BILLING CODE: 3510-DS-P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-570-153, C-533-918]
Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People’s Republic of China and India:
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 certain paper shopping bags (paper bags) from the People’s
Republic of China (China) and India.
DATES: Applicable [INSERT DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Copyak (China) or Paul Kebker
(India), AD/CVD Operations, Offices IX and IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3642 and (202) 482-2254, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with section 705(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), on
May 24, 2024, Commerce published its affirmative final determinations that countervailable
subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of paper bags from China and India.1
On July 5, 2024, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative determinations that an

See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People’s Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty
Determination and Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 89 FR 45829 (May 24, 2024); see
also Certain Paper Shopping Bags from India: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final
Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, in part, 89 FR 45834 (May 24, 2024).
industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of subsidized imports of paper bags
from China and India, within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act.2 Further, the
ITC determined that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of paper bags
from China and India.
Scope of the Orders
The products covered by these orders are paper bags from China and India. For a
complete description of the scope of the orders, see the appendix to this notice.
Orders
As stated above, on July 5, 2024, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determinations
that an industry in the United States is materially injured within the meaning of section
705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act by reason of subsidized imports of paper bags from China and India.
Therefore, in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is issuing these
countervailing duty orders. Moreover, because the ITC determined that imports of paper bags
from China and India are materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such
merchandise from China and India, entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, are
subject to the assessment of countervailing duties.
Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce intends to direct U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce,
countervailing duties on unliquidated entries of paper bags from China and India entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after November 6, 2023, the date of the
publication of the Preliminary Determinations,3 but will not include entries occurring after the

See ITC’s Letter, “Notification of ITC Final Determinations,” dated July 5, 2024; see also Paper Shopping Bags
from Cambodia, China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, and Vietnam, 89 FR 56776 (July 10, 2024).
3 See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from the People’s Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of
Countervailable Subsidies, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, and Alignment of
Final Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 88 FR 76180 (November 6, 2023); see also
Certain Paper Shopping Bags from India: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Countervailable Subsidies,
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances in Part, and Alignment of Final Determination
with the Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 88 FR 76185 (November 6, 2023) (collectively, Preliminary
Determinations).
expiration of the provisional measures and before the publication in the Federal Register of the
ITC’s final injury determination under section 705(b) of the Act, as further described in the
“Provisional Measures” section of this notice.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to
reinstitute the suspension of liquidation on all entries of paper bags from China and India,
effective on the date of publication of the ITC’s final affirmative injury determination 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 subject merchandise in an amount
based on the net countervailable subsidy rates below. On or after the date of publication of the
ITC’s final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register, we will also instruct CBP to
require cash deposits on entries of subject merchandise as indicated below. These instructions
suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further notice. The all-others rate applies to all
producers or exporters not specifically listed below, as appropriate.
Estimated Countervailable Subsidy Rates
The estimated countervailable subsidy rates are as follows:
China
Exporter/Producer
Bagitan Packaging
Changzhou Anjucheng
Courage Packaging
Dongzheng PaperBag (DaLian) Factory
Evertrust Packaging
Fujian Nanwang Environment Protection Scien-tech Co.,
Ltd.4
Geotegrity EcoPack
GrandIntelligent
Li & Fung
Qingdao Chenyu Packaging Co., Ltd.

Subsidy Rate (percent
ad valorem)
172.36
172.36
172.36
40.76
172.36
42.36
172.36
172.36
172.36
172.36

Fujian Nanwang is cross-owned with the following companies: Zhuhai Zhongyue Paper Cup Container Co., Ltd.;
Anhui Nanwang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.; Xianghe Nanwang Environmental Protection
Technology Co., Ltd.; and Hubei Nanwang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Macolink Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Sanxi Paper Co., Ltd.
Xiamen C&D Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd
Xiamen Champion FMCG
Xiamen New Idea Packaging Co., Ltd.
Xiamen Wonderful Bag Import and Export Co., Ltd.
All Others

172.36
172.36
172.36
172.36
172.36
172.36
41.46

India
Exporter/Producer

Aeroplast Packaging Solution Private Limited5
Velvin Paper Products6
All Others

Subsidy Rate (percent ad
valorem)

4.81
2.38
3.39

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.
Commerce published the Preliminary Determinations on November 6, 2023.7 As
such, the four-month period beginning on the date of the publication of the Preliminary
Determinations ended on March 4, 2024.
Therefore, in accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed CBP
to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to countervailing
duties, unliquidated entries of paper bags from China and India entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption, on or after March 5, 2024, the date on which the provisional
measures expired, until and through the day preceding the date of publication of the ITC’s final
injury determination in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation and the collection of
cash deposits will resume on the date of publication of the ITC’s final determination in the
Federal Register.

