Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 2200/90 by imposing an additional anti-dumping duty on imports of silicon metal originating in the People' s Republic of China
Date: 1992-05-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: China, anti-dumping duty, dumping, semi-metal

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

C0M(92)  200 final 

Brussels,  20 May 1992 

Proposal  for a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) 

amending  Regulation  (EEC) No 2200/90  by  imposing  an  additiona 

anti-dumping  duty  on  imports  of silicon  metal  originating  in 

the  People's  Republic  of  China 

(presented  by the  Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY  MEMORANDUM 

1. By  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2200/90,  an  anti-dumping  duty  of 

ECU  198 per  tonne was  imposed on  imports of silicon metal  originating  in 

the People's Republic of China. 

2. Subsequently, the Commission  received  a complaint  lodged  by  the Liaison 

Committee of  Ferroalloy  Industries  in the European Community. Since  this 

complaint  contained  sufficient  evidence  that  the duty  had  been  borne by 

the  exporter,  the  Commission  announced  the 

initiation  of  an 

investigation,  provided  for  in  Article  13(11)  of  Regulation  (EEC) 

No 2423/88,  in  a  notice  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 

European Communities on  18 October  1991. 

3.  In  the  absence  of  satisfactory  cooperation  from  both  exporters  and 

Community  importers, the Commission was obliged  to reach  its findings on 

the basis of  the  facts available.  In this case, customs  statistics  were 

considered  to be  the fairest  source of  facts and  the prices  revealed  by 

the  relevant  statistics  were  corroborated  by  the  information  obtained 

from  those  Community 

importers  who  cooperated 

and 

from  the 

representative of user  industries. 

4.  It  would  appear  that,  by  reducing  their  prices  for  export  to  the 

Community  after  imposition of an anti-dumping  duty, exporters of silicon 

metal  originating  in  the  People's  Republic  of  China  have  borne  the 

anti-dumping duty. 

5. The  amount  of  absorption  of  duty  was  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the 

difference  between  the  import  price of  silicon metal  originating  in the 

People's  Republic  of  China  during  the  period  of  the  original 

investigation  and  the  import  price  during  the  period  following 

imposition of  the anti-dumping  duty. This came to a figure of 178%. 

6. Given  that  the  imposition of  this duty  had been  considered  to be  in the 

Community's  interest,  it  follows  that  a measure  aimed  at  restoring  the 

effect of  the duty  concerned  is  in the Community's  interest. 

-  3 -

7.  In this case, since  the decrease  in the  import  price  as a percentage of 

the  amount  of  the  ant i-dumping  duty  had  been  calculated  at  178%,  the 

anti-dumping  duty  has been  borne  completely.  An  additional  anti-dumping 

duty  of  an  amount  equal  to  the  existing  duty  (ECU  198  per  tonne) must 

therefore be  imposed. 

8.  It  is  therefore  proposed  that  the  Council  amend  Regulation  (EEC)  No 

2200/90  and  impose  a  duty  of  ECU  396  per  tonne  on  imports  of  silicon 

metal  originating  in the People's Republic of China. 

-  4 -

Proposal  for a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  (EEC) 

amending  Regulation  (EEC) No 2200/90 by  imposing  an additional 

anti-dumping  duty on  imports of silicon metal  originating  in 

the People's Republic of China 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES, 

Having  regard  to the Treaty establishing  the European  Economic  Community, 

Having  regard  to  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2423/88  of  11  July  1988  on 

protection  against  dumped  or  subsidized  imports  from  countries  not  members 

of  the  European  Economic  Community1,  and  in  particular  Articles  12  and 

13(11) thereof, 

Having  regard  to  the  proposal  submitted  by  the  Commission  after 

consultation  within  the  Advisory  Committee  as  provided  for  under  the 

abovementioned Regulation, 

Whereas: 

A.  PROCEDURE 

1.  By  Council  Regulation  (EEC) No  2200/902, a definitive  anti-dumping 

duty  of  ECU  198 per  tonne  was  imposed  on  imports  of  silicon  metal 

originating  in the People's Republic of China. 

2.  The Commission  received  a complaint  lodged  by  the Liaison  Committee 

of Ferroalloy  Industries  in the European Community  on behalf of all 

Community  producers  of  silicon  metal  alleging  that  all  or  part  of 

the anti-dumping  duty  had been borne by  the exporters  concerned. 

1 OJ  No L 209, 2.8.1988, p. 1. 

2 OJ No L 198, 28.7.1990, p. 57. 

-  5  -

3. 

