# Official Journal C 57/2021

| | ISSN 1977-091X |
| --- | --- |
| Official Journal
  of the European Union | C 57 |
| | |
| English edition | Information and Notices | Volume 6417 February 2021 |

ISSN 1977-091X

Official Journal

of the European Union

C 57

English edition

Information and Notices

Volume 6417 February 2021

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| Contents | page |
| --- | --- |
| | II   Information |
| | INFORMATION FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES |
| | European Commission |
| 2021/C 57/01 | Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.10049 — Partners Group/Atlantia/Telepass) (
  1
  ) | 1 |

Contents

page

II   Information

INFORMATION FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES

European Commission

2021/C 57/01

Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.10049 — Partners Group/Atlantia/Telepass) (
  1
  )

1

1

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| | IV   Notices |
| --- | --- |
| | NOTICES FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES |
| | European Commission |
| 2021/C 57/02 | Euro exchange rates — 16 February 2021 | 2 |

IV   Notices

NOTICES FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES

European Commission

2021/C 57/02

Euro exchange rates — 16 February 2021

2

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| | V   Announcements |
| --- | --- |
| | PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY |
| | European Commission |
| 2021/C 57/03 | Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China | 3 |
| 2021/C 57/04 | Notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia | 16 |
| | OTHER ACTS |
| | European Commission |
| 2021/C 57/05 | Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation | 28 |
| 2021/C 57/06 | Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation | 30 |

V   Announcements

PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY

European Commission

2021/C 57/03

Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China

3

2021/C 57/04

Notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia

16

OTHER ACTS

European Commission

2021/C 57/05

Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation

28

2021/C 57/06

Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation

30

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| | (1)   Text with EEA relevance. |

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(1)   Text with EEA relevance.

1

| EN | |
| --- | --- |

EN

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II Information

INFORMATION FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES

European Commission

| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/1 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/1

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Non-opposition to a notified concentration

(Case M.10049 — Partners Group/Atlantia/Telepass)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2021/C 57/01)

On 10 February 2021, the Commission decided not to oppose the above notified concentration and to declare it compatible with the internal market. This decision is based on Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1). The full text of the decision is available only in English and will be made public after it is cleared of any business secrets it may contain. It will be available:

| — | in the merger section of the Competition website of the Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/). This website provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes, |
| --- | --- |

—

in the merger section of the Competition website of the Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/). This website provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes,

| — | in electronic form on the EUR-Lex website (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en) under document number 32021M10049. EUR-Lex is the online access to European law. |
| --- | --- |

—

in electronic form on the EUR-Lex website (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en) under document number 32021M10049. EUR-Lex is the online access to European law.

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(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.

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IV Notices

NOTICES FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES

European Commission

| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/2 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/2

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Euro exchange rates (1)

16 February 2021

(2021/C 57/02)

1 euro =

| | Currency | Exchange rate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| USD | US dollar | 1,2143 |
| JPY | Japanese yen | 128,16 |
| DKK | Danish krone | 7,4367 |
| GBP | Pound sterling | 0,87333 |
| SEK | Swedish krona | 10,0415 |
| CHF | Swiss franc | 1,0800 |
| ISK | Iceland króna | 155,60 |
| NOK | Norwegian krone | 10,1938 |
| BGN | Bulgarian lev | 1,9558 |
| CZK | Czech koruna | 25,753 |
| HUF | Hungarian forint | 358,51 |
| PLN | Polish zloty | 4,4942 |
| RON | Romanian leu | 4,8760 |
| TRY | Turkish lira | 8,4673 |
| AUD | Australian dollar | 1,5613 |
| CAD | Canadian dollar | 1,5365 |
| HKD | Hong Kong dollar | 9,4139 |
| NZD | New Zealand dollar | 1,6774 |
| SGD | Singapore dollar | 1,6086 |
| KRW | South Korean won | 1 341,09 |
| ZAR | South African rand | 17,6544 |
| CNY | Chinese yuan renminbi | 7,8422 |
| HRK | Croatian kuna | 7,5720 |
| IDR | Indonesian rupiah | 16 974,40 |
| MYR | Malaysian ringgit | 4,8936 |
| PHP | Philippine peso | 58,606 |
| RUB | Russian rouble | 89,3431 |
| THB | Thai baht | 36,332 |
| BRL | Brazilian real | 6,5209 |
| MXN | Mexican peso | 24,3866 |
| INR | Indian rupee | 88,4195 |

Currency

Exchange rate

USD

US dollar

1,2143

JPY

Japanese yen

128,16

DKK

Danish krone

7,4367

GBP

Pound sterling

0,87333

SEK

Swedish krona

10,0415

CHF

Swiss franc

1,0800

ISK

Iceland króna

155,60

NOK

Norwegian krone

10,1938

BGN

Bulgarian lev

1,9558

CZK

Czech koruna

25,753

HUF

Hungarian forint

358,51

PLN

Polish zloty

4,4942

RON

Romanian leu

4,8760

TRY

Turkish lira

8,4673

AUD

Australian dollar

1,5613

CAD

Canadian dollar

1,5365

HKD

Hong Kong dollar

9,4139

NZD

New Zealand dollar

1,6774

SGD

Singapore dollar

1,6086

KRW

South Korean won

1 341,09

ZAR

South African rand

17,6544

CNY

Chinese yuan renminbi

7,8422

HRK

Croatian kuna

7,5720

IDR

Indonesian rupiah

16 974,40

MYR

Malaysian ringgit

4,8936

PHP

Philippine peso

58,606

RUB

Russian rouble

89,3431

THB

Thai baht

36,332

BRL

Brazilian real

6,5209

MXN

Mexican peso

24,3866

INR

Indian rupee

88,4195

---

(1)  Source: reference exchange rate published by the ECB.

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V Announcements

PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY

European Commission

| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/3 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/3

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Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China

(2021/C 57/03)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a complaint pursuant to Article 5 of 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) (‘the basic Regulation’), alleging that imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China, are being dumped and are thereby causing injury (2) to the Union industry.

1.   Complaint

The complaint was lodged on 4 January 2021 by Graphite Cova GmbH, Showa Denko Carbon Holding GmbH and Tokai ErftCarbon GmbH (‘the complainants’).

The complaint was made by the Union industry of certain graphite electrode systems in the sense of Article 5(4) of the basic Regulation.

An open version of the complaint and the analysis of the degree of support by Union producers for the complaint are available in the file for inspection by interested parties. Section 5.6 of this Notice provides information about access to the file for interested parties.

2.   Product under investigation

The product subject to this investigation is graphite electrodes of a kind used for electric furnaces, with an apparent density of 1,5 g/cm3 or more and an electrical resistance of 7,0 μ.Ω.m or less, and nipples used for such electrodes, whether imported together or separately (‘the product under investigation’).

All interested parties wishing to submit information on the product scope must do so within 10 days of the date of publication of this Notice (3).

