Melamine From Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago: Countervailing Duty Orders, 8698-8701 [2025-02001]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• International Trade Administration

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 20 (Friday, January 31, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8698-8701]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02001]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-428-853, C-518-002, C-274-811]


Melamine From Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago: 
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 orders on 
melamine from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago.

DATES: Applicable January 31, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Palmer at (202) 482-9068 or Laurel 
Smalley at (202) 482-3456 (Germany);

[[Page 8699]]

Sofia Pedrelli at (202) 482-4310 (Qatar), and Colin Thrasher at (202) 
482-3004 (Trinidad and Tobago), AD/CVD Operations, Offices VIII, II, 
and V, 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 December 9, 2024, Commerce published in 
the Federal Register its affirmative final determinations in the 
countervailing duty investigations of melamine from Germany, Qatar, and 
Trinidad and Tobago.\1\ On January 23, 2025, 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 
melamine from Germany and Qatar,\2\ and that an industry in the United 
States is threatened with material injury by reason of subsidized 
imports from Trinidad and Tobago.\3\
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    \1\ See Melamine from Germany: Final Affirmative Countervailing 
Duty Determination, 89 FR 97586 (December 9, 2024) (Germany Final 
Determination); Melamine from Qatar: Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination and Final Negative Critical 
Circumstances Determination, 89 FR 97593 (December 9, 2024) (Qatar 
Final Determination); and Melamine from Trinidad and Tobago: Final 
Affirmative Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation, 
89 FR 97599 (December 9, 2024) (Trinidad and Tobago Final 
Determination).
    \2\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final 
Determinations,'' dated January 23, 2025 (ITC Notification Letter).
    \3\ Having made a determination that an industry in the United 
States is threatened with material injury by reason of imports of 
melamine from Trinidad and Tobago, the ITC did not reach the issue 
of critical circumstances regarding subject imports from Trinidad 
and Tobago. See Melamine from Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, 
and Trinidad and Tobago, Investigation Nos. 701-TA-706, 708-709 and 
731-TA-1667, 1669-1670, 1672 (Final), dated January 23, 2025 (ITC 
Final Report).
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Scope of the Orders

    The product covered by these orders is melamine from Germany, 
Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago. For a complete description of the scope 
of these orders, see the appendix to this notice.

Countervailing Duty 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 melamine from Germany and Qatar, and is 
threatened with material injury by reason of subsidized imports of 
melamine from Trinidad and Tobago,\4\ and in accordance with sections 
705(c)(2) and 706 of the Act, Commerce is issuing these countervailing 
duty orders. Because the ITC determined that imports of melamine from 
Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago are materially injuring, or 
threatening to material injure a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of 
such merchandise from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago, entered 
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, are subject to the 
assessment of countervailing duties.
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    \4\ 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 melamine from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago. 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 
melamine from Germany and Qatar entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after July 22, 2024, the date of publication of 
the Preliminary Determinations in the Federal Register.\5\
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    \5\ See Melamine from Germany: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 89 FR 59053 
(July 22, 2024); Melamine from Qatar: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, Preliminary Negative 
Determination of Critical Circumstances, and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 89 FR 59045 
(July 22, 2024); and Melamine from Trinidad and Tobago: Preliminary 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of 
Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 89 FR 
59057 (July 22, 2024) (collectively, Preliminary Determinations).
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    Pursuant to section 706(b)(2) of the Act, countervailing duties 
shall be assessed on subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the 
ITC's notice of final determination if that determination is based on 
the threat of material injury and is not accompanied by a finding that 
injury would have resulted without the imposition of suspension of 
liquidation of entries since Commerce's preliminary determination. 
Additionally, section 706(b)(2) of the Act requires CBP to refund any 
cash deposits or bonds of estimated countervailing duties posted since 
the preliminary countervailing duty determination if the ITC's final 
determination is threat-based.
    Because the ITC's final determination for Trinidad and Tobago is 
based on the threat of material injury and is not accompanied by a 
finding that injury would have resulted but for the imposition of 
suspension of liquidation of entries since the Trinidad and Tobago 
Preliminary Determination, section 706(b)(2) of the Act is 
applicable.\6\ Therefore, Commerce will instruct CBP to assess duties 
on entries of melamine from Trinidad and Tobago entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of 
the ITC's notice of final determination of threat of material injury in 
the Federal Register, in accordance with the subsidy rates listed in 
the rate chart below for Trinidad and Tobago.
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    \6\ See ITC Final Report at 1, footnote 4.
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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 melamine from Germany, 
Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago, effective 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 Duty Subsidy Rates

