98/336/EC: Commission Decision of 6 May 1998 rejecting the application submitted by Techno Cycles (France) for an exemption pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 88/97 from the anti-dumping duty extended to certain bicycle parts originating in the People's Republic of China
Date: 1998-05-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: China, anti-dumping legislation, import policy, spare part, tariff exemption, two-wheeled vehicle

19. 5. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 148/33

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 6 May 1998

rejecting the application submitted by Techno Cycles (France) for an exemption
pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 88/97 from the anti-dumping duty
extended to certain bicycle parts originating in the People’s Republic of China

(98/336/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

After consulting the Advisory Committee,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Whereas:

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of
22 December 1995 on protection against dumped imports
from countries
the European
Community (1), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2331/
96 (2),

not members

of

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97 of 10
January 1997 extending the definitive anti-dumping duty
imposed by Regulation (EEC) No 2474/93 on bicycles
originating in the People’s Republic of China to imports
of certain bicycle parts from the People’s Republic of
China, and levying the extended duty on such imports
registered pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 703/96 (3),

Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 88/97
of 20 January 1997 on the authorisation of the exemption
of
imports of certain bicycle parts originating in the
People’s Republic of China from the extension by
Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97 of the anti-dumping
duty imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2474/
93 (4), and in particular Article 7(3) thereof,

(1) OJ L 56, 6. 3. 1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 317, 6. 12. 1996, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 16, 18. 1. 1997, p. 55.
(4) OJ L 17, 21. 1. 1997, p. 17.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

A. PROCEDURE

By Regulation (EC) No 71/97, the definitive duty
imposed on imports of bicycles originating in the
People’s Republic of China by Regulation (EC) No
2474/93 was extended to imports of certain bicycle
parts from that country (hereinafter referred to as
‘the extended anti-dumping duty').

On 26 September 1996, during the investigation
leading to the adoption of Regulation (EC) No
71/97, Tekno Cycles asked to be exempted from
the extended anti-dumping duty pursuant
to
Article 13(4) of Regulation (EC) No 384/96 (herein-
after referred to as ‘the basic Regulation').

By Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the Commission
declared Tekno Cycles’
for exemption
and
an
admissible,
suspended payment of the customs debt incurred
for the extended anti-dumping duty.

investigation,

initiated

request

In order to ascertain whether Tekno Cycles’ opera-
tions fell within the scope of Article 13(2) of the
basic Regulation, the Commission requested and
received the necessary information from the
company, which was verified at its premises on 24
and 25 February 1997.

(5)

In view of the fact that Tekno Cycles had only
started to assemble bicycles in March 1996, the

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Official Journal of the European Communities

19. 5. 98

investigation period was taken to run from 1 March
1996 to 28 February 1997.

B. RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

1. Nature of the circumvention practice

(11)

The investigation has established that, on several
occasions, the company concerned ordered almost
complete bicycles in disassembled form from the
People’s Republic of China during the invest-
igation period. For the shipments to Europe the
suppliers ensured that the parts destined for Tekno
Cycles were spread in different containers sent on
different dates and invoiced by different companies
in Hong Kong having the same address. By
following this practice,
the company concerned
avoided having the imported parts classified in
accordance with Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for
the Interpretation of
the
finished bicycles
Common Customs Tariff as
which would have been subject
to the anti-
dumping duty.

the Nomenclature of

2. Conditions of Article 13(2) af the basic

Regulation

(a) Start or substantial increase of operations

The assembly operations of Tekno Cycles started in
March 1996, well after the original investigation
into imports of bicycles originating in the People’s
Republic of China.

(b) 60 % of the total value of the parts con-

(14)

stituting the assembled product

It was established that the proportion of Chinese
parts used in the company’s assembly operations
varied from 64 to 96 % of the total value of the
parts used in each model; this applied to all bicycle
models assembled during the investigation period.

(c) 25 % rule on the added value to the parts

brought in

The value added in the Community on a per-
model basis to the parts brought in was found to
vary between 12 and 16 % of the manufacturing
cost of a complete bicycle, and was therefore clearly
below the 25 % threshold set by point (b) of Article
13(2) of the basic Regulation.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(d) Undermining of the remedial effects of the

duty and evidence of dumping

(i) U n d e r m i n i n g

(10)

the methodology
applied
The Commission
described in recitals 19 and 20 of Regulation (EC)
No 71/97. A comparison was established between
the sales prices of all bicycles assembled by Tekno

Cycles and sold in the Community during the
investigation period, and the ‘non-dumped' export
prices of Chinese bicycles in the original invest-
igation.

The comparison was made between identical or
comparable groups of bicycles; the prices of the
assembled bicycles were adjusted in order to ensure
that the comparison was made at the same level of
trade. The undermining margins for those groups
where undermining was found were expressed as a
percentage of the total non-dumped import value
(cif Community border) of Chinese bicycles, as
for all
established in the original
groups included in the comparison.

investigation,

(12) Overall,

the comparison showed that

the sales
prices of assembled bicycles have undercut
the
non-dumped export prices of Chinese bicycles in
the original investigation period by an average of
31 %.

(ii) E v i d e n c e o f d u m p i n g

(13) Dumping was calculated on the basis of all models
assembled and sold by Tekno Cycles in the invest-
igation period which were compared to the normal
values previously
comparable
established
bicycles, using the same criteria and the same refer-
ence country, namely Taiwan, as in the original
investigation, in a manner as reasonable as possible.

for

In view of the fact that normal values had been
established at FOB Taiwan level for the exporters
concerned, resale prices in the Community had to
be made comparable with this level. The actual
comparison was thus made between FOB China
and FOB Taiwan.

(15)

The dumping margin found was 12 %.

C. CONCLUSION

(16)

(17)

For the reasons explained above, it was established
that the assembly operations of Tekno Cycles fell
within the scope of Article 13(2) of the basic Regu-
lation during the investigation period. Accordingly,
pursuant to Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 88/
97, the suspension of payment of the extended
anti-dumping duty is lifted for Techno Cycles.

The company was informed of the essential facts
and considerations on the basis of which the
Commission intended to propose the rejection of
its request for exemption, and was given an oppor-
tunity to comment. The comments were consid-
ered and, where appropriate, the findings have been
changed accordingly,

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 148/35

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The application of Techno Cycles pursuant to Article 13(4) of Regulation (EC) No 384/96
to be exempted from the extended anti-dumping duty is hereby rejected.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States and to: Techno Cycles, Cap St Antoine,
155, rue de Rosny, F-93102 Montreuil Cedex (cid:190) France.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 6 May 1998.

For the Commission

Leon BRITTAN

Vice-President