3.   Allegation of dumping

The product allegedly being dumped is the product under investigation, originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘the PRC’ or ‘the country concerned’), currently classified under CN codes ex 8545 11 00 and ex 8545 90 90 (TARIC codes 8545110010, 8545110015, 8545909010 and 8545909015). The CN and TARIC codes are given for information only.

The complainants claimed that it is not appropriate to use domestic prices and costs in the PRC, due to the existence of significant distortions within the meaning of point (b) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation.

To substantiate the allegations of significant distortions, the complainants relied on the information contained in the ‘Commission Staff Working Document on Significant Distortions in the Economy of the PRC’ dated 20 December 2017 (the ‘Commission Report’) (4) describing the specific market circumstances in the PRC. In particular, the complainants claimed that the production and sale of the product under investigation appears to be affected by the factors mentioned, inter alia, in the chapters on energy and raw materials and other material inputs of the report. Additionally, the complainants relied on the United States Trade Representative’s ‘2019 Report on China’s WTO Compliance’ of March 2020 (5), which examines the distortions of the market in the PRC.

As a result, in view of Article 2(6a)(a) of the basic Regulation, the allegation of dumping is based on a comparison of a constructed normal value on the basis of costs of production and sale reflecting undistorted prices or benchmarks, with the export price (at ex-works level) of the product under investigation when sold for export to the Union. On that basis the dumping margins calculated are significant for the country concerned.

In light of the information available, the Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence pursuant to Article 5(9) of the basic Regulation tending to show that, due to significant distortions affecting prices and costs, the use of domestic prices and costs in the country concerned is inappropriate, thus warranting the initiation of an investigation on the basis of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation.

The country report is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website (6).

4.   Allegation of injury/causation and raw material distortions

4.1.   
  Allegation of injury and causation

The complainants have provided evidence that imports of the product under investigation from the country concerned have increased overall in absolute terms and in terms of market share.

The evidence provided by the complainants shows that the volume and the prices of the imported product under investigation have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the quantities sold and the level of prices charged by the Union industry, resulting in substantial adverse effects on the overall performance and the financial situation of the Union industry. In addition the complainants allege that the existing injury is bound to further aggravate on the basis of evidence regarding notably the freely disposable capacity in the country concerned.

4.2.   
  Allegation of raw material distortions

The complainants have provided sufficient evidence that there are raw material distortions in the country concerned regarding the product under investigation. According to the evidence in the complaint, pitch needle coke, that accounts for more than 17 % of the cost of production of the product under investigation, is subject to VAT refund withdrawal in the country concerned. On the basis of a comparison of prices of pitch needle coke in Japan with those in the country concerned, the complaint establishes that the raw material distortions appear to result in prices significantly below those of representative international markets.

Therefore, in accordance with Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation, the investigation will examine the alleged distortions to assess whether, if relevant, a duty lower than the margin of dumping would be sufficient to remove injury. Should other distortions covered by Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation be identified in the course of the investigation, the investigation may also cover these distortions.

5.   Procedure

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that the complaint has been lodged by or on behalf of the Union industry and that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of a proceeding, the Commission hereby initiates an investigation pursuant to Article 5 of the basic Regulation.

The investigation will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the country concerned is being dumped and whether the dumped imports have caused injury to the Union industry.

If the conclusions are affirmative, the investigation will examine whether the imposition of measures would not be against the Union interest under Article 21 of the basic Regulation. If Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation is applied, the investigation will examine the Union’s interest test under Article 7(2b) of that Regulation.

Regulation (EU) 2018/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7), which entered into force on 8 June 2018 (TDI Modernisation package), introduced significant changes to the timetable and deadlines previously applicable in anti-dumping proceedings. The time limits for interested parties to come forward, in particular at the early stage of investigations, are shortened.

The Commission also draws the attention of the parties that further to the COVID-19 outbreak a Notice (8) was published on the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations that may be applicable to this proceeding.

5.1.   
  Investigation period and period considered

The investigation of dumping and injury will cover the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 (‘the investigation period’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from 1 January 2017 to the end of the investigation period (‘the period considered’).

5.2.   
  Comments on the complaint and the initiation of the investigation

All interested parties wishing to comment on the complaint (including matters pertaining to injury and causality) or any aspects regarding the initiation of the investigation (including the degree of support for the complaint) must do so within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

Any request for a hearing with regard to the initiation of the investigation must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

5.3.   
  Procedure for the determination of dumping

Exporting producers (9) of the product under investigation from the country concerned are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

5.3.1.   Investigating exporting producers

5.3.1.1.   Procedure for selecting exporting producers to be investigated in the country concerned

(a)   Sampling

In view of the potentially large number of exporting producers in the country concerned involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit the exporting producers to be investigated to a reasonable number by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all exporting producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with information on their company(ies) within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/7f2b0e24-5e3b-b9b0-b0bf-8e818dbf8bc4. Tron access information can be found in sections 5.6 and 5.8 below.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of exporting producers, the Commission has also contacted the authorities of the country concerned and may contact any known associations of exporting producers.

If a sample is necessary, the exporting producers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of exports to the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available. All known exporting producers, the authorities of the country concerned and associations of exporting producers will be notified by the Commission, via the authorities of the country concerned if appropriate, of the companies selected to be in the sample.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample of exporting producers, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision whether they are included in the sample. The sampled exporting producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

The Commission will add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2515

The questionnaire will also be made available to any known association of exporting producers, and to the authorities of that country.

Without prejudice to the possible application of Article 18 of the basic Regulation, exporting producers that have agreed to be included in the sample but are not selected as part of the sample will be considered to be cooperating (‘non-sampled cooperating exporting producers’). Without prejudice to section 5.3.1.1(b) below, the anti-dumping duty that may be applied to imports from non-sampled cooperating exporting producers will not exceed the weighted average margin of dumping established for the exporting producers in the sample. (10)

(b)   Individual dumping margin for exporting producers not included in the sample

Pursuant to Article 17(3) of the basic Regulation, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers may request the Commission to establish their individual dumping margins. Exporting producers wishing to claim an individual dumping margin must fill in the questionnaire and return it duly completed within 30 days of the date of notification of the sample selection, unless otherwise specified. A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2515

The Commission will examine whether non-sampled cooperating exporting producers can be granted an individual duty in accordance with Article 9(5) of the basic Regulation.

However, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers claiming an individual dumping margin should be aware that the Commission may nonetheless decide not to determine their individual dumping margin if, for instance, the number of non-sampled cooperating exporting producers is so large that such determination would be unduly burdensome and would prevent the timely completion of the investigation.

5.3.2.   Additional procedure with regard to the country concerned subject to significant distortions

Subject to the provisions of this Notice, all interested parties are hereby invited to make their views known, submit information and provide supporting evidence regarding the application of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation. Unless otherwise specified, this information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

In particular, the Commission invites all interested parties to make their views known on the inputs and the Harmonised System (HS) codes provided in the complaint, propose (an) appropriate representative countr(ies) and provide the identity of producers of the product under investigation in those countries. This information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

Pursuant to point (e) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation, the Commission will shortly after initiation, by means of a note to the file for inspection by interested parties, inform parties to the investigation about the relevant sources, including the selection of an appropriate representative third country where appropriate, that it intends to use for the purpose of determining normal value pursuant to Article 2(6a). Parties to the investigation are to be given 10 days to comment on the note, in accordance with point (e) of Article 2(6a). According to the information available to the Commission, a possible appropriate representative third country is Mexico.

