Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Amended Affirmative Preliminary Determination

AGENCY:

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

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce (Department) is amending the preliminarily determination of the antidumping duty (AD) investigation of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires (passenger tires) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to correct significant ministerial errors.

DATES:

Effective Date: March 26, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Toni Page, Jun Jack Zhao, or Lingjun Wang, AD/CVD Operations, Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1398, (202) 482-1396, or (202) 482-2316, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On January 27, 2015, the Department published its affirmative preliminary determination that passenger tires from the PRC are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value, as provided by section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The Department disclosed the calculations performed on January 26, 2015, and set a February 2, 2015 deadline for submitting comments concerning ministerial errors.

The Sailun Group and GITI each timely filed comments alleging significant ministerial errors. In addition, Anchi, Wanli, Federal, Changfeng, Fullrun, Fuyingxiang, Qingda, Doublestar and Doublestar-Dongfeng, and Beijing Capital each timely filed comments regarding the Department's preliminary separate rate determinations. Jinhaoyang requested the Department to accept its supplemental documentation for the Separate Rate Application which was opposed by the Petitioner. Further, GITI, Doublestar and Tyrechamp, and CIC timely filed requests for correcting misspelled names. Petitioner filed rebuttal comments and ministerial error comments on February 10, 2015. The Sailun Group, in-turn, requested that the Department reject Petitioner's rebuttal comments.

Scope of the Investigation

For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see “Scope of Investigation” at Appendix I of the Preliminary Determination.

Analysis of Significant Ministerial Error Allegations

The Department will analyze any comments received and, if appropriate, correct any significant ministerial error by amending the preliminary determination according to 19 CFR 351.224(e). A ministerial error is defined in 19 CFR 351.224(f) as “an error in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical error resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and any other similar type of unintentional error which the Secretary considers ministerial.” Further, a significant ministerial error is defined in 19 CFR 351.224(g) as a ministerial error, the correction of which, singly or in combination with other errors, would result in: (1) A change of at least five absolute percentage points in, but not less than 25 percent of, the weighted-average dumping margin calculated in the original (erroneous) preliminary determination; or (2) a difference between a weighted-average dumping margin of zero (or de minimis) and a weighted-average dumping margin of greater than de minimis, or vice versa.

In accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(e) and (g)(1), the Department is amending the Preliminary Determination to reflect the corrections of a significant ministerial error in Sailun Group's margin calculation. However, the Department is not amending GITI's margin calculation because GITI's ministerial errors are not significant in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(g)(1). As a result of amending Sailun Group's margin, the Department also revised the margin for separate rate companies. Further, the Department has corrected names for GITI, Doublestar and Tyrechamp, and CIC.

Ministerial Error Allegations

For a complete analysis of the ministerial error allegations, see the Ministerial Error Memorandum.

Correction

In the Federal Register notice for the Preliminary Determination, we incorrectly identified the following exporter-producer combinations: (1) Exporter and producer Giti Radial Tire (Anhui) Company Ltd. was mis-identified as “Giti Tire (Anhui) Company Ltd.”; (2) two of exporter Crown International Corporation's producers, Shandong Yongsheng Rubber Group Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Doublestar Tire Industrial Co., Ltd, were incorrectly listed as “Shandong Yonshong Rubber Group Co. Ltd.” and “Qingdao Doublestar Tire Industrial Co., Ltd”; and 3) exporter Tyrechamp Group Co., Limited and one of its producers, Qingdao Doublestar Tire Industrial Co., Ltd., were listed as “Tyrechamp Group Co., Ltd.” and “Qingdao Doublestar Tyre Industrial Co., Ltd.” We are correcting these exporter-producer combinations, as listed below, and will revise the cash deposit instructions that were issued to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the preliminary determination accordingly.

Amended Preliminary Determination

We corrected the preliminary dumping margin for the Sailun Group. Consequently, we amended the preliminary separate rate for the exporter-producer combinations listed below. Further, we corrected companies' names as requested.

Amended Cash Deposits and Suspension of Liquidation

The collection of cash deposits and suspension of liquidation will be revised according to the rates calculated in this amended preliminary determination. Because the amended rates for the Sailun Group and separate rate companies results in reduced cash deposits, the rate for Sailun Group will be effective retroactively to January 27, 2015, the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination, and the rate for separate rate companies will be effective retroactively to October 29, 2014, which is 90 days before the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination. Parties will be notified of this determination, in accordance with sections 733(d) and (f) of the Act.

International Trade Commission Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we notified the International Trade Commission of our amended preliminary determination.

Notification to Interested Parties

The Department intends to disclose calculations performed in connection with this amended preliminary determination within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

This amended preliminary determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(e).