[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 204 (Thursday, October 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 63957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-26964]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 204 / Thursday, October 22, 2015 /
Notices
[[Page 63957]]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
Subsidy Programs Provided by Countries Exporting Softwood Lumber
and Softwood Lumber Products to the United States; Request for Comment
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Department) seeks public comment
on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, provided by certain
countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood lumber products to the
United States during the period January 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015.
DATES: Comments must be submitted within 30 days after publication of
this notice.
ADDRESSES: See the Submission of Comments section below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Terpstra, Office III,
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3965.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On June 18, 2008, section 805 of Title VIII of the Tariff Act of
1930 (the Softwood Lumber Act of 2008) was enacted into law. Under this
provision, the Secretary of Commerce is mandated to submit to the
appropriate Congressional committees a report every 180 days on any
subsidy provided by countries exporting softwood lumber or softwood
lumber products to the United States, including stumpage subsidies.
The Department submitted its last subsidy report on June 16, 2015.
As part of its newest report, the Department intends to include a list
of subsidy programs identified with sufficient clarity by the public in
response to this notice.
Request for Comments
Given the large number of countries that export softwood lumber and
softwood lumber products to the United States, we are soliciting public
comment only on subsidies provided by countries whose exports accounted
for at least one percent of total U.S. imports of softwood lumber by
quantity, as classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule code 4407.1001
(which accounts for the vast majority of imports), during the period
January 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015. Official U.S. import data
published by the United States International Trade Commission Tariff
and Trade DataWeb indicate that only two countries, Canada and Chile,
exported softwood lumber to the United States during that time period
in amounts sufficient to account for at least one percent of U.S.
imports of softwood lumber products. We intend to rely on similar
previous six-month periods to identify the countries subject to future
reports on softwood lumber subsidies. For example, we will rely on U.S.
imports of softwood lumber and softwood lumber products during the
period July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015, to select the countries
subject to the next report.
Under U.S. trade law, a subsidy exists where an authority: (i)
Provides a financial contribution; (ii) provides any form of income or
price support within the meaning of Article XVI of the GATT 1994; or
(iii) makes a payment to a funding mechanism to provide a financial
contribution to a person, or entrusts or directs a private entity to
make a financial contribution, if providing the contribution would
normally be vested in the government and the practice does not differ
in substance from practices normally followed by governments, and a
benefit is thereby conferred.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See section 771(5)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parties should include in their comments: (1) The country which
provided the subsidy; (2) the name of the subsidy program; (3) a brief
description (at least 3-4 sentences) of the subsidy program; and (4)
the government body or authority that provided the subsidy.
Submission of Comments
Persons wishing to comment should file comments by the date
specified above. Comments should only include publicly available
information. The Department will not accept comments accompanied by a
request that a part or all of the material be treated confidentially
due to business proprietary concerns or for any other reason. The
Department will return such comments or materials to the persons
submitting the comments and will not include them in its report on
softwood lumber subsidies. The Department requests submission of
comments filed in electronic Portable Document Format (PDF) submitted
on CD-ROM or by email to the email address of the EC Webmaster, below.
The comments received will be made available to the public in PDF
on the Enforcement and Compliance Web site at the following address:
http://enforcement.trade.gov/sla2008/sla-index.html. Any questions
concerning file formatting, access on the Internet, or other electronic
filing issues should be addressed to Laura Merchant, Enforcement and
Compliance Webmaster, at (202) 482-0367, email address:
[email protected].
All comments and submissions in response to this Request for
Comment should be received by the Department no later than 5 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time on the above-referenced deadline date.
Dated: October 16, 2015.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2015-26964 Filed 10-21-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P