Twist Ties From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 10542-10544 [2021-03514]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• International Trade Administration

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 33 (Monday, February 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10542-10544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03514]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-132]


Twist Ties From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and/or 
exporters of twist ties from the People's Republic of China (China).

DATES: Applicable February 22, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ajay Menon or Adam Simons, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1993 or (202) 482-6172, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The petitioner in this investigation is Bedford Industries, Inc. In 
addition to the Government of China (GOC), the mandatory respondents in 
this investigation are Zhenjiang Hongda Commodity Co. Ltd. (Zhenjiang 
Hongda) and Zhenjiang Zhonglian I/E Co., Ltd. (Zhenjiang Zhonglian).
    On December 1, 2020, Commerce published the Preliminary 
Determination and aligned this final countervailing duty (CVD) 
determination with the final antidumping duty (AD) determination, in 
accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4)(i).\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, are discussed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum.\2\ The Issues and 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 https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and electronic 
versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in 
content.
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    \1\ See Twist Ties From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 85 FR 77167 (December 1, 2020) (Preliminary 
Determination), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of 
Twist Ties from the People's Republic of China,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision 
Memorandum).
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Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation is January 1, 2019, through December 
31, 2019.

Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is twist ties from China. 
For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see 
Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    During the course of this and the concurrent AD investigation, 
Commerce received scope comments from interested parties. Commerce 
issued a Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum to address these 
comments and invited parties to comment on this memorandum.\3\ No 
interested party submitted comments on the Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum. Therefore, for this final determination, the scope of this 
investigation remains unchanged from that published in the Preliminary 
Determination.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Investigations of Twist Ties from the People's Republic of China: 
Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determinations,'' dated November 23, 2020 (Preliminary Scope 
Decision Memorandum).

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[[Page 10543]]

Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received

    The subsidy programs under investigation and the issues raised in 
the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in this investigation are 
discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues 
that parties raised is attached to this notice as Appendix II.

Methodology

    Commerce conducted this investigation in accordance with section 
701 the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found countervailable, 
Commerce 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.\4\ For a full description 
of the methodology underlying our final determination, see the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum.
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    \4\ 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.
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    In making this final determination, Commerce is relying on facts 
otherwise available, including adverse facts available (AFA), pursuant 
to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, due to respondents' lack of 
participation in this investigation. For a full discussion of our 
application of AFA, see the Preliminary Determination.\5\
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    \5\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at ``Use of Facts 
Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences.''
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our review and analysis of the comments received from 
parties, we made certain changes to Zhenjiang Hongda and Zhenjiang 
Zhonglian's subsidy rate calculations. For a discussion of these 
changes, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

All-Others Rate

    As discussed in the Preliminary Determination, Commerce based the 
selection of the all-others rate on the countervailable subsidy rate 
established for the mandatory respondents in accordance with section 
705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act.\6\ We made no changes to the selection of 
this rate for this final determination.
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    \6\ See Preliminary Determination.
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Final Determination

    Commerce determines that the following estimated countervailable 
subsidy rates exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                             (percent)
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Dongguan Guanqiao Industrial Co., Ltd...................          111.96
Foshan Shunde Ronggui Yingli Industrial Co., Ltd........          111.96
Yiwu Kurui Handicraft Co. Ltd...........................          111.96
Zhenjiang Hongda Commodity Co. Ltd......................          111.96
Zhenjiang Zhonglian VE Co., Ltd.........................          111.96
All Others..............................................          111.96
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Disclosure