Since  the  complaint  contained  sufficient  evidence  of  absorption  of 

anti-dumping  duty  by  an  exporter,  the  Commission  announced  the 

initiation  of  an  investigation  provided  for  in  Article  13(11)  of 

Regulation  (EEC)  No  2423/88,  in  a  notice  published  in  the  Official 

Journal  of  the  European  Communities^. 

4. 

The  Commission  officially  advised  the  exporters  and  importers  known 

to  be  concerned  and  gave  the  parties  concerned  the  opportunity  to 

make  their  views  known  in  writing. 

5. 

None  of  the  exporters  and  only  three  of  the  importers  concerned, 

accounting  for  a  fraction  of  the  total  imports,  made  their  views 

known  in wr i t ing. 

6. 

Only  one  organization  representing  user  industries  made  comments. 

7. 

None  of  the  interested  parties  requested  the  Commission  to  review 

Regulation  (EEC)  No  2200/90.  Moreover,  on  the  basis  of  the 

information  available,  the  Commission  did  not  find  that  changed 

circumstances  justified  the  need  for  such  a  review  on  the 

Commission's  initiative. 

8. 

The  investigation  into  absorption  of  the  anti-dumping  duty  by  the 

exporters  was  concerned  with  the  comparison  between  the  period 

1  January  1988  to  31  December  1988,  which  had  been  taken  into 

account  for  calculation  of  the  anti-dumping  duty,  and  the  period 

starting  from  imposition  of  a  provisional  anti-dumping  duty  until 

publication  of  the  notice  of  initiation  of  an  investigation,  i.e. 

from  1 April  1990  to  30  September  1991. 

3  0J  No  C  273,  18.10.1991,  p.  20 

- 6 -

B. PRODUCT 

9. 

The  product  under  consideration  is  silicon  metal  falling  within 

CN code 2804 69 00, as  in the original  procedure. 

C. ABSORPTION OF THE ANT I-DUMPING DUTY BY THE EXPORTER 

I.  Existence of absorption of duty 

10.  In the absence of satisfactory  cooperation  from either  exporters or 

Community  importers, the Commission  based  its findings on  the facts 

available  in accordance with Article 7(7)(b) of Regulation  (EEC) No 

2423/88. 

II.  A  valid  assessment  of  the  import  price  of  a  raw material, such  as 

the  product  concerned,  can  generally  be  made  on  the  basis  of 

customs  statistics.  In this case, moreover,  the  prices  revealed  by 

the  statistics  were  corroborated  by  the  information  obtained  from 

those  Community 

importers 

who 

cooperated 

and 

from 

the 

representative of user  industries. 

12.  That  information shows clearly  that, following  the  imposition of a 

provisional  anti-dumping  duty  on  silicon  metal  originating  in the 

People's  Republic  of  China 

by 

Commission 

Regulation  (EEC) 

No  720/904,  the  import  price  at  Community  borders  (the  cif  price 

before  payment  of  customs  duties  and  anti-dumping  duty) of  silicon 

metal  originating  in  the  People's  Republic  of  China  fell 

considerably. 

4 OJ No L 80, 27.3.1990, p. 9. 

- 7 -

13.  In  these  circumstances,  it  would  appear  that,  by  reducing  their 

prices  for  export  to  the  Community  after  imposition  of  an 

anti-dumping  duty,  the  exporters  of  silicon  metal  originating  in 

the  People's  Republic  of  China  have  borne  the  anti-dumping  duty 

either  completely or partially. 

11.  Amount of absorption of duty 

14.  The amount  of absorption of  duty  is calculated  on  the basis of  the 

difference between  the  import price of silicon metal  originating  in 

the  People's Republic of China during the period  1 January  1988 to 

31 December  1988, the period of  the  initial  investigation, and  the 

import  price  during  the  period  following  imposition  of  a 

provisional  anti-dumping  duty,  from  1 April  1990  to  30  September 

1991. 

15.  Expressed  as  a  percentage  of  the  amount  of  duty,  the  amount  of 

absorption  as  defined  above  came  to  an  average  monthly  figure  of 

178% for  the period  from  1 April  1990 to 30 September  1991. 

In  view  of  the  extent  of  absorption,  the  effect  of  a  possible 

variation  in the  cif  costs  (cost,  insurance,  freight) need  not  be 

taken  into account. 

