021) (Final Rule).
    \9\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List; 
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021) 
(Procedural Guidance).
    \10\ Id.
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    In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in 
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an 
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and 
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at <a href="https://access.trade.gov">https://access.trade.gov</a>, within five business days of publication of the 
order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in ACCESS, under 
each case number, and under a specific segment type called ``AISL-
Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \11\
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    \11\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment 
Specific Information (SSI) field which will display the month in 
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was 
published in the Federal Register also known as the anniversary 
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that 
was published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant 
segment and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January 
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry 
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will 
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
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    Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry 
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the 
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30 
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of 
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one 
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead 
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce 
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days 
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance, the new annual 
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when 
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is 
published.
    Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as 
needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of 
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and 
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or 
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the 
ACCESS website.

Special Instructions for Petitioners and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \12\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioners and foreign governments should submit their 
initial entry of appearance after publication of this notice in order 
to appear in the first annual inquiry service list. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.225(n)(3), the petitioners and foreign governments will not need to 
resubmit their entries of appearance each year to continue to be 
included on the annual inquiry service list. However, the petitioners 
and foreign governments are responsible for making amendments to their 
entries of appearance during the annual update to the annual inquiry 
service list in accordance with the procedures described above.
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    \12\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the CVD orders with respect to silicon 
metal from Australia and Norway, pursuant to section 706(a) of the Act. 
Interested parties can find a list of CVD orders currently in effect at 
<a href="https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings">https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/adcvd-proceedings</a>.
    These CVD orders are published in accordance with section 706(a) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: August 17, 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

Scope of the Orders

    The scope of these orders cover all forms and sizes of silicon 
metal, including silicon metal powder. Silicon metal contains at 
least 85.00 percent but less than 99.99 percent silicon, and less 
than 4.00 percent iron, by actual weight. Semiconductor grade 
silicon (merchandise containing at least 99.99 percent silicon by 
actual weight and classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS) subheading 2804.61.0000) is excluded from 
the scope of these orders.
    Silicon metal is currently classifiable under subheadings 
2804.69.1000 and 2804.69.5000 of the HTSUS. While the HTSUS numbers 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope remains dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2026-17049 Filed 8-20-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P


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