Council Regulation (EC) No 160/2002 of 28 January 2002 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of cotton-type bed linen originating in Egypt, India and Pakistan, and terminating the proceeding with regard to imports originating in Pakistan
Date: 2002-01-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Egypt, India, Pakistan, anti-dumping duty, import, textile product

30.1.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 160/2002

of 28 January 2002

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports
of cotton-type bed linen originating in Egypt, India and Pakistan, and terminating the proceeding
with regard to imports originating in Pakistan

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1515/2001 of 23
that may be taken by the
July 2001 on the measures
Community following a report adopted by the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body concerning anti-dumping and anti-subsidy
matters (1),

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22
December 1995 on protection against dumped imports from
countries not members of the European Community (2) (‘the
basic Regulation’),

(3)

Having regard to the proposal made by the Commission after
consultation of the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

Appellate Body report on the case ‘European Communi-
ties — anti-dumping duties on imports of cotton-type
bed linen from India’ (the reports).

C. PRODUCT UNDER CONSIDERATION AND LIKE

PRODUCT

The product under consideration is certain bed linen of
cotton fibres, pure or mixed with man-made fibres or
flax (flax not being the dominant fibre), bleached, dyed
or printed originating in India, Pakistan and Egypt,
falling within CN codes ex 6302 21 00 (TARIC codes
6302 21 00*81,
ex 6302 22 90
6302 21 00*89),
(TARIC code 6302 22 90*19), ex 6302 31 10 (TARIC
ex 6302 31 90 (TARIC code
code 6302 31 10*90,
6302 31 90*90,
code
ex 6302 32 90
6302 32 90*19). The Reports do not affect the findings
set out
in the definitive Regulation concerning the
product under consideration and the like product.

(TARIC

A. EXISTING MEASURES

(1)

The Council, by Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 (3),
imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of
cotton-type bed linen originating in Egypt, India and
Pakistan (‘the definitive Regulation’). The definitive Regu-
lation was preceded by Commission Regulation (EC) No
1069/97 of 12 June 1997 imposing a provisional anti-
dumping duty on imports of cotton-type bed linen
originating in Egypt, India and Pakistan (4) (‘the provi-
sional Regulation’).

B. REPORTS ADOPTED BY THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT

BODY OF THE WTO

(2)

On 12 March 2001, the Dispute Settlement Body of the
World Trade Organisation (‘WTO’) adopted an Appellate
Body report and a panel report as modified by the

(1) OJ L 201, 26.7.2001, p. 10.
(2) OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2238/2000 (OJ L 257, 11.10.2000, p. 2).

(3) OJ L 332, 4.12.1997 p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Council

Regulation (EC) No 1644/2001 (OJ L 219, 14.8.2001, p. 1).

(4) OJ L 156, 13.6.1997, p. 11.

D. RECONSIDERATION OF FINDINGS

1. Preliminary remark

(4)

(5)

Following the adoption of the aforementioned reports,
the Council, by Regulation (EC) No 1644/2001, consid-
ered it appropriate to amend and suspend the definitive
anti-dumping duty on imports of bed linen originating
in India.

It is now considered appropriate to take into account
interpretations contained in the reports
certain legal
with regard to the measures concerning imports of bed
linen originating in Egypt and Pakistan, and to deter-
mine whether these existing measures remain appro-
priate, in accordance with Article 2 of Council Regula-
tion (EC) No 1515/2001.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

30.1.2002

2. Dumping

2.1. I n t r o d u c t i o n

(6)

the legal

it was considered appropriate to reconsider the
First,
inter-
existing findings taking into account
pretation made in the reports concerning the practice of
‘zeroing’ negative values when establishing the weighted
average margin of dumping for Egypt and Pakistan and
the determination of
for the
purpose of constructing normal values for certain Egyp-
tian and Pakistani exporting producers. All other calcula-
tion methods applied are those used in the original
investigation. For further details, reference is made to the
abovementioned provisional Regulation and definitive
Regulation.

the amount of profit

(7)

It is recalled that, in the original investigation, the invest-
igation of dumping covered the period from 1 July 1995
to 30 June 1996 (‘IP’).

2.2. S a m p l i n g

(8)

It is recalled that, in view of the large number of expor-
ters in the countries concerned, it was decided during
the original investigation to apply sampling in accord-
ance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

2.3. P a k i s t a n

(9)

(10)

Since only one out of the five companies in the main
sample for Pakistan had representative global domestic
sales and the profitable domestic types represented less
than 80 % but more than 10 % of total domestic sales,
the amounts for selling, general and administrative
(SG & A) expenses and profits used to construct normal
value were those actually made in the ordinary course of
trade by this company,
in accordance with the first
sentence of Article 2(6) of the basic Regulation.