With the aim of finally selecting the appropriate representative third country, the Commission will examine whether those third countries have a similar level of economic development as that of the country concerned, whether there is production and sales of the product under investigation in those third countries and whether relevant data are readily available. Where there is more than one representative third country, preference will be given, where appropriate, to countries with an adequate level of social and environmental protection.

In the context of this exercise, the Commission invites all producers in the country concerned to provide information on the materials (raw and processed) and energy used in the production of the product under investigation within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/33e00871-47f6-2b67-4acc-3a528b160c34. Tron access information can be found in sections 5.6 and 5.8 below.

Furthermore, any submissions of factual information to value costs and prices pursuant to point (a) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation must be filed within 65 days of the date of publication of this Notice. Such factual information should be taken exclusively from publicly available sources.

5.3.3.   Investigating unrelated importers (11) (12)

Unrelated importers of the product under investigation from the country concerned to the Union are invited to participate in this investigation.

In view of the potentially large number of unrelated importers involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit to a reasonable number the unrelated importers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary and, if so, to select a sample, all unrelated importers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with the information on their company(ies) requested in the Annex to this Notice within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of unrelated importers, the Commission may also contact any known associations of importers.

If a sample is necessary, the importers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of sales of the product under investigation in the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision on the sample of importers. The Commission will also add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for its investigation, the Commission will make available questionnaires to the sampled unrelated importers. Those parties must submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of the notification of the decision about the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for importers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2515

5.4.   
  Procedure for the determination of injury and investigating Union producers

A determination of injury is based on positive evidence and involves an objective examination of the volume of the dumped imports, their effect on prices on the Union market and the consequent impact of those imports on the Union industry. In order to establish whether the Union industry is injured, Union producers of the product under investigation are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

In view of the large number of Union producers concerned and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission has decided to limit to a reasonable number the Union producers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling is carried out in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

The Commission has provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. Details can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties. Interested parties are hereby invited to comment on the provisional sample. In addition, other Union producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, that consider that there are reasons why they should be included in the sample must contact the Commission within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. All comments regarding the provisional sample must be received within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

All known Union producers and/or associations of Union producers will be notified by the Commission of the companies finally selected to be in the sample.

The sampled Union producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for Union producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2515

5.5.   
  Procedure for the assessment of Union interest in case of allegations of raw material distortions

In cases of distortions on raw materials as identified in Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation, the Commission will conduct a Union interest test as laid out in Article 7(2b) of that Regulation. If the Commission decides, when establishing the level of duties subject to Article 7 of that Regulation, to apply Article 7(2), it will carry out the Union-interest test in accordance with Article 21.

Interested parties are invited to provide all pertinent information enabling the Commission to determine whether it is in the Union interest to set the level of the measures in accordance with Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation. In particular, interested parties are invited to provide any information about spare capacities in the country concerned, competition for raw materials and the effect on supply chains for companies in the Union. In the absence of cooperation the Commission may conclude that it is in accordance with the Union interest to apply Article 7(2a) of the basic Regulation.

Should the Commission decide to apply Article 7(2) of the basic Regulation, a decision will be reached, pursuant to Article 21, as to whether the adoption of anti-dumping measures would not be against the Union interest. Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations are invited to provide the Commission with information on the Union interest.

Information concerning the assessment of Union interest must be provided within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice unless otherwise specified. This information may be provided either in a free format or by completing a questionnaire prepared by the Commission. A copy of the questionnaires, including the questionnaire for users of the product under investigation, is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2515. The information submitted pursuant to Article 21 will only be taken into account if supported by factual evidence at the time of submission.

5.6.   
  Interested parties

In order to participate in the investigation interested parties, such as exporting producers, Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations first have to demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Exporting producers, Union producers, importers and representative associations who made information available in accordance to the procedures described in sections 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 above will be considered as interested parties if there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Other parties will only be able to participate in the investigation as interested party from the moment they make themselves known, and provided that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation. Being considered as an interested party is without prejudice to the application of Article 18 of the basic Regulation.

Access to the file available for inspection for interested parties is made via Tron.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI. Please follow the instructions on that page to get access. (13)

5.7.   
  Possibility to be heard by the Commission investigation services

All interested parties may request to be heard by the Commission's investigation services.

Any request to be heard must be made in writing and must specify the reasons for the request as well as a summary of what the interested party wishes to discuss during the hearing. The hearing will be limited to the issues set out by the interested parties in writing beforehand.

The timeframe for hearings is as follows:

| — | For any hearings to take place before the deadline for the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice and the hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice. |
| --- | --- |

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For any hearings to take place before the deadline for the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice and the hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

| — | After the stage of provisional findings, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document, and the hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document. |
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After the stage of provisional findings, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document, and the hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document.

| — | At the stage of definitive findings, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure. |
| --- | --- |

—

At the stage of definitive findings, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the right of the Commission services to accept hearings outside the timeframe in duly justified cases and to the right of the Commission to deny hearings in duly justified cases. Where the Commission services refuse a hearing request, the party concerned will be informed of the reasons for such refusal.

In principle, hearings will not be used to present factual information which is not yet on file. Nevertheless, in the interest of good administration and to enable Commission services to progress with the investigation, interested parties may be directed to provide new factual information after a hearing.

5.8.   
  Instructions for making written submissions and sending completed questionnaires and correspondence

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence investigations shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing the Commission a) to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions, including the information requested in this Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Sensitive’ (14). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 19(2) of the basic Regulation, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets. By using TRON.tdi or email, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf. The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid email address and they should ensure that the provided email address is a functioning official business email which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi and by email, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

| European Commission |
| --- |
| Directorate-General for Trade |
| Directorate G |
| Office: CHAR 04/039 |
| 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel |
| BELGIQUE/BELGIË |

European Commission

Directorate-General for Trade

Directorate G

Office: CHAR 04/039

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Email:

TRADE-AD680-GES-DUMPING@ec.europa.eu

TRADE-AD680-GES-INJURY@ec.europa.eu

6.   Schedule of the investigation

The investigation will be concluded, pursuant to Article 6(9) of the basic Regulation within normally 13, but not more than 14 months of the date of the publication of this Notice. In accordance with Article 7(1) of the basic Regulation, provisional measures may be imposed normally not later than 7 months, but in any event not later than 8 months from the publication of this Notice.

In accordance with Article 19a of the basic Regulation, the Commission will provide information on the planned imposition of provisional duties 4 weeks before the imposition of provisional measures. Interested parties will be given 3 working days to comment in writing on the accuracy of the calculations.