Aeroplast Packaging Solution Private Limited is cross-owned with the following companies: Aero Business
Solutions Private Limited; and Aero Plast Limited.
6 Velvin Paper Products is cross-owned with Velvin Packaging Solutions Private Limited.
7 See Preliminary Determinations.
Critical Circumstances
Regarding the ITC’s negative critical circumstances determination on imports of paper
bags from China and India, we intend to instruct CBP to lift suspension and to refund any cash
deposits made to secure the payment of estimated countervailing duties with respect to entries of
the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after
August 8, 2023 (i.e., 90 days prior to the date of the publication of the Preliminary
Determinations), but before November 6, 2023 (i.e., the date of publication of the Preliminary
Determinations).
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.
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

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).
list will be saved in ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type called
“AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.”10
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.
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.
Special Instructions for Petitioners and Foreign Governments
In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, “after an initial request and placement on the
annual inquiry service list, both petitioners 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 the Governments of China and India 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
China and India will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each year to continue to be

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.
11 See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR 53206.
12 See Final Rule, 86 FR 52335.
included on the annual inquiry service list. However, the petitioner and the Governments of
China and India 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.
Notification to Interested Parties
This notice constitutes the countervailing duty orders with respect to paper bags from
China and India pursuant to section 706(d) of the Act. Interested parties can find a list of
countervailing duty orders at https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
These orders are issued and published in accordance with section 706(a) and 19 CFR
351.211(b).
Dated: July 11, 2024.

Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix
Scope of the Orders
The products within the scope of these orders are paper shopping bags with handles of any type,
regardless of whether there is any printing, regardless of how the top edges are finished (e.g.,
folded, serrated, or otherwise finished), regardless of color, and regardless of whether the top
edges contain adhesive or other material for sealing closed. Subject paper shopping bags have a
width of at least 4.5 inches and depth of at least 2.5 inches.
Paper shopping bags typically are made of kraft paper but can be made from any type of
cellulose fiber, paperboard, or pressboard with a basis weight less than 300 grams per square
meter (GSM).
A non-exhaustive illustrative list of the types of handles on shopping bags covered by the scope
include handles made from any materials such as twisted paper, flat paper, yarn, ribbon, rope,
string, or plastic, as well as die-cut handles (whether the punchout is fully removed or partially
attached as a flap).
Excluded from the scope are:
•

Paper sacks or bags that are of a 1∕6 or 1∕7 barrel size (i.e., 11.5-12.5 inches in width, 6.57.5 inches in depth, and 13.5-17.5 inches in height) with flat paper handles or die-cut
handles;

•

Paper sacks or bags with die-cut handles, a grams per square meter paper weight of less
than 86 GSM, and a height of less than 11.5 inches; and

•

Paper sacks or bags (i) with non-paper handles made wholly of woven ribbon or other
similar woven fabric20 and (ii) that are finished with folded tops or for which tied knots
or t-bar aglets (made of wood, metal, or plastic) are used to secure the handles to the
bags.

The above-referenced dimensions are provided for paper bags in the opened position. The height
of the bag is the distance from the bottom fold edge to the top edge (i.e., excluding the height of
handles that extend above the top edge). The depth of the bag is the distance from the front of
the bag edge to the back of the bag edge (typically measured at the bottom of the bag). The
width of the bag is measured from the left to the right edges of the front and back panels (upon
which the handles typically are located).
This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) subheadings 4819.30.0040 and 4819.40.0040. The HTSUS subheadings are provided
for convenience and customs purposes only; the written description of the scope is dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2024-15747 Filed: 7/17/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/18/2024]