Council Regulation (EC) No 1496/2004 of 18 August 2004 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 964/2003 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain tube or pipe fittings originating, inter alia, in Thailand

• Published date: 25 August 2004
• Subject Matter: Dumping,Commercial policy
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 275, 25 August 2004

25.8.2004 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 275/1

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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1496/2004

of 18 August 2004

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 964/2003 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain tube or pipe fittings originating, inter alia, in Thailand

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (1) (the basic Regulation) and in particular Article 11(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal submitted by the Commission after consulting the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

A. PROCEDURE

1. Previous investigations and existing measures

(1) The measures currently in force on imports of certain tube or pipe-fittings, of iron or steel originating in Thailand are a definitive anti-dumping duty imposed originally by Council Regulation (EC) No 584/96 (2), as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1592/2000 (3) and confirmed, following an expiry review investigation, by Council Regulation (EC) No 964/2003 (4).

(2) The measures applicable to these imports consist of an ad valorem duty, except for two Thai exporting producers from which undertakings were accepted by Commission Decision 96/252/EC (5), as amended by Commission Decision 2000/453/EC (6).

(3) In April 2001, the Commission simultaneously initiated an expiry review investigation (7) pursuant to Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation and an ex officio interim review pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation. The review pursuant to Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation was concluded by Regulation (EC) No 964/2003 maintaining the existing measures. However, the interim review, pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation, remained open at the conclusion of the expiry review.

2. Grounds for the review

(4) In April 2001, the Commission initiated, on its own initiative, an ex officio interim review, pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation, in order to examine the appropriateness of the form of the measures concerning the imports originating in Thailand. In this respect, it should be noted that enforcement problems have been encountered in the monitoring of the undertakings accepted from two exporters in Thailand, i.e. Awaji Sangyo (Thailand) Co. Ltd and TTU Industrial Corp. Ltd (the exporters concerned), with consequences on the remedial effect of the measures. After consulting the Advisory Committee, the Commission initiated an investigation limited to the form of the measures. The initiation of the review was announced simultaneously to the initiation of the expiry review by which the existing measures were confirmed.

(5) The Commission officially advised the applicant Community producers, the exporting producers in Thailand, importers/traders, user industries, and associations of users known to be concerned, as well as the representatives of the Thai Government of the initiation of the review. The Commission also gave the parties directly concerned the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing.

(6) Following disclosure of the results of the investigation pursuant to Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation, a Thai exporting producer, Awaji Sangyo (Thailand) Co. Ltd (the applicant), lodged a request in April 2002 for an interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to it, limited to its situation of dumping, pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation. The request alleged that changed circumstances of a lasting nature had led to a considerably reduced normal value, which in turn has reduced or eliminated dumping so that the continued imposition of the measures at the existing level in respect of its imports was no longer necessary to offset dumping.

(7) Having determined, after consulting the Advisory Committee, that sufficient evidence existed for the initiation of an interim review, the Commission published a notice of initiation (8) and commenced an investigation.

(8) The Commission officially advised the representatives of the exporting country and the applicant of the initiation of the interim review limited to dumping and gave all parties directly concerned the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing. The Commission also sent a questionnaire to the applicant.

(9) The Commission sought and verified all information it deemed necessary for the purpose of the determination of dumping and carried out a verification visit at the premises of the applicant.

(10) The investigation limited to dumping covered the period from 1 January 2001 until 31 December 2002 (the investigation period or IP).

B. PRODUCT CONCERNED AND LIKE PRODUCT

(11) The product concerned subject to the interim reviews is the same as the product concerned in the previous investigations, i.e. certain tube or pipe fittings (other than cast fittings, flanges and threaded fittings), of iron or steel (not including stainless steel), with a greatest external diameter not exceeding 609,6 mm, of a kind used for butt-welding or other purposes (product concerned or tube or pipe fittings), originating in Thailand. It is currently classifiable within CN codes ex 7307 93 11 (Taric code 7307931199), ex 7307 93 19 (Taric code 7307931999) ex 7307 99 30 (Taric code 7307993098) and ex 7307 99 90 (Taric code 7307999098).

(12) As in the previous investigations, these investigations have shown that the tube or pipe fittings of iron or steel, produced in Thailand and sold domestically and/or exported to the Community have the same basic physical and chemical characteristics as the tube or pipe fittings sold in the Community by the Community producers and, therefore, are considered to be like products within the meaning of Article 1(4) of the basic Regulation.

C. DUMPING WITH REGARD TO THE APPLICANT

1. Normal value

(13) As far as the determination of normal value is concerned, it was first established whether the applicant's total domestic sales of the like product were representative in comparison with its total export sales to the Community. In accordance with Article 2(2) of the basic Regulation, this was found to

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