In cases where the Commission intends not to impose provisional duties but to continue the investigation, interested parties will be informed, by means of an information document, of the non-imposition of duties 4 weeks before the expiry of the deadline under Article 7(1) of the basic Regulation.

Interested parties will be given 15 days to comment in writing on the provisional findings or on the information document, and 10 days to comment in writing on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. Where applicable, additional final disclosures will specify the deadline for interested parties to comment in writing.

7.   Submission of information

As a rule, interested parties may only submit information in the timeframes specified in sections 5 and 6 of this Notice. The submission of any other information not covered by those sections, should respect the following timetable:

| — | Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the disclosure of the provisional findings or the information document at the stage of provisional findings. After this deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information if they can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner. |
| --- | --- |

—

Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the disclosure of the provisional findings or the information document at the stage of provisional findings. After this deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information if they can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner.

| — | In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure. |
| --- | --- |

—

In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure.

8.   Possibility to comment on other parties' submissions

In order to guarantee the rights of defence, interested parties should have the possibility to comment on information submitted by other interested parties. When doing so, interested parties may only address issues raised in the other interested parties' submissions and may not raise new issues.

Such comments should be made according to the following timeframe:

| — | Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the deadline of imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest on day 75 from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the deadline of imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest on day 75 from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document should be submitted within 7 days from the deadline to comment on the provisional findings or on the information document, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document should be submitted within 7 days from the deadline to comment on the provisional findings or on the information document, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the final disclosure should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the final disclosure, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this disclosure, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the final disclosure should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the final disclosure, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this disclosure, unless otherwise specified.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the Commission's right to request additional information from interested parties in duly justified cases.

9.   Extension to time limits specified in this Notice

Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice should only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified upon good cause being shown.

In any event, any extension to the deadline to reply to questionnaires will be limited normally to 3 days, and as a rule will not exceed 7 days.

Regarding time limits for the submission of other information specified in the Notice of Initiation, extensions will be limited to 3 days unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

10.   Non-cooperation

In cases where any interested party refuses access to or does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, provisional or final findings, affirmative or negative, may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation.

Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

If an interested party does not cooperate or cooperates only partially and findings are therefore based on facts available in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation, the result may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated.

Failure to give a computerised response shall not be deemed to constitute non-cooperation, provided that the interested party shows that presenting the response as requested would result in an unreasonable extra burden or unreasonable additional cost. The interested party should immediately contact the Commission.

11.   Hearing Officer

Interested parties may request the intervention of the Hearing Officer for trade proceedings. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

The Hearing Officer may organise hearings and mediate between the interested party/-ies and Commissions services to ensure that the interested parties' rights of defence are being fully exercised. A request for a hearing with the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for the requests. These hearings should only take place if the issues have not been settled with the Commission services in due course.

Any request must be submitted in good time and expeditiously so as not to jeopardise the orderly conduct of proceedings. To that effect, interested parties should request the intervention of the Hearing Officer at the earliest possible time following the occurrence of the event justifying such intervention. In principle, the timeframes set out in section 5.7 to request hearings with the Commission services apply mutatis mutandis to requests for hearings with the Hearing Officer. Where hearing requests are submitted outside the relevant timeframes, the Hearing Officer will also examine the reasons for such late requests, the nature of the issues raised and the impact of those issues on the rights of defence, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages on DG Trade's website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/

12.   Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (15).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG TRADE’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/trade-defence/

---

(1)  OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 21.

(2)  The general term ‘injury’ refers to material injury as well as to threat of material injury or material retardation of the establishment of an industry as set out in Article 3(1) of the basic Regulation.

(3)  References to the publication of this Notice mean publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(4)  Commission Staff Working Document, on Significant Distortions in the Economy of the People's Republic of China for the Purposes of Trade Defence Investigations, 20.12.2017, SWD(2017) 483 final/2, available at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/december/tradoc_156474.pdf

(5)  See https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2019_Report_on_China’s_WTO_Compliance.pdf

(6)  Documents cited in the country report may also be obtained upon a duly reasoned request.

(7)  Regulation (EU) 2018/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union and Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (OJ L 143, 7.6.2018, p. 1).

(8)  On the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations (OJ C 86, 16.3.2020, p. 6).

(9)  An exporting producer is any company in the country concerned which produces and exports the product under investigation to the Union market, either directly or via a third party, including any of its related companies involved in the production, domestic sales or exports of the product under investigation.

(10)  Pursuant to Article 9(6) of the basic Regulation, any zero and de minimis margins, and margins established in accordance with the circumstances described in Article 18 of the basic Regulation will be disregarded.

(11)  This section covers only importers not related to exporting producers. Importers that are related to exporting producers have to fill in Annex I to the questionnaire for these exporting producers. In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person's business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ‘person’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

(12)  The data provided by unrelated importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of dumping.

(13)  In case of technical problems please contact the Trade Service Desk by email trade-service-desk@ec.europa.eu or by telephone +32 2 297 97 97.

(14)  A 'Sensitive' document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 19 of the basic Regulation and Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement). It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(15)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

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ANNEX

| ☐ | ‘Sensitive’ version |
| --- | --- |
| ☐ | Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ |
| (tick the appropriate box) |

☐

‘Sensitive’ version

☐

Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’

(tick the appropriate box)

ANTI-DUMPING PROCEEDING CONCERNING IMPORTS OF CERTAIN GRAPHITE ELECTRODE SYSTEMS ORIGINATING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

INFORMATION FOR THE SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE OF UNRELATED IMPORTERS

This form is designed to assist unrelated importers in responding to the request for sampling information made in point 5.3.3 of the notice of initiation.

Both the ‘Sensitive’ version and the version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ should be returned to the Commission as set out in the notice of initiation.

1.   IDENTITY AND CONTACT DETAILS

Supply the following details about your company:

| Company name | |
| --- | --- |
| Address | |
| Contact person | |
| E-mail address | |
| Telephone | |

Company name

Address

Contact person

E-mail address

Telephone

2.   TURNOVER AND SALES VOLUME

Indicate the total turnover in euros (EUR) of the company, and the value in euros (EUR) and volume in tonnes for imports into the Union and resales on the Union market after importation from the People’s Republic of China, during the investigation period, of the product under investigation as defined in the notice of initiation.

| | Tonnes | Value in euros (EUR) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR) | | |
| Imports of the product under investigation originating in the People’s Republic of China into the Union | | |
| Imports of the product under investigation into the Union (all origins) | | |
| Resales on the Union market after importation from the People’s Republic of China of the product under investigation | | |

Tonnes

Value in euros (EUR)

Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR)

Imports of the product under investigation originating in the People’s Republic of China into the Union

Imports of the product under investigation into the Union (all origins)

Resales on the Union market after importation from the People’s Republic of China of the product under investigation

3.   ACTIVITIES OF YOUR COMPANY AND RELATED COMPANIES (1)

Give details of the precise activities of the company and all related companies (please list them and state the relationship to your company) involved in the production and/or selling (export and/or domestic) of the product under investigation. Such activities could include but are not limited to purchasing the product under investigation or producing it under sub-contracting arrangements, or processing or trading the product under investigation.

| Company name and location | Activities | Relationship |
| --- | --- | --- |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |

Company name and location

Activities

Relationship

4.   OTHER INFORMATION

Please provide any other relevant information which the company considers useful to assist the Commission in the selection of the sample.

