Notice clarifying the Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of certain polyvinyl alcohols originating in the People’s Republic of China

(2019/C 378/08)

On 30 July 2019, the Commission published a Notice initiating an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of certain polyvinyl alcohols originating in the People’s Republic of China (1) (the ‘Notice of 30 July 2019’).

In that notice, the product under investigation is described as follows:

‘The product subject to this investigation is certain PVA in the form of homopolymer resins with a viscosity (measured in 4 % solution) of 3 mPas or more but not exceeding 61 mPas and a degree of hydrolysis of 80,0 mol% or more but not exceeding 99,9 mol% (“the product under investigation”).’

The investigation has revealed that the product description, in particular regarding the measurement method of viscosity and degree of hydrolysis, was not sufficiently precise and could lead to misinterpretation and/or misclassification by national customs authorities. Furthermore economic operators may have misinterpreted the description and, on that basis, may have decided not to come forward as interested parties. Therefore, the product definition in the Notice of initiation needs further clarification as to how and under which conditions the viscosity and the degree of hydrolysis are measured, in particular, that the viscosity and the degree of hydrolysis are both measured according to the ISO 15023-2 method.

For this reason, the Commission hereby clarifies the definition of the product under investigation.

Further information has also been included in a note to the file for inspection by interested parties.

1. Clarification concerning the product under investigation

In Section 2 of the Notice of 30 July 2019, the product under investigation is described as follows:

‘The product subject to this investigation is certain PVA in the form of homopolymer resins with a viscosity (measured in 4 % solution) of 3 mPas or more but not exceeding 61 mPas and a degree of hydrolysis of 80,0 mol% or more but not exceeding 99,9 mol% (“the product under investigation”).’

As explained above, the investigation has revealed that this definition is not sufficiently detailed.

For this reason, the Commission finds it appropriate to clarify that the product subject to this investigation is:

‘poly(vinyl alcohol), whether or not containing unhydrolysed acetate groups, in the form of homopolymer resins with a viscosity (measured in 4 % aqueous solution at 20 °C) of 3 mPa·s or more but not more than 61 mPa·s and a degree of hydrolysis of 80,0 mol% or more but not more than 99,9 mol%, both measured according to the ISO 15023-2 method.’

CN and TARIC codes covering the product under investigation are provided below for information.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission observes that this clarification has no material impact on the Commission’s analysis of the allegations of dumping and injury which fully covers the scope of the investigation.

2. CN and TARIC codes

In order to avoid further misunderstandings, the Commission also clarifies the CN and TARIC codes provided for information only in the first paragraph of Section 3 of the Notice of 30 July 2019. The codes covering the product under investigation are: CN code ex 3905 30 00 (TARIC code 3905300091).

As before, the CN and TARIC codes are given for information only.

3. Procedure

Interested parties who believe that they are affected by this clarification, or who might not have made themselves known because they believed they were not concerned by this proceeding, are requested to contact the Commission within 7 days of this Notice in order to, where appropriate, make further submissions or make themselves known and, if they wish, to request a questionnaire.

They may do so through one of the following email addresses:

TRADE-AD654-PVA-INJURY@ec.europa.eu

TRADE-AD654-PVA-DUMPING@ec.europa.eu

Any comments and submissions received in response to this Notice as well as any further information in this regard will be included in a note to the file for inspection by interested parties.

(1) OJ C 256, 30.7.2019, p. 4.