D. OTHER  FACTORS 

16.  The Commission has examined  two additional  factors which might  have 

had a bearing on the evolution of  the export  price of silicon metal 

originating  in the People's Republic of China. 

- 8 -

17.  Firstly,  the  organization  representing  user  industries  alleged  that 

the  quality  of  the  product  concerned  justified  a  price  lower  than 

that  of  the  same  product  originating  in other  countries.  Since  this 

does  not  constitute  a  new  fact  in  relation  to  the  situation  at  the 

time  of  the  original  investigation,  the  alleged  difference  in 

quality  cannot  justify  the  considerable  decrease  in  the  export 

price  of  silicon  metal  originating  in  the  People's  Republic  of 

China  following  the  imposition  of  an  anti-dumping  duty.  In 

addition,  it  has  been  established  that  the  difference  between  the 

export  price  to  the  Community  of  silicon  metal  originating  in  the 

People's  Republic  of  China  and  of  the  same  metal  originating  in 

other  countries  increased  during  the  investigation  period. 

18.  Secondly,  the  organization  representing  user  industries  suggested 

that  the  decrease  in  the  import  price  of  silicon  metal  originating 

in  the  People's  Republic  of  China  could  be  linked  to  an  overall 

trend  in  the  market  for  imports  of  the  product  concerned  into  the 

Community.  However,  examination  of  the  customs  statistics  clearly 

reveals  a  considerable  fall 

in  the  price  of  silicon  metal 

originating  in  the  People's  Republic  of  China  while  the  import 

price  of  the  metal  from  other  countries  remained  stable  over  the 

same  period. 

E.  COMMUNITY  INTEREST 

19.  The  purpose  of  the  additional  anti-dumping  duty  provided  for  in 

Article  13(11)  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2423/88  is  to  compensate  for 

the  amount  of  the  anti-dumping  duty  borne  by  the  exporter. 

20.  The  Commission  has  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  findings 

concerning  Community  interest  expressed  in  recitals  18  to  21  of 

Regulation  (EEC)  No  2200/90  need  to  be  amended. 

- 9 -

21.  Moreover,  given,  firstly,  that  the  absorption  of  an  anti-dumping 

duty  by  the  exporter  cancels  out  the  effect  of  the  anti-dumping 

duty  and  therefore  prevents  the  removal  of  the  injury  suffered  by 

the Community  industry,  and,  secondly,  that  the  imposition of  this 

duty  had  been  considered  to  be  in  the  Community's  interest,  a 

measure aimed at  restoring  the effect  of  the said duty  is therefore 

in the Community's  interest. 

F. ADDITIONAL ANT I-DUMPING DUTY 

22.  Article  I3(11)(a)  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2423/88  limits  the 

additional  amount  to  strict  compensation  for  the  amount  of 

anti-dumping  duty borne by  the exporter  which  cannot,  logically, be 

greater  than the amount  of  the anti-dumping  duty  concerned. 

23.  In  this  case,  since  the  decrease  in  the  import  price  as  a 

percentage  of  the  amount  of  anti-dumping  duty  has  been  calculated 

at  178%,  the  ant i-dumping  duty  has  been  borne  completely.  An 

additional  anti-dumping  duty  of  an  amount  equal  to  the  existing 

duty  (ECU  198 per  tonne) must  therefore be  imposed. 

24.  Since  the anti-dumping  duty  currently  in force  is fixed  at  ECU  198 

per  tonne, an additional  duty  for  the same amount  must  be  imposed. 

For practical  reasons, the  imposition of  this additional  duty  takes 

the  form of  an  amendment  to Regulation  (EEC) No  2200/90. This does 

not  constitute  a modification  of  the  anti-dumping  duty  within  the 

meaning  of  Article  15(1)  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2423/88  and, 

therefore,  the expiry  date of  the  anti-dumping  duty,  including  the 

additional  duty,  remains  unchanged.  The  total  amount  of  the 

anti-dumping  duty  imposed  on  imports  of  silicon  metal  originating 

in  the  People's  Republic  of  China  must,  therefore,  be  ECU 396 per 

tonne, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

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Article 1 

Article  1(2)  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2200/90  is  hereby  replaced  by  the 

following: 

"2.  The  duty  shall  be  ECU  396  per  tonne of  the  imported  product." 

Article  2 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  that  of  its 

publication  in the Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities. 

This  Regulation  shall  be  binding  in  its entirety  and  directly  applicable  in 

a I I Member  States. 

Done  at  Brussels, 

For  the  Council 

The  President 

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