5.   CERTIFICATION

By providing the above information, the company agrees to its possible inclusion in the sample. If the company is selected to be part of the sample, this will involve completing a questionnaire and accepting a visit at its premises in order to verify its response. If the company indicates that it does not agree to its possible inclusion in the sample, it will be deemed not to have cooperated in the investigation. The Commission's findings for non-cooperating importers are based on the facts available and the result may be less favourable to that company than if it had cooperated.

Signature of authorised official:

Name and title of authorised official:

Date:

---

(1)  In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person's business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ‘person’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

---

| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/16 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/16

---

Notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia

(2021/C 57/04)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a complaint pursuant to Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (1) (‘the basic Regulation’), alleging that imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia are being subsidised and are thereby causing injury (2) to the Union industry.

1.   Complaint

The complaint was lodged on 4 January 2021 by the European Steel Association (‘EUROFER’) (‘the complainant’). The complaint was made on behalf of the Union industry of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products in the sense of Article 10(6) of the basic Regulation.

An open version of the complaint and the analysis of the degree of support by Union producers for the complaint are available in the file for inspection by interested parties. Section 5.6 of this Notice provides information about access to the file for interested parties.

2.   Product under investigation

The product subject to this investigation is flat-rolled products of stainless steel, not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced), (‘the product under investigation’).

All interested parties wishing to submit information on the product scope must do so within 10 days of the date of publication of this Notice (3).

3.   Allegation of subsidisation

The product allegedly being subsidised is the product under investigation, originating in India and Indonesia (‘the countries concerned’), currently classified under CN codes 7219 31 00, 7219 32 10, 7219 32 90, 7219 33 10, 7219 33 90, 7219 34 10, 7219 34 90, 7219 35 10, 7219 35 90, 7219 90 20, 7219 90 80, 7220 20 21, 7220 20 29, 7220 20 41, 7220 20 49, 7220 20 81, 7220 20 89, 7220 90 20 and 7220 90 80. The CN codes are given for information only.

The complaint contains sufficient evidence that the producers of the product under investigation from India and Indonesia have benefitted from a number of subsidies granted by the Government of India and by the Government of Indonesia.

| — | India |
| --- | --- |

—

India

The alleged subsidies practices consist, inter alia, of (1) direct transfer of funds and potential direct transfers of funds or liabilities, (2) government revenue forgone or not collected, and (3) government provision of goods or services for less than adequate remuneration. The complaint referred, for example, to various grants, provision of loans and credit lines provided by State-owned banks and other financial institutions at preferential terms, and provision of export credits by State-owned banks and other financial institutions, including of export promotion schemes using grants and preferential financing; income tax reductions and exemptions, duty exemption and/or remission schemes, import tariff rebates and VAT rebates; and government provision of land and inputs for less than adequate remuneration; government support via Governmental procurement policies; subsidies schemes for export oriented units, government support available via the economic zones and at various sub-federal levels (States subsidies).

| — | Indonesia |
| --- | --- |

—

Indonesia

The alleged subsidy practices consist, inter alia, of (1) direct transfer of funds and potential direct transfers of funds or liabilities, (2) government revenue forgone or not collected, and (3) government provision of goods or services for less than adequate remuneration. The complaint referred, for example, to various grants, provision of loans and provided by State-owned banks and other financial institutions at preferential terms, and provision of export credits by State-owned banks and other financial institutions; income tax reductions and exemptions, import duty and/or VAT rebates and/or exemptions; duty exemption and/or remission schemes; government provision of land and inputs for less than adequate remuneration.

The complaint further alleges that the producers of the product under investigation also benefit from subsidies in the context of the cooperation between the Governments of Indonesia and of the People’s Republic of China to support investments in a special economic zone, that is the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, in addition to the subsidies granted directly by the Government of Indonesia. The complaint contains evidence of the cooperation between the Indonesian and Chinese Governments, as well as of preferential financing from Chinese State-owned or State-controlled entities granted directly or indirectly to the exporting producers in Indonesia. In view of the context of this cooperation, the complaint alleges that this preferential financing benefits the Chinese-owned exporting producers established in this special economic zone. This allegation is accompanied by a description of the cooperation between the Chinese and the Indonesian governments and of the concrete projects.

It is alleged that the above measures are subsidies since they involve a financial contribution by the Government of India and Indonesia or other regional governments (including public bodies) and confer a benefit to the producers of the product under investigation. These schemes are alleged to be specific and countervailable as they are limited to certain enterprises or industries or group of enterprises and/or they are contingent upon export performance or are limited to certain sectors and/or products and/or regions.

In view of Articles 10(2) and 10(3) of the basic Regulation, the Commission prepared a memorandum on sufficiency of evidence containing the Commission’s assessment on all the evidence at its disposal concerning the countries concerned and on the basis of which the Commission initiates the investigation. That memorandum can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties.

The Commission reserves the right to investigate other relevant subsidies which may be revealed during the course of the investigation.

4.   Allegation of injury and causation

The complainant has provided evidence that imports of the product under investigation from the countries concerned have increased overall in absolute terms and in terms of market share.

The evidence provided by the complainant shows that the volume and the prices of the imported product under investigation have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the quantities sold and on the level of prices charged as well as on the market share held by the Union industry, resulting in adverse effects on the financial situation of the Union industry.

5.   Procedure

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that the complaint has been lodged by or on behalf of the Union industry and that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of a proceeding, the Commission hereby initiates an investigation pursuant to Article 10 of the basic Regulation.

The investigation will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the countries concerned is being subsidised and whether the subsidised imports have caused injury to the Union industry. If the conclusions are affirmative, the investigation will examine whether the imposition of measures would not be against the Union interest.

The Governments of India and Indonesia were invited for consultations.

Regulation (EU) 2018/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council (TDI Modernisation package) (4), which entered into force on 8 June 2018, introduced significant changes to the timetable and deadlines previously applicable in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy proceedings. In particular, the Commission needs to provide information on the planned imposition of provisional duties 4 weeks before the imposition of provisional measures. The time limits for interested parties to come forward, in particular at the early stage of investigations, are shortened. Therefore, the Commission invites interested parties to respect the procedural steps and deadlines provided in this Notice as well as in further communications from the Commission. The Commission also draws the attention of the parties that further to the COVID-19 outbreak, a Notice (5) was published on the potential consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.

The Commission further draws the attention of the parties to the separate on-going anti-dumping investigation covering the same product (6). The exporting producers, the Union industry, and all the interested parties in such anti-dumping investigation are invited to register separately for this investigation and to submit the relevant information according to the modalities and the timelines specified in this Notice without regard to the information possibly submitted in the context of the anti-dumping investigation. The information or comments submitted in the context of the anti-dumping investigation will not automatically be taken into account in this investigation, and parties will have to submit as a matter of principle all the information concerning this investigation separately in the context of this procedure.

