Notice of initiation of a partial interim review of the countervailing measures applicable to imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron) originating in India

(2018/C 437/08)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a request for a partial interim review pursuant to Article 19 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’).

1. Request for review

The request for review was lodged by Electrosteel Castings Ltd (‘the applicant’), an exporting producer from India (‘the country concerned’).

The review is limited in scope to the examination of subsidisation as far as the applicant is concerned.

2. Product under review

The product under review is tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron), with the exclusion of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron without internal and external coating (‘bare pipes’), currently falling within CN codes ex 7303 00 10 and ex 7303 00 90 (TARIC codes 7303001010, 7303009010), originating in India (‘the product under review’).

3. Existing measures

The measures currently in force are a definitive countervailing duty imposed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/387 of 17 March 2016 on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron), originating in India (2).

The product under review is also subject to a definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/388 of 17 March 2016 on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron) originating in India (3), as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1369 (4). On 4 May 2018, the Commission initiated a partial interim review limited in scope to the examination of dumping for Electrosteel Castings Ltd (5).

4. Grounds for the review

The applicant has provided sufficient evidence that, as far as it is concerned, the circumstances with regard to subsidisation on the basis of which measures were imposed have changed significantly and that these changes are of a lasting nature.

The applicant alleges that the continued imposition of the measure on imports of the product under review at its current level is no longer necessary to offset the countervailable subsidisation. The applicant has provided sufficient evidence that its subsidy amount has decreased well below the duty rate currently applicable to it.

This reduction in the overall subsidy level is due to the termination of applicability of the Focus Product Scheme, which was merged into a new scheme named ‘Merchandise Exports from India Scheme’ providing for lower subsidy amounts as well as the reduction of amounts availed by the applicant with regard to other schemes, in particular the Duty Drawback Scheme and the provision of iron ore for less than adequate remuneration. Of note, with respect to these two subsidy programmes, the applicant does not claim that they have been terminated, but only that the subsidy amounts have been reduced or eliminated.

In the light of the above, the Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence that the circumstances with regard to subsidisation of Electrosteel Castings Ltd have changed significantly and are of a lasting nature and, therefore, the measures should be reviewed.

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

5. Procedure

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that sufficient evidence exists to justify the initiation of a partial interim review limited to the examination of subsidisation as far as the applicant is concerned, the Commission initiates a review in accordance with Article 19 of the basic Regulation. The purpose of the review is to establish the rate of subsidisation which prevails for the applicant as a result of the subsidy practices from which it is found to benefit.

Following the review, it may be necessary to amend the rate of duty imposed on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron) originating in India by ‘All other companies’ in India since the countervailing duty rate for these companies is based on the subsidy amounts found for the applicant.

The Government of India has been invited for consultations in accordance with Article 10(7) of the basic Regulation.

Regulation (EU) 2018/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) which entered into force on 8 June 2018, (TDI Modernisation package) introduced a number changes to the timetable and deadlines previously applicable in anti-subsidy proceedings (7). In particular, 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.

5.1. Questionnaires

In order to obtain the information it deems necessary for its investigation, the Commission will send questionnaires to the applicant and to the authorities of the exporting country concerned. This information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

A copy of the above-captioned questionnaire to the applicant is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade's website.

5.2. Other written submissions

Subject to the provisions of this Notice, all interested parties are hereby invited to make their views known, submit information and provide supporting evidence. Unless otherwise specified, this information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

5.3. 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 review.

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.

5.4. 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.

For hearings on issues pertaining to the initial stage of the investigation the request must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, a request to be heard must be submitted within the specific deadlines set by the Commission in its communication with the parties.

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.

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

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence investigations should 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 a) the Commission 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 should be labelled ‘Limited’ (8). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Limited’ 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’. These 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 by email including scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets, with the exception of voluminous replies which shall be submitted on a CD-ROM or DVD by hand or by registered mail. By using 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 (9). 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 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 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 H Office: CHAR 04/039 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË Email: TRADE-DCIT-Subsidy-R696@ec.europa.eu

6. Schedule of the investigation

The investigation will be concluded, pursuant to Article 22(1) of the basic Regulation within 15 months of the date of the publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

7. 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.

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the definitive findings should be submitted within 5 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.

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. Extension to time limits specified in this Notice

Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice can only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified.

Extensions to the deadline to reply to questionnaires may be granted, if duly justified, and will be normally limited to 3 additional days. As a rule, such extensions will not exceed 7 days. Regarding time limits for the submission of other information specified in this Notice, extensions will be limited, in principle, to 3 days unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

9. 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, 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.

10. 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 5.3 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/.

11. Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (10).

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

(2) OJ L 73, 18.3.2016, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 73, 18.3.2016, p. 53.

(4) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1369 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/388 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron) originating in India (OJ L 217, 12.8.2016, p. 4).

(5) Notice of initiation of a partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron (also known as spheroidal graphite cast iron) originating in India (OJ C 157, 4.5.2018, p. 3).

(6) 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).

(7) ‘Short overview of the deadlines and timelines in the investigative process’ in DG TRADE's website http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/june/tradoc_156922.pdf

(8) A ‘Limited’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 (OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 55.) and Article 12 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. It is also a document protected in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(9) http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf

(10) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.