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

[[Page 8700]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
            Country                      Company             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany.......................  LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz            29.72
                                 GmbH.
                                All Others..............           29.72
Qatar.........................  Qatar Melamine Company;            41.91
                                 Qatar Chemical and
                                 Petrochemical Marketing
                                 and Distribution
                                 Company (Muntajat)
                                 Q.P.J.S.C.; Qatar
                                 Fertiliser Company
                                 (P.S.C.); Industries
                                 Qatar Q.P.S.C.;
                                 QatarEnergy.
                                All Others..............           41.91
Trinidad and Tobago...........  Methanol Holdings                   7.43
                                 (Trinidad) Ltd.
                                All Others..............            7.43
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Provisional Measures

    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 July 22, 2024.\7\ 
Therefore, entries of melamine from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and 
Tobago made on or after November 19, 2024, 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, unliquidated entries of 
melamine from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after November 19, 
2024, the date on which the provisional countervailing duty measures 
expired, through the day preceding the date of publication of the ITC 
final injury determinations in the Federal Register. Suspension of 
liquidation will resume on the date of publication of the ITC final 
injury determinations in the Federal Register.

Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists

    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.
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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).
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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 https://access.trade.gov, within five business days of publication of the 
notice 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.'' \10\
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    \10\ 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,\11\ 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.
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    \11\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR at 53206.
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    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 at https://access.trade.gov.

Special Instructions for Petitioner and Foreign Governments

    In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request 
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioner and 
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry 
service list in the years that follow.'' \12\ Accordingly, as stated 
above, the petitioner and Governments of Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad 
and Tobago should submit their initial entries of appearance after 
publication of this notice in order to appear in the first annual 
inquiry service lists for these orders. Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.225(n)(3), the petitioner and the Governments of Germany, Qatar, 
and Trinidad and Tobago will not need to resubmit their entries of 
appearance each year to continue to be included on the annual inquiry 
service list. However, the petitioner and Governments of Germany, 
Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago 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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Notifications to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the countervailing duty orders with respect 
to melamine from Germany, Qatar, and Trinidad and Tobago pursuant to 
section 706(a) of the Act. Interested parties can find a list of 
countervailing duty orders currently in effect at https://

[[Page 8701]]

enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    These orders are issued and published in accordance with section 
706(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: January 27, 2025.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

Scope of the Orders

    The merchandise subject to these orders is melamine (Chemical 
Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number 108-78-01, molecular formula 
C3 H6 N6). Melamine is also known 
as 2,4,6-triamino-s-triazine; 1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6- triamine; 
Cyanurotriamide; Cyanurotriamine; Cyanuramide; and by various brand 
names. Melamine is a crystalline powder or granule. All melamine is 
covered by the scope of these orders irrespective of purity, 
particle size, or physical form. Melamine that has been blended with 
other products is included within this scope when such blends 
include constituent parts that have been intermingled, but that have 
not been chemically reacted with each other to produce a different 
product. For such blends, only the melamine component of the mixture 
is covered by the scope of these orders. Melamine that is otherwise 
subject to these orders is not excluded when commingled with 
melamine from sources not subject to these orders. Only the subject 
component of such commingled products is covered by the scope of 
these orders.
    The subject merchandise is provided for in subheading 
2933.61.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading and CAS registry number are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2025-02001 Filed 1-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P