5.1.   
  Investigation period and period considered

The investigation of subsidisation and injury will cover the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 (‘the investigation period’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from 1 January 2017 to the end of the investigation period (‘the period considered’).

5.2.   
  Comments on the complaint and the initiation of the investigation

All interested parties wishing to comment on the complaint (including matters pertaining to injury and causality) or any aspects regarding the initiation of the investigation (including the degree of support for the complaint) must do so within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

Any request for a hearing with regard to the initiation of the investigation must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

5.3.   
  Procedure for the determination of subsidisation

Exporting producers (7) of the product under investigation from the countries concerned and the authorities of the countries concerned are invited to participate in the Commission investigation. In view of the allegations about the close cooperation between the Governments of Indonesia and of the People’s Republic of China to support investments in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, the Commission also invite the authorities of the People’s Republic of China to participate in this investigation as an interested party.

5.3.1.   Investigating exporting producers in the countries concerned

Procedure for selecting exporting producers to be investigated in the countries concerned

(a)   Sampling

In view of the potentially large number of exporting producers in the countries concerned involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit the exporting producers to be investigated to a reasonable number by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all exporting producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with information on their company(ies) within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. With regard to the alleged subsidies concerning the special economic zone in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, the exporting producer(s) concerned may be invited to provide relevant information deemed necessary in this context concerning their related entities established in the People’s Republic of China. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address:https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/8252a279-653c-d04f-1d1b-239a9003cd75. Tron access information can be found in sections 5.6.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of exporting producers, the Commission has also contacted the authorities of the countries concerned and may contact any known associations of exporting producers.

If a sample is necessary, the exporting producers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of exports to the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available. All known exporting producers, the authorities of the countries concerned and associations of exporting producers will be notified by the Commission, via the authorities of the countries concernedif appropriate, of the companies selected to be in the sample.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample of exporting producers, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision whether they are included in the sample. The sampled exporting producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2513).

The Commission will add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

The questionnaire will also be made available to any known association of exporting producers, and to the authorities of the countries concerned.

Without prejudice to the application of Article 28 of the basic Regulation, companies that have agreed to their possible inclusion in the sample but are not selected to be in the sample will be considered to be cooperating (‘non-sampled cooperating exporting producers’). Without prejudice to section (b) below, the countervailing duty that may be applied to imports from non-sampled cooperating exporting producers will not exceed the weighted average margin of subsidisation established for the exporting producers in the sample (8).

(b)   Individual amount of countervailable subsidisation for companies not included in the sample

Pursuant to Article 27(3) of the basic Regulation, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers may request the Commission to establish their individual amount of countervailable subsidisation. Exporting producers wishing to claim an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation must fill in the questionnaire and return it duly completed within 30 days of the date of notification of the sample selection, unless otherwise specified. A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2513).

The Commission will examine whether non-sampled cooperating exporting producers can be granted an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation in accordance with Article 27(3) of the basic Regulation.

However, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers claiming an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation should be aware that the Commission may nonetheless decide not to determine their individual amount of countervailable subsidisation if, for instance, the number of non-sampled cooperating exporting producers is so large that such determination would be unduly burdensome and would prevent the timely completion of the investigation.

5.3.2.   Investigating unrelated importers (9) (10)

Unrelated importers of the product under investigation from the countries concerned to the Union are invited to participate in this investigation.

In view of the potentially large number of unrelated importers involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit to a reasonable number the unrelated importers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary and, if so, to select a sample, all unrelated importers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with the information on their company(ies) requested in the Annex to this Notice within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of unrelated importers, the Commission may also contact any known associations of importers.

If a sample is necessary, the importers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of sales of the product under investigation in the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available. All known unrelated importers and associations of importers will be notified by the Commission of the companies selected to be in the sample.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision on the sample of importers. The Commission will also add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for its investigation, the Commission will make available questionnaires to the sampled unrelated importers. Those parties must submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of the notification of the decision about the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for importers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2513).

5.4.   
  Procedure for the determination of injury and investigating Union producers

A determination of injury is based on positive evidence and involves an objective examination of the volume of the subsidised imports, their effect on prices on the Union market and the consequent impact of those imports on the Union industry. In order to establish whether the Union industry is injured, Union producers of the product under investigation are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

Investigating Union producers

In view of the large number of Union producers concerned and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time-limits, the Commission has decided to limit to a reasonable number the Union producers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling is carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

The Commission has provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. Details can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties. Interested parties are hereby invited to comment on the provisional sample. In addition, other Union producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, that consider that there are reasons why they should be included in the sample must contact the Commission within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. All comments regarding the provisional sample must be received within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

All known Union producers and/or associations of Union producers will be notified by the Commission of the companies finally selected to be in the sample.

The sampled Union producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for Union producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2513).

5.5.   
  Procedure for the assessment of Union interest

Should the existence of subsidisation and injury caused thereby be established, a decision will be reached, pursuant to Article 31 of the basic Regulation, as to whether the adoption of countervailing measures would not be against the Union interest. Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations are invited to provide the Commission with information on the Union interest.

Information concerning the assessment of Union interest must be provided within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice unless otherwise specified. This information may be provided either in a free format or by completing a questionnaire prepared by the Commission. A copy of the questionnaires, including the questionnaire for users of the product under investigation, is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2513). The information submitted pursuant to Article 31 will only be taken into account if supported by factual evidence at the time of submission.

5.6.   
  Interested parties

In order to participate in the investigation interested parties, such as exporting producers, Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations first have to demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Exporting producers, Union producers, importers and representative associations who made information available in accordance to the procedures described in sections 5.3.1, 5.3.2 and 5.4 above will be considered as interested parties if there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Other parties will only be able to participate in the investigation as interested party from the moment they make themselves known, and provided that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation. Being considered as an interested party is without prejudice to the application of Article 28 of the basic Regulation.

Access to the file available for inspection for interested parties is made via TRON.tdi at the following address: (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI). Please follow the instructions on that page to get access (11).

5.7.   
  Possibility to be heard by the Commission investigation services

All interested parties may request to be heard by the Commission’s investigation services.

Any request to be heard must be made in writing and must specify the reasons for the request as well as a summary of what the interested party wishes to discuss during the hearing. The hearing will be limited to the issues set out by the interested parties in writing beforehand.

The timeframe for hearings is as follows:

| — | For any hearings to take place before the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice and the hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice. |
| --- | --- |

—

For any hearings to take place before the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice and the hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

| — | After the provisional stage, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the provisional disclosure or of the information document, and the hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document. |
| --- | --- |

—

After the provisional stage, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the provisional disclosure or of the information document, and the hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document.

| — | At definitive stage, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure. |
| --- | --- |

—

At definitive stage, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the right of the Commission services to accept hearings outside the timeframe in duly justified cases and to the right of the Commission to deny hearings in duly justified cases. Where the Commission services refuse a hearing request, the party concerned will be informed of the reasons for such refusal.

