SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background.
—On May 10, 2012, the Department of Commerce issued antidumping duty orders on imports of certain stilbenic optical brightening agents from China and Taiwan (77 FR 27419 and 27423). The Commission is conducting reviews pursuant to section 751(c) of the Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1675(c)), to determine whether revocation of the orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to the domestic industry within a reasonably foreseeable time. Provisions concerning the conduct of this proceeding may be found in the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure at 19 CFR parts 201, Subparts A and B and 19 CFR part 207, subparts A and F. The Commission will assess the adequacy of interested party responses to this notice of institution to determine whether to conduct full reviews or expedited reviews. The Commission's determinations in any expedited reviews will be based on the facts available, which may include information provided in response to this notice.
Definitions.
—The following definitions apply to these reviews:
(1)
Subject Merchandise
is the class or kind of merchandise that is within the scope of the five-year reviews, as defined by the Department of Commerce.
(2) The
Subject Countries
in these reviews are China and Taiwan.
(3) The
Domestic Like Product
is the domestically produced product or products which are like, or in the absence of like, most similar in
characteristics and uses with, the
Subject Merchandise.
In its original determinations, the Commission found a single
Domestic Like Product
consisting of all forms, states, concentrations, and compositions of stilbenic optical brightening agent products co-extensive with Commerce's scope.
(4) The
Domestic Industry
is the U.S. producers as a whole of the
Domestic Like Product,
or those producers whose collective output of the
Domestic Like Product
constitutes a major proportion of the total domestic production of the product. In its original determinations, the Commission defined the
Domestic Industry
to consist of all U.S. producers of the
Domestic Like Product,
namely Clariant Corporation, BASF Corporation, and 3V Incorporated.
(5) The
Order Date
is the date that the antidumping duty orders under review became effective. In these reviews, the
Order Date
is May 10, 2012.
(6) An
Importer
is any person or firm engaged, either directly or through a parent company or subsidiary, in importing the
Subject Merchandise
into the United States from a foreign manufacturer or through its selling agent.
Participation in the proceeding and public service list.
—Persons, including industrial users of the
Subject Merchandise
and, if the merchandise is sold at the retail level, representative consumer organizations, wishing to participate in the proceeding as parties must file an entry of appearance with the Secretary to the Commission, as provided in section 201.11(b)(4) of the Commission's rules, no later than 21 days after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register
. The Secretary will maintain a public service list containing the names and addresses of all persons, or their representatives, who are parties to the proceeding.
Former Commission employees who are seeking to appear in Commission five-year reviews are advised that they may appear in a review even if they participated personally and substantially in the corresponding underlying original investigation or an earlier review of the same underlying investigation. The Commission's designated agency ethics official has advised that a five-year review is not the same particular matter as the underlying original investigation, and a five-year review is not the same particular matter as an earlier review of the same underlying investigation for purposes of 18 U.S.C. 207, the post employment statute for Federal employees, and Commission rule 201.15(b) (19 CFR 201.15(b)), 79 FR 3246 (Jan. 17, 2014), 73 FR 24609 (May 5, 2008). Consequently, former employees are not required to seek Commission approval to appear in a review under Commission rule 19 CFR 201.15, even if the corresponding underlying original investigation or an earlier review of the same underlying investigation was pending when they were Commission employees. For further ethics advice on this matter, contact Carol McCue Verratti, Deputy Agency Ethics Official, at 202–205–3088.
Limited disclosure of business proprietary information (BPI) under an administrative protective order (APO) and APO service list.
—Pursuant to section 207.7(a) of the Commission's rules, the Secretary will make BPI submitted in this proceeding available to authorized applicants under the APO issued in the proceeding, provided that the application is made no later than 21 days after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register
. Authorized applicants must represent interested parties, as defined in 19 U.S.C. 1677(9), who are parties to the proceeding. A separate service list will be maintained by the Secretary for those parties authorized to receive BPI under the APO.
Certification.
—Pursuant to section 207.3 of the Commission's rules, any person submitting information to the Commission in connection with this proceeding must certify that the information is accurate and complete to the best of the submitter's knowledge. In making the certification, the submitter will acknowledge that information submitted in response to this request for information and throughout this proceeding or other proceeding may be disclosed to and used: (i) By the Commission, its employees and Offices, and contract personnel (a) for developing or maintaining the records of this or a related proceeding, or (b) in internal investigations, audits, reviews, and evaluations relating to the programs, personnel, and operations of the Commission including under 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3; or (ii) by U.S. government employees and contract personnel, solely for cybersecurity purposes. All contract personnel will sign appropriate nondisclosure agreements.