    Normally, Commerce discloses its calculations performed in 
connection with the final determination to interested parties within 
five days of its public announcement, or if there is no public 
announcement, within five days of the date of publication of this 
notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce 
applied total AFA rates in the calculation of the benefit for the non-
responsive companies, and the applied AFA rates are based on rates 
calculated in prior proceedings, there are no calculations to disclose.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our Preliminary Determination and pursuant to 
sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the Act, Commerce instructed 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 December 1, 2020, the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination in the Federal Register.
    If the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final 
affirmative injury determination, we will issue a CVD order and require 
a cash deposit of estimated countervailing duties for such entries of 
subject merchandise in the amounts indicated above. If the ITC 
determines that material injury, or threat of material injury, does not 
exist, this proceeding will be terminated and all estimated duties 
deposited or securities posted as a result of the suspension of 
liquidation will be refunded or canceled.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. Because the final determination in this 
proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with section 705(b) 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 twist ties 
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 such injury does exist, 
Commerce will issue a CVD order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by Commerce, countervailing 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, as discussed above in the ``Continuation of Suspension of 
Liquidation'' section.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Order (APO)

    In the event that the ITC issues a final negative injury 
determination, this notice will serve as the only reminder to parties 
subject to the APO of their responsibility concerning the destruction 
of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 
CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written notification of the return/
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 which is subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
705(d) and 777(i) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: February 16, 2021.
Christian Marsh,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation consists of twist 
ties, which are thin, bendable ties for closing containers, such as 
bags, bundle items, or identifying objects. A twist tie in most 
circumstances is comprised of one or more metal wires encased in a 
covering material, which allows the tie to retain its shape and bind 
against itself. However, it is possible to make a twist tie with 
plastic and no metal wires. The metal wire that is generally used in 
a twist tie is stainless or galvanized steel and typically measures 
between the gauges of 19 (.0410' diameter) and 31 (.0132') (American 
Standard Wire Gauge). A twist tie usually has a width between .075' 
and 1' in the cross-machine direction (width of the tie--measurement 
perpendicular with the wire); a thickness between .015' and .045' 
over the wire; and a thickness between .002' and .020'

[[Page 10544]]

in areas without wire. The scope includes an all-plastic twist tie 
containing a plastic core as well as a plastic covering (the wing) 
over the core, just like paper and/or plastic in a metal tie. An 
all-plastic twist tie (without metal wire) would be of the same 
measurements as a twist tie containing one or more metal wires. 
Twist ties are commonly available individually in pre-cut lengths 
(``singles''), wound in large spools to be cut later by machine or 
hand, or in perforated sheets of spooled or single twist ties that 
are later slit by machine or by hand (``gangs'').
    The covering material of a twist tie may be paper (metallic or 
plain), or plastic, and can be dyed in a variety of colors with or 
without printing. A twist tie may have the same covering material on 
both sides or one side of paper and one side of plastic. When 
comprised of two sides of paper, the paper material is bound 
together with an adhesive or plastic. A twist tie may also have a 
tag or label attached to it or a pre-applied adhesive attached to 
it.
    Excluded from the scope of the investigation are twist ties 
packaged with bags for sale together where the quantity of twist 
ties does not exceed twice the number of bags in each package. Also 
excluded are twists ties that constitute part of the packaging of 
the imported product, for example, merchandise anchored/secured to a 
backing with twist ties in the retail package or a bag of bread that 
is closed with a twist tie.
    Twist ties are imported into the United States under Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
8309.90.0000 and 5609.00.3000. Subject merchandise may also enter 
under HTSUS subheadings 3920.51.5000, 3923.90.0080, 3926.90.9990, 
4811.59.6000, 4821.10.2000, 4821.10.4000, 4821.90.2000, 
4821.90.4000, and 4823.90.8600. These HTSUS subheadings are provided 
for reference only. The written description of the scope of the 
investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
IV. Analysis of Comments
    Comment 1: Countervailability of Currency Exchanges Involving 
the Allegedly Undervalued Renminbi (RMB)
    Comment 2: Export Buyer's Credit Program
    Comment 3: Electricity for Less than Adequate Remuneration 
(LTAR)
    Comment 4: The Subsidy Rate Assigned to Tianjin Kyoei Packaging 
Supplies Co., Ltd. (Kyoei)
V. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2021-03514 Filed 2-19-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P