In principle, hearings will not be used to present factual information which is not yet on file. Nevertheless, in the interest of good administration and to enable Commission services to progress with the investigation, interested parties may be directed to provide new factual information after a hearing.

5.8.   
  Instructions for making written submissions and sending completed questionnaires and correspondence

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence investigations shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing the Commission a) to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions, including the information requested in this Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Sensitive’ (12). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 29(2) of the basic Regulation, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets. By using TRON.tdi or e-mail, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf. The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid e-mail address and they should ensure that the provided e-mail address is a functioning official business e-mail which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or e-mail only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi and by e-mail, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

| Commission address for correspondence: |
| --- |
| European Commission |
| Directorate-General for Trade |
| Directorate G |
| Office: CHAR 04/039 |
| 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel |
| BELGIQUE/BELGIË |

Commission address for correspondence:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Trade

Directorate G

Office: CHAR 04/039

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Emails:

TRADE-AS678-SSCR-SUBSIDY-INDIA@ec.europa.eu

TRADE-AS678-SSCR-SUBSIDY-INDO@ec.europa.eu

TRADE-AS678-SSCR-INJURY@ec.europa.eu

6.   Schedule of the investigation

Pursuant to Article 11(9) of the basic Regulation, the investigation shall, whenever possible, be concluded within 12 months and in any event no later than 13 months from the date of the publication of this Notice. In accordance with Article 12(1) of the basic Regulation, provisional measures may be imposed not later than 9 months from the publication of this Notice.

In accordance with Article 29a of the basic Regulation, the Commission will provide information on the planned imposition of provisional duties 4 weeks before the imposition of provisional measures. Interested parties may request this information in writing within 4 months of the publication of this notice. Interested parties will be given 3 working days to comment in writing on the accuracy of the calculations.

In cases where the Commission intends not to impose provisional duties but to continue the investigation, interested parties will be informed in writing of the non-imposition of duties 4 weeks before the expiry of the deadline under Article 12(1) of the basic Regulation.

Interested parties will be given in principle 15 days to comment in writing on the provisional findings or on the information document, and 10 days to comment in writing on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. Where applicable, additional final disclosures will specify the deadline for interested parties to comment in writing.

7.   Submission of information

As a rule, interested parties may only submit information in the timeframes specified in sections 5 and 6 of this Notice. The submission of any other information not covered by those sections should respect the following timetable:

| — | Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the provisional disclosure or the information document at provisional stage. Beyond such deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information provided that such parties can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner. |
| --- | --- |

—

Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the provisional disclosure or the information document at provisional stage. Beyond such deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information provided that such parties can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner.

| — | In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure. |
| --- | --- |

—

In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure.

8.   Possibility to comment on other parties’ submissions

In order to guarantee the rights of defence, interested parties should have the possibility to comment on information submitted by other interested parties. When doing so, interested parties may only address issues raised in the other interested parties’ submissions and may not raise new issues.

Such comments should be made according to the following timeframe:

| — | Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest within 75 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest within 75 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document should be submitted within 7 days from the deadline to comment on the provisional findings or on the information document, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document should be submitted within 7 days from the deadline to comment on the provisional findings or on the information document, unless otherwise specified.

| — | Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the definitive findings should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this further disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this further disclosure, unless otherwise specified. |
| --- | --- |

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the definitive findings should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this further disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this further disclosure, unless otherwise specified.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the Commission’s right to request additional information from interested parties in duly justified cases.

9.   Extension to time limits specified in this Notice

Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice should only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified upon good cause being shown.

In any event, any extension to the deadline to reply to questionnaires will be limited normally to 3 days, and as a rule will not exceed 7 days.

Regarding time limits for the submission of other information specified in the Notice of Initiation, extensions will be limited to 3 days unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

10.   Non-cooperation

In cases where any interested party refuses access to or does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, provisional or final findings, affirmative or negative, may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 28 of the basic Regulation.

Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

If an interested party does not cooperate or cooperates only partially and findings are therefore based on facts available in accordance with Article 28 of the basic Regulation, the result may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated.

Failure to give a computerised response shall not be deemed to constitute non-cooperation, provided that the interested party shows that presenting the response as requested would result in an unreasonable extra burden or unreasonable additional cost. The interested party should immediately contact the Commission.

11.   Hearing Officer

Interested parties may request the intervention of the Hearing Officer for trade proceedings. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

The Hearing Officer may organise hearings and mediate between the interested party/-ies and Commissions services to ensure that the interested parties’ rights of defence are being fully exercised. A request for a hearing with the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for the requests. These hearings should only take place if the issues have not been settled with the Commission services in the due course.

Any request must be submitted in good time and expeditiously so as not to jeopardise the orderly conduct of proceedings. To that effect, interested parties should request the intervention of the Hearing Officer at the earliest possible time following the occurrence of the event justifying such intervention. In principle, the timeframes set out in section 5.6 to request hearings with the Commission services apply mutatis mutandis to requests for hearings with the Hearing Officer. Where hearing requests are submitted outside the relevant timeframes, the Hearing Officer will also examine the reasons for such late requests, the nature of the issues raised and the impact of those issues on the rights of defence, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer’s web pages on DG Trade’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/.

12.   Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG TRADE’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/trade-defence/

---

(1)  OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 55.

(2)  The general term ‘injury’ refers to material injury as well as to threat of material injury or material retardation of the establishment of an industry as set out in Article 2(d) of the basic Regulation.

(3)  References to the publication of this Notice mean publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(4)  Regulation (EU) 2018/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union and Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (OJ L 143, 7.6.2018, p. 1).

(5)  On the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations (OJ C 86, 16.3.2020, p. 6).

(6)  Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia (OJ C 322, 30.9.2020, p 17).

(7)  An exporting producer is any company in the countries concerned which produces and exports the product under investigation to the Union market, either directly or via a third party, including any of its related companies involved in the production, domestic sales or exports of the product under investigation.

(8)  Pursuant to Article 15(3) of the basic Regulation, any zero and de minimis amounts of countervailable subsidies and amounts of countervailable subsidies established in the circumstances referred to in Article 28 of the basic Regulation shall be disregarded.

(9)  Only importers not related to exporting producers can be sampled. Importers that are related to exporting producers have to fill in Annex I to the questionnaire for these exporting producers. In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5% or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ‘‘person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

(10)  The data provided by unrelated importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of subsidisation.

(11)  In case of technical problems please contact the Trade Service Desk by email trade-service-desk@ec.europa.eu or by telephone +32 22979797.

(12)  A ‘Sensitive’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 29 of the basic Regulation and Article 12.4 of the WTO Agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures. It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(13)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

---

ANNEX

| ☐ | ‘Sensitive’ version (1) |
| --- | --- |
| ☐ | Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ |
| (tick the appropriate box) |

☐

‘Sensitive’ version (1)

☐

Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’

(tick the appropriate box)

ANTI-SUBSIDY PROCEEDING CONCERNING IMPORTS OF STAINLESS STEEL COLD-ROLLED FLAT PRODUCTS ORIGINATING IN INDIA AND INDONESIA

INFORMATION FOR THE SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE OF UNRELATED IMPORTERS

This form is designed to assist unrelated importers in responding to the request for sampling information made in point 5.3.2 of the notice of initiation.