Written submissions.
—Pursuant to section 207.61 of the Commission's rules, each interested party response to this notice must provide the information specified below. The deadline for filing such responses is May 3, 2017. Pursuant to section 207.62(b) of the Commission's rules, eligible parties (as specified in Commission rule 207.62(b)(1)) may also file comments concerning the adequacy of responses to the notice of institution and whether the Commission should conduct expedited or full reviews. The deadline for filing such comments is June 15, 2017. All written submissions must conform with the provisions of section 201.8 of the Commission's rules; any submissions that contain BPI must also conform with the requirements of sections 201.6, 207.3, and 207.7 of the Commission's rules. The Commission's Handbook on E-Filing, available on the Commission's Web site at
https://www.usitc.gov/secretary/documents/handbook_on_filing_procedures.pdf,
elaborates upon the Commission's rules with respect to electronic filing. Also, in accordance with sections 201.16(c) and 207.3 of the Commission's rules, each document filed by a party to the proceeding must be served on all other parties to the proceeding (as identified by either the public or APO service list as appropriate), and a certificate of service must accompany the document (if you are not a party to the proceeding you do not need to serve your response).
No response to this request for information is required if a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) number is not displayed; the OMB number is 3117 0016/USITC No. 17–5–383, expiration date June 30, 2017. Public reporting burden for the request is estimated to average 15 hours per response. Please send comments regarding the accuracy of this burden estimate to the Office of Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20436.
Inability to provide requested information.
—Pursuant to section 207.61(c) of the Commission's rules, any interested party that cannot furnish the information requested by this notice in the requested form and manner shall notify the Commission at the earliest possible time, provide a full explanation of why it cannot provide the requested information, and indicate alternative forms in which it can provide equivalent information. If an interested party does not provide this notification (or the Commission finds the explanation provided in the notification inadequate) and fails to provide a complete response to this notice, the Commission may take an adverse inference against the party pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1677e(b)) in making its determinations in the reviews.
Information to be provided in response to this Notice of Institution:
If you are a domestic producer, union/worker group, or trade/business association; import/export
Subject Merchandise
from more than one
Subject Country;
or produce
Subject Merchandise
in more than one
Subject Country,
you may file a single response. If you do so, please ensure that your response to each question includes the information requested for each pertinent
Subject Country.
As used below, the term “firm” includes any related firms.
(1) The name and address of your firm or entity (including World Wide Web address) and name, telephone number, fax number, and Email address of the certifying official.
(2) A statement indicating whether your firm/entity is an interested party under 19 U.S.C. 1677(9) and if so, how, including whether your firm/entity is a U.S. producer of the
Domestic Like Product,
a U.S. union or worker group, a U.S. importer of the
Subject Merchandi
se, a foreign producer or exporter of the
Subject Merchandise,
a U.S. or foreign trade or business association (a majority of whose members are interested parties under the statute), or another interested party (including an explanation). If you are a union/worker group or trade/business association, identify the firms in which your workers are employed or which are members of your association.
(3) A statement indicating whether your firm/entity is willing to participate in this proceeding by providing information requested by the Commission.
(4) A statement of the likely effects of the revocation of the antidumping duty orders on the
Domestic Industry
in general and/or your firm/entity specifically. In your response, please discuss the various factors specified in section 752(a) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675a(a)) including the likely volume of subject imports, likely price effects of subject imports, and likely impact of imports of
Subject Merchandise
on the
Domestic Industry.
(5) A list of all known and currently operating U.S. producers of the
Domestic Like Product.
Identify any known related parties and the nature of the relationship as defined in section 771(4)(B) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1677(4)(B)).
(6) A list of all known and currently operating U.S. importers of the
Subject Merchandise
and producers of the
Subject Merchandise
in each
Subject Country
that currently export or have exported
Subject Merchandise
to the United States or other countries since the
Order Date.
(7) A list of 3–5 leading purchasers in the U.S. market for the
Domestic Like Product
and the
Subject Merchandise
(including street address, World Wide Web address, and the name, telephone number, fax number, and Email address of a responsible official at each firm).
(8) A list of known sources of information on national or regional prices for the
Domestic Like Product
or the
Subject Merchandise
in the U.S. or other markets.
