COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2022/802
of 20 May 2022
imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of electrolytic chromium coated steel products originating in the People’s Republic of China and Brazil
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (1), and in particular Article 7 thereof,
After consulting the Member States,
Whereas:
1. PROCEDURE
1.1. Initiation
| (1) | On 24 September 2021, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) initiated an anti-dumping investigation with regard to imports of electrolytic chromium coated steel (‘ECCS’) originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘the PRC’ or ‘China’) and Brazil (together ‘the countries concerned’) on the basis of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘the basic Regulation’). It published a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (2) (‘the Notice of Initiation’). |
| (2) | The Commission initiated the investigation following a complaint lodged on 13 August 2021 by the European Steel Association (‘EUROFER’) (‘the complainant’). The complaint contained evidence of dumping and of resulting material injury that was sufficient to justify the initiation of the investigation. |
| (3) | The complaint was made on behalf of the following Union producers: ArcelorMittal Atlantique et Lorraine (France), ArcelorMittal Etxebarri S.A. (Spain) and ThyssenKrupp Rasselstein GmbH (Germany), allegedly representing 100 % of the Union industry. In the course of the investigation, it came to the Commission’s attention the existence of an additional Union producer of ECCS, namely Acciaierie d’Italia. Since the complainants nonetheless represented [85-95] % of the production and sales of the Union industry, the complaint was considered to have been made by the Union industry in accordance with Article 5(4) of the basic Regulation. |
1.2. Interested parties
| (4) | In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission invited interested parties to contact it in order to participate in the investigation. In addition, the Commission specifically informed the complainant, known Union producers, the known exporting producers and the authorities of the PRC and Brazil, known importers, suppliers and users, traders, as well as associations known to be concerned about the initiation of the investigation and invited them to participate. |
1.3. Comments on initiation
| (5) | Interested parties had an opportunity to comment on the initiation of the investigation and to request a hearing with the Commission and/or the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings. |
| (6) | China Iron and Steel Association (‘CISA’) submitted comments following initiation on 5 November 2021. In addition, CISA together with Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., China and GDH Zhongyue (Zhongshan) Tinplate Industry Co., Ltd. requested a hearing with the Commission services. They made such requests within the stipulated deadlines and the hearing took place on 24 January 2022. |
| (7) | In their submission and during the hearing, they claimed, amongst others, that the complaint relied too much on confidential information, especially with respect to costs relied on, and that the non-confidential version was therefore insufficient to allow a proper understanding of the evidence underlying the complaint. |
| (8) | The Commission considered that the non-confidential version of the complaint available in the file for inspection by interested parties contained all the essential evidence and non-confidential summaries of the confidential data allowing interested parties to properly exercise their rights of defence. Therefore, this claim was rejected. |
1.4. Sampling
| (9) | In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it might sample the interested parties in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation. |
1.4.1. Sampling of Union producers
| (10) | In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it had provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. However, given the small number of producers in the Union, the Commission decided to send questionnaires to all Union producers known at that time. |
| (11) | The following Union producers were requested to complete the questionnaire for Union producers and participated in the investigation:
| — | ArcelorMittal Atlantique et Lorraine, France |
| — | ArcelorMittal Etxebarri S.A., Spain |
| — | ThyssenKrupp Rasselstein GmbH, Germany. | |
| (12) | As explained in recital (3) above, in the course of the investigation, the existence of a third Union producer was brought to the Commission’s attention. As the cooperating Union producers accounted for [85-95] % of total production and sales of the product under investigation in the investigation period, on 16 March 2022, the Commission issued a note to the file informing interested parties that it had decided to limit the investigation to these producers in accordance with Article 17(1) of the basic Regulation and invited parties to comment. No comments were received. |
1.4.2. Sampling of importers
| (13) | To decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked unrelated importers to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation. |
| (14) | Only one unrelated importer provided such information. Therefore, no sampling of unrelated importers was necessary. However, this unrelated importer decided not to provide a questionnaire reply. Accordingly, no unrelated importer cooperated in this investigation. |
1.4.3. Sampling of exporting producers in the PRC and Brazil
| (15) | To decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked all known exporting producers in the PRC and Brazil to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation. In addition, the Commission asked the Mission of the PRC to the European Union and the Mission of Brazil to the European Union to identify and/or contact other exporting producers, if any, that could be interested in participating in the investigation. |
| (16) | With regard to the PRC, four exporting producers provided the requested information and agreed to be sampled. In accordance with Article 17(1) of the basic Regulation, the Commission selected a sample of two exporting producers on the basis of the largest representative volume of exports to the Union which could reasonably be investigated within the time available. In accordance with Article 17(2) of the basic Regulation, all known exporting producers concerned and the authorities of the country concerned were consulted on the selection of the sample. No comments on the sample were received. |
| (17) | With regard to Brazil, only one exporting producer, accounting virtually for all imports from Brazil, provided the requested information and agreed to be included in the sample. The Commission therefore decided that sampling was not necessary. |
1.5. Individual examination
| (18) | An exporting producer in China (GDH Zhongyue (Zhongshan) Tinplate Industry Co., Ltd.) requested individual examination under Article 17(3) of the basic Regulation and provided a questionnaire within the deadline. The Commission considered that an examination of this request during the provisional stage of the investigation would have been unduly burdensome, especially as there were remote crosschecks (‘RCCs’) to be organised for two countries and one of the sampled exporting producers had several subsidiaries located in the European Union. The Commission will decide whether to grant individual examination or not at the definitive stage of the investigation. |
1.6. Questionnaire replies and verification visits
| (19) | The Commission sent a questionnaire concerning the existence of significant distortions in the PRC within the meaning of Article 2(6a)(b) of the basic Regulation to the Government of the People’s Republic of China (‘GOC’). |
| (20) | Furthermore, the complainant provided in the complaint sufficient evidence of raw material distortions in China regarding the product under investigation. Therefore, as announced in the Notice of Initiation, the investigation covered those raw material distortions to determine whether to apply the provisions of Article 7(2a) and 7(2b) of the basic Regulation with regard to China. For this reason, the Commission sent an additional questionnaire in this regard to the GOC. |
| (21) | The Commission sent questionnaires to three Union producers, the complainant, one unrelated importer and known users, and three exporting producers in the countries concerned. The same questionnaires were made available online (3) on the day of initiation. |
| (22) | In view of the outbreak of COVID-19 and the confinement measures put in place by various Member States as well as by various third countries, the Commission could not carry out verification visits pursuant to Article 16 of the basic Regulation. The Commission instead cross-checked remotely all the information deemed necessary for its provisional determinations in line with its Notice on the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations. (4) |
| (23) | The Commission carried out RCCs of the following companies / parties:
| (a) | Union producers
| — | ArcelorMittal Atlantique et Lorraine, France |
| — | ArcelorMittal Etxebarri |
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