Both the ‘Sensitive’ version and the version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ should be returned to the Commission as set out in the notice of initiation.

1.   IDENTITY AND CONTACT DETAILS

Supply the following details about your company:

| Company name | |
| --- | --- |
| Address | |
| Contact person | |
| E-mail address | |
| Telephone | |

Company name

Address

Contact person

E-mail address

Telephone

2.   TURNOVER AND SALES VOLUME

Indicate the total turnover in euros (EUR) of the company, and the turnover and weight or volume for imports into the Union (2) and resales on the Union market after importation from India and Indonesia, during the investigation period (1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020), of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products as defined in the notice of initiation.

| | Tonnes | Value in euros (EUR) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR) | | |
| Imports of the product under investigation from India into the Union | | |
| Imports of the product under investigation from Indonesia into the Union | | |
| Imports of the product under investigation into the Union (all origins) | | |
| Resales on the Union market after importation from India and Indonesia of the product under investigation | | |

Tonnes

Value in euros (EUR)

Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR)

Imports of the product under investigation from India into the Union

Imports of the product under investigation from Indonesia into the Union

Imports of the product under investigation into the Union (all origins)

Resales on the Union market after importation from India and Indonesia of the product under investigation

3.   ACTIVITIES OF YOUR COMPANY AND RELATED COMPANIES (3)

Give details of the precise activities of the company and all related companies (please list them and state the relationship to your company) involved in the production and/or selling (export and/or domestic) of the product under investigation. Such activities could include but are not limited to purchasing the product under investigation or producing it under sub-contracting arrangements, or processing or trading the product under investigation.

| Company name and location | Activities | Relationship |
| --- | --- | --- |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |

Company name and location

Activities

Relationship

4.   OTHER INFORMATION

| | Please provide any other relevant information which the company considers useful to assist the Commission in the selection of the sample. |
| --- | --- |

Please provide any other relevant information which the company considers useful to assist the Commission in the selection of the sample.

5.   CERTIFICATION

By providing the above information, the company agrees to its possible inclusion in the sample. If the company is selected to be part of the sample, this will involve completing a questionnaire and accepting a visit at its premises in order to verify its response. If the company indicates that it does not agree to its possible inclusion in the sample, it will be deemed not to have cooperated in the investigation. The Commission's findings for non-cooperating importers are based on the facts available and the result may be less favourable to that company than if it had cooperated.

Signature of authorised official:

Name and title of authorised official:

Date:

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(1)  This document is for internal use only. It is protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43). It is a confidential document pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 55) and Article 12 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

(2)  The 27 Member States of the European Union are: Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

(3)  In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person's business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ''person'' means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

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OTHER ACTS

European Commission

| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/28 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/28

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Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation

(2021/C 57/05)

This publication confers the right to oppose the cancellation request pursuant to Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), in conjunction with Article 19 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 (2), as well as pursuant to Articles 11 and 12 and Article 21(3) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33.

CANCELLATION REQUEST

‘Neusiedlersee-Hügelland’

EU No: PDO-AT-A0220-CANCEL – 21.2.2020

☐ PGI ☒ PDO

1.   Registered name proposed to be cancelled

Neusiedlersee-Hügelland

2.   Member State or Third Country to which the demarcated area belongs

Austria

3.   Person, body, Member State or Third Country making the cancellation request

Applicant:

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

Address: Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien

Telephone: +43 71100602840

Email address: Abt-27@bmlrt.gv.at

Interested Party:

National committee on wine

Address: Schauflergasse 6, 1014 Wien

Telephone: +43 1534418553

Email address: j.glatt@lk-oe.at

4.   Grounds for cancellation

| ☒ | Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013). |
| --- | --- |

☒

Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013).

| ☐ | Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured for the specific reason that no product bearing the protected name has been placed on the market in the last seven consecutive years (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 in combination with Article 20 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33). |
| --- | --- |

☐

Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured for the specific reason that no product bearing the protected name has been placed on the market in the last seven consecutive years (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 in combination with Article 20 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33).

5.   Details of the cancellation request

The product specification ‘Neusiedlersee-Hügelland’ is not needed anymore as it has been integrated in the PDO Leithaberg. The PDO ‘Neusiedlersee-Hügelland’ has been cancelled by the new law in 2016.

6.   List of supporting documentation

Federal Law Gazette of 2016 (‘Neusiedlersee-Hügelland’ is not listed anymore).

7.   Dated and signed

Name: Rudolf Schmid

Organisation: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

Address: Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien

Telephone: +43 71100602840

Email address: Rudolf.Schmid@bmlrt.gv.at

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(1)  OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671.

(2)  OJ L 9, 11.1.2019, p. 2.

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| 17.2.2021 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/30 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

17.2.2021

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/30

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Publication of a cancellation request pursuant to Article 19, second subparagraph, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards applications for protection of designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms in the wine sector, the objection procedure, restrictions of use, amendments to product specifications, cancellation of protection, and labelling and presentation

(2021/C 57/06)

This publication confers the right to oppose the cancellation request pursuant to Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), in conjunction with Article 19 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 (2), as well as pursuant to Articles 11, 12 and 21(3) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33.

CANCELLATION REQUEST

‘Südburgenland’

EU No: PDO-AT-A0227-CANCEL – 21.2.2020

☐ PGI ☒ PDO

1.   Registered name proposed to be cancelled

Südburgenland

2.   Member State or third country to which the demarcated area belongs

Austria

3.   Person, body, Member State or third country making the cancellation request

Applicant:

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

Address: Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien

Telephone: +43 71100602840

Email address: Abt-27@bmlrt.gv.at

Interested party:

National committee on wine

Address: Schauflergasse 6, 1014 Wien

Telephone: +43 1 534418553

Email address: j.glatt@lk-oe.at

4.   Grounds for cancellation

| ☒ | Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013). |
| --- | --- |

☒

Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013).

| ☐ | Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured for the specific reason that no product bearing the protected name has been placed on the market in the last seven consecutive years (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 in combination with Article 20 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33. |
| --- | --- |

☐

Compliance with the corresponding product specification is no longer ensured for the specific reason that no product bearing the protected name has been placed on the market in the last seven consecutive years (Article 106 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 in combination with Article 20 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33.

5.   Details of the cancellation request

The product specification ‘Südburgenland’ is not needed any more as it has been integrated in the PDO Eisenberg. The PDO ‘Südburgenland’ has been cancelled by the new law in 2016.

6.   List of supporting documentation

Federal Law Gazette of 2016 (‘Südburgenland’ is not listed any more).

7.   Dated and signed

Name: Rudolf Schmid

Organisation: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

Address: Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien

Telephone: +43 71100602840

Email address: Rudolf.Schmid@bmlrt.gv.at

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(1)  OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671.

(2)  OJ L 9, 11.1.2019, p. 2.

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