(9) If you are a U.S. producer of the
Domestic Like Product,
provide the following information on your firm's operations on that product during calendar year 2016, except as noted (report quantity data in pounds and value data in U.S. dollars, f.o.b. plant). If you are a union/worker group or trade/business association, provide the information, on an aggregate basis, for the firms in which your workers are employed/which are members of your association.
(a) Production (quantity) and, if known, an estimate of the percentage of total U.S. production of the
Domestic Like Product
accounted for by your firm's(s') production;
(b) Capacity (quantity) of your firm to produce the
Domestic Like Product
(that is, the level of production that your establishment(s) could reasonably have expected to attain during the year, assuming normal operating conditions (using equipment and machinery in place and ready to operate), normal operating levels (hours per week/weeks per year), time for downtime, maintenance, repair, and cleanup, and a typical or representative product mix);
(c) the quantity and value of U.S. commercial shipments of the
Domestic Like Product
produced in your U.S. plant(s);
(d) the quantity and value of U.S. internal consumption/company transfers of the
Domestic Like Product
produced in your U.S. plant(s); and
(e) the value of (i) net sales, (ii) cost of goods sold (COGS), (iii) gross profit, (iv) selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses, and (v) operating income of the
Domestic Like Product
produced in your U.S. plant(s) (include both U.S. and export commercial sales, internal consumption, and company transfers) for your most recently completed fiscal year (identify the date on which your fiscal year ends).
(10) If you are a U.S. importer or a trade/business association of U.S. importers of the
Subject Merchandise
from any
Subject Country,
provide the following information on your firm's(s') operations on that product during calendar year 2016 (report quantity data in pounds and value data in U.S. dollars). If you are a trade/business association, provide the information, on an aggregate basis, for the firms which are members of your association.
(a) The quantity and value (landed, duty-paid but not including antidumping duties) of U.S. imports and, if known, an estimate of the percentage of total U.S. imports of
Subject Merchandise
from each
Subject Country
accounted for by your firm's(s') imports;
(b) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. port, including antidumping duties) of U.S. commercial shipments of
Subject Merchandise
imported from each
Subject Country;
and
(c) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. port, including antidumping duties) of U.S. internal consumption/company transfers of
Subject Merchandise
imported from each
Subject Country.
(11) If you are a producer, an exporter, or a trade/business association of producers or exporters of the
Subject Merchandise
in any
Subject Country,
provide the following information on your firm's(s') operations on that product during calendar year 2016 (report quantity data in pounds and value data in U.S. dollars, landed and duty-paid at the U.S. port but not including antidumping duties). If you are a trade/business association, provide the information, on an aggregate basis, for the firms which are members of your association.
(a) Production (quantity) and, if known, an estimate of the percentage of total production of
Subject Merchandise
in each
Subject Country
accounted for by your firm's(s') production;
(b) Capacity (quantity) of your firm(s) to produce the
Subject Merchandise
in each
Subject Country
(that is, the level of production that your establishment(s) could reasonably have expected to attain during the year, assuming normal operating conditions (using equipment and machinery in place and ready to operate), normal operating levels (hours per week/weeks per year), time for downtime, maintenance, repair, and cleanup, and a typical or representative product mix); and
(c) the quantity and value of your firm's(s') exports to the United States of
Subject Merchandise
and, if known, an estimate of the percentage of total exports to the United States of
Subject Merchandise
from each
Subject Country
accounted for by your firm's(s') exports.
(12) Identify significant changes, if any, in the supply and demand conditions or business cycle for the
Domestic Like Product
that have occurred in the United States or in the market for the
Subject Merchandise
in each
Subject Country
since the
Order Date,
and significant changes, if any, that are likely to occur within a reasonably foreseeable time. Supply conditions to consider include
technology; production methods; development efforts; ability to increase production (including the shift of production facilities used for other products and the use, cost, or availability of major inputs into production); and factors related to the ability to shift supply among different national markets (including barriers to importation in foreign markets or changes in market demand abroad). Demand conditions to consider include end uses and applications; the existence and availability of substitute products; and the level of competition among the
Domestic Like Product
produced in the United States,
Subject Merchandise
produced in each
Subject Country,
and such merchandise from other countries.
(13) (Optional) A statement of whether you agree with the above definitions of the
Domestic Like Product
and
Domestic Industry;
if you disagree with either or both of these definitions, please explain why and provide alternative definitions.
Authority:
This proceeding is being conducted under authority of Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is published pursuant to section 207.61 of the Commission's rules.
By order of the Commission.
Issued: March 28, 2017.
Lisa R. Barton,
Secretary to the Commission.