Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Brazil, India, and Thailand: Notice of Initiation of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews and Request for Revocation of Order in Part

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce (Department) received timely requests to conduct administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Brazil, India, and Thailand. The anniversary month of these orders is February. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221, we are initiating these administrative reviews. The Department received a request to revoke one antidumping duty order in part.

DATES:

Effective Date: April 2, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kate Johnson at (202) 482-4929 (Brazil), Henry Almond at (202) 482-0049 (India), and Holly Phelps at (202) 482-0656 (Thailand), AD/CVD Operations, Office 2, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230.

Background

During the anniversary month of February 2012, the Department received timely requests for administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp from Brazil, India, and Thailand from the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee (hereinafter, Domestic Producers), the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), and certain individual companies, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(b). The Department is now initiating administrative reviews of these orders covering multiple companies for Brazil, India, and Thailand, as noted in the “Initiation of Reviews” section of this notice. The Department also received a timely request to revoke in part the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from India with respect to three exporters.

All deadlines for the submission of various types of information, certifications, or comments or actions by the Department discussed below refer to the number of calendar days from the applicable starting time.

Notice of No Sales

If a producer or exporter named in this notice of initiation had no exports, sales, or entries during the period of review (POR), it must notify the Department within 60 days of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. All submissions must be filed electronically at http://iaaccess.trade.gov in accordance with 19 CFR 351.303. See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Electronic Filing Procedures; Administrative Protective Order Procedures, 76 FR 39263 (July 6, 2011). Such submissions are subject to verification in accordance with section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (Act).

Respondent Selection

In the event the Department limits the number of respondents for individual examination in these administrative reviews, the Department intends to select respondents based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for U.S. imports during the POR. We intend to release the CBP data under Administrative Protective Order (APO) to all parties having an APO within seven days of publication of this initiation notice and to make our decision regarding respondent selection within 21 days of publication of this Federal Register notice. The Department invites comments regarding the CBP data and respondent selection within five days of placement of the CBP data on the record of the applicable review.

In general, the Department has found that determinations concerning whether particular companies should be “collapsed” (i.e., treated as a single entity for purposes of calculating antidumping duty rates) require a substantial amount of detailed information and analysis, which often require follow-up questions and analysis. Accordingly, the Department will not conduct collapsing analyses at the respondent selection phase of these reviews and will not collapse companies at the respondent selection phase unless there has been a determination to collapse certain companies in a previous segment of these antidumping proceedings (i.e., investigation, administrative review, or changed circumstances review) or in a proceeding under Section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. For any company subject to these reviews, if the Department determined, or continued to treat, that company as collapsed with others, the Department will assume that such companies continue to operate in the same manner and will collapse them for respondent selection purposes. Otherwise, the Department will not collapse companies for purposes of respondent selection. Parties are requested to (a) identify which companies subject to review previously were collapsed, and (b) provide a citation to the proceeding in which they were collapsed.

Deadline for Withdrawal of Request for Administrative Review

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), a party that has requested a review may withdraw that request within 90 days of the date of publication of the notice of initiation of the requested review. The regulation provides that the Department may extend this time if it is reasonable to do so. In order to provide parties additional certainty with respect to when the Department will exercise its discretion to extend this 90-day deadline, interested parties are advised that, with regard to reviews requested on the basis of anniversary months on or after August 2011, the Department does not intend to extend the 90-day deadline unless the requestor demonstrates that an extraordinary circumstance has prevented it from submitting a timely withdrawal request. Determinations by the Department to extend the 90-day deadline will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Initiation of Reviews

In accordance with section 751(a)(1) of the Act, we are initiating administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp from Brazil, India and Thailand. We intend to issue the final results of these reviews by February 28, 2013.

Interested parties must submit applications for disclosure under administrative protective orders in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. On January 22, 2008, the Department published Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Documents Submission Procedures; APO Procedures, 73 FR 3634 (Jan. 22, 2008). Those procedures apply to administrative reviews included in this notice of initiation. Parties wishing to participate in any of these administrative reviews should ensure that they meet the requirements of these procedures (e.g., the filing of separate letters of appearance as discussed at 19 CFR 351.103(d)).

Any party submitting factual information in an antidumping duty proceeding must certify to the accuracy and completeness of that information. See section 782(b) of the Act. Parties are hereby reminded that revised certification requirements are in effect for company/government officials as well as their representatives in all segments of any antidumping duty proceedings initiated on or after March 14, 2011. See Certification of Factual Information to Import Administration During Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Interim Final Rule, 76 FR 7491 (Feb. 10, 2011) (Interim Final Rule), amending 19 CFR 351.303(g)(1) and (2). The formats for the revised certifications are provided at the end of the Interim Final Rule. The Department intends to reject factual submissions in any proceeding segments initiated on or after March 14, 2011, if the submitting party does not comply with the revised certification requirements.

These initiations and this notice are in accordance with section 751(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i) and (f)(2)(i).