WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3839/97 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. Exemption of gauze from anti-dumping duties
Date: 1997-12-05
Institutions: European Parliament, KAKLAMANIS
Subjects: European Commission, anti-dumping duty, anti-dumping legislation, complaint to the Commission, cotton, dumping, exchange of information, originating product, textile product, third country

C 158/194

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25. 5. 98

Current and future research and policy development in the Commission will deepen the understanding not only
of  the  physicochemical  nature  of  particulate  matter  in  urban  air,  but  also  of  the  causal  relationship  between
vehicle exhaust emissions and human health and consider the need for further targeting of measures to reduce
emissions,  including  the  possible  application  of  regulatory  standards  for  new  pollutants  and  the  use  of  new
measuring techniques.

(1)  COM(97) 500.
(2)  COM(96) 248 final.
(3)  COM(97) 627.

(98/C 158/263)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3839/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(5 December 1997)

Subject: Exemption of gauze from anti-dumping duties

The Commission has opened a new procedure for anti-dumping duties on imports of unbleached cotton textile
manufactured in Egypt, India, Indonesia, China, Pakistan and Turkey.

According to the Commission statement the product being dumped is unbleached cotton pile fabric with a cotton
content of at least 85% by weight intended principally for the clothing, linen and furniture industries. Strangely
enough, gauze for medical dressings was exempted from the anti-dumping duties. This is encouraging the import
of millions of square metres of gauze from India threatening to destroy completely the Greek gauze industry and
deal a serious blow to cotton producers in the Union.

By way of information Greece consumes 20 million square metres of gauze per year, that is to say 650 tonnes of
cotton fibre or 2600 tonnes of unginned cotton.

The disappearance of the Greek gauze industry will mean laying to waste 860 hectares of land currently used for
cotton cultivation and will put at least 500 Greeks out of work.

Can the Commission give us the reasons for exempting medical gauze from anti-dumping duties and what action
it intends to take before the Greek gauze industry disappears completely, reducing its workers to unemployment?

Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission

(23 December 1997)

As mentioned in the written question, the Commission, on 11 July 1997, initiated an anti-dumping proceeding
concerning  imports  of  unbleached  cotton  fabrics  originating  in  China,  Egypt,  India,  Indonesia,  Pakistan  and
Turkey.

This  proceeding  was  initiated  following  a  written  complaint  by  the  cotton  and  allied  textile  industries
(Eurocoton),  on  behalf  of  the  Community  industry.  The  complaint  covered  all  flat  unbleached  grey  cotton
fabrics, containing at least 85% cotton. It specifically excluded fabrics for the manufacture of bandages, dressing
and medical gauze.

It should further be noted that in the previous proceeding concerning unbleached cotton fabrics, it was concluded
that medical gauze should be considered as a product different to flat unbleached grey cotton fabrics in view of
its  different  physical  characteristics,  use  and  consumer  perception.  In  view  of  this  finding,  and  after  an
examination of the prima facie evidence submitted in the current complaint, the Commission decided to open an
anti-dumping investigation into alleged injurious dumping practices referring to the product as presented in this
complaint.

Should the Community gauze industry › including the Greek manufacturers › be suffering from any injurious
dumping practice, a complaint can be submitted to the Commission, including prima facie evidence of injurious
dumping.  If  after  an  assessment  of  the  information  presented  it  were  to  be  apparent  that  there  is  sufficient
evidence to initiate a proceeding, the Commission would do so within a period of 45 days after the lodging of the
complaint.