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Action brought on 9 June 2006 — Aluminium Silicon Mill Products v Commission

(Case T-151/06)

(2006/C 178/66)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Aluminium Silicon Mill Products GmbH (Zug, Switzerland) (represented by: L. Ruessmann, A. Willems, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

Council Regulation (EC) No 2229/2003 (1) imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of silicon to the Community from two Russian exporting producers, related to the applicant: Sual-Kremny-Urals LLC and ZAO Kremny. Because the applicant believed that the dumping margin on the basis of which anti-dumping duties were paid had been eliminated, it lodged three requests for reimbursement of the duties with regard to subsequent imports.

In the contested decision, the requests were partially granted. The applicant seeks the annulment of the decision to the extent it reflects adjustment made without justification, with the result that the calculated dumping margin is more than de minimis, and does not authorize the national customs authorities to grant the full reimbursement requested of anti-dumping duties paid by the applicant on imports of silicon originating in Russia.

In support of its application, the applicant invokes, first, a manifest error of assessment and a breach of Council Regulation No 384/96 (2) (the Basic Regulation), in particular Article 11(9), as well as a violation of the principle of legal certainty. According to the applicant, the Commission erred in finding that there were changed circumstances requiring it to depart from the methodology relied on in the original investigation in relation to sales made via the applicant.

Second, the applicant invokes a manifest error of assessment and a breach of Article 253 EC with regard to the assessment of the existence of a single economic entity as between the applicant and the Russian factories and the adjustment for an agent`s commission.

Third, the applicant invokes a breach of the Basic Regulation as regards the deduction of an agent's commission, and in particular Article 2(10)(i) of the Basic Regulation as last modified by Regulation No 2238/2000 (3). According to the applicant, Article 2(10)(i), as modified by Regulation No 1972/2002 (4), is not applicable since the refund procedure at hand would concern the continuation of the original procedure. In the alternative, the applicant submits that the Commission infringed Article 2(10)(i) of the Basic Regulation as modified by Regulation No 1972/2002.

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(1)  Council Regulation (EC) No 2229/2003 of 22 December 2003 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of silicon originating Russia (OJ L 339, p. 3).

(2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ L 56, p. 1).

(3)  Council Regulation (EC) No 2238/2000 of 9 October 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 384/96 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ L 257, p. 2).

(4)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1972/2002 of 5 November 2002 amending Regulation (EC) No 384/96 on the protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ L 305, p. 1).

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