For the other four companies,
in order to take into
account the legal interpretations made in the reports and
in accordance with Article 2(6)(a) of the basic Regula-
tion,
the amounts for SG & A and profits used to
construct normal value were the weighted average of the
actual amounts incurred and realised by the company
with representative global domestic sales mentioned
above and a company in the reserve sample which had
also representative global domestic sales. It should be
noted that sales not made in the ordinary course of trade
have not been eliminated when determining the profit
margin attributable to the other four companies.

(11) No changes have been necessary as far as the original
findings regarding the export price and adjustments
pursuant to Article 2(10) of the basic Regulation are
concerned.

(12)

(13)

The constructed normal value by type was compared
with the export price by type. Taking account of the
legal
interpretations made in the reports, no ‘zeroing’
was applied in the revised calculation of the overall
dumping margin for each sampled company.

The revised calculation shows that no dumping exists
the product concerned made by any
for exports of
sampled companies in Pakistan during the IP. Conse-
quently,
the proceeding should be terminated for
imports of the product concerned originating in Paki-
stan. It should be noted that there would also be no
dumping if sales not made in the ordinary course of
trade had been excluded in the determination of
constructed normal value on the basis of the method set
out in Article 2(6)(a) of the basic Regulation.

2.4. E g y p t

(14) With regard to Egypt, no changes have been necessary
as far as the original findings regarding the export price
and adjustments pursuant to Article 2(10) of the basic
Regulation are concerned. The normal value, which was
based on constructed values for three sampled compa-
nies without representative domestic sales in the ordi-
nary course of trade, was reconsidered in the light of the
interpretations made in the reports concerning the profit
margin used in determining such constructed normal
values. This is because the amount of profit used in the
original
investigation was based on the data of one
company. However, there are no data available from the
original
investigation which would allow the deter-
mination of the amount for profit on the basis of any
the
methodology provided for under Article 2(6) of
basic Regulation.
In these circumstances, a detailed
reconsideration of the dumping margin for Egypt is not
possible.

(15) Notwithstanding the above, the fact that the rather low
level of profit used in determining the constructed
normal values in the original investigation resulted in
relatively high dumping margins reveals that dumping is
still likely to exist for Egypt during the IP. However, the
level of any dumping margins would be substantially
reduced if no ‘zeroing’ was applied when calculating the
dumping margin for each sampled company.

E. TERMINATION AND SUSPENSION OF DUTIES

(16) With respect

to imports originating in Pakistan,

the
proceeding should be terminated in view of the finding
in recital 13.

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(17) Although a detailed reconsideration of the situation of
dumping of imports originating in Egypt during the IP
was not possible,
it is very likely that dumping still
exists, although at substantially reduced levels. A defin-
itive finding on the situation of dumping of imports
originating in Egypt would have necessitated more
detailed consideration being given to the application of
the various methods of calculating SG & A and profits as
provided for under Article 2(6) of the basic Regulation.
This would have required additional information which,
investigation, was not
the original
at
collected since it was not considered relevant.

the time of

the proposed course of action and were given an oppor-
tunity to comment and to be heard. The oral and written
comments submitted by these parties were considered
but have not altered the conclusions reached in this
Regulation.

(24) Any requests for a review and any observation/submis-
sion of information concerning the measures concerning
imports of bed linen from Egypt must be made in
writing and be submitted to the following address:

(18) Anti-dumping measures were originally imposed on
India, Egypt and Pakistan. It has been found that no
dumping exists for imports from Pakistan and it
is
considered that the level of dumping by imports origin-
ating in both India and Egypt has decreased. In addition,
the anti-dumping duty on imports originating in India
was suspended on 14 August 2001 by Regulation (EC)
No 1644/2001. The measures are set to expire with
regard to India on 14 February 2002, unless a review
has been initiated before that date.

(19) During the IP, Egypt had the smallest share of imports of
bed linen originating in the three countries concerned.
Indeed,
imports originating in Egypt only represented
about 14 % of total imports from the three countries
and about one third of total bed linen imports from
India.

(20)

It
is not clear whether a review will ultimately be
initiated with regard to imports of bed linen originating
in India. Thus, the future status of measures on dumped
imports of bed linen from India is uncertain. If no such
review is initiated it may be necessary to examine
whether the imports from Egypt, when taken in isola-
injury to the Community
tion, had caused material
industry.

(21) On the other hand, if a review is initiated with regard to
imports from India, the situation of bed linen imports
from Egypt,
including the conditions for cumulation,
could be examined in parallel.

(22)

(23)

For the reasons above and on grounds of procedural
efficiency, it is appropriate to suspend the measures on
imports of bed linen originating in Egypt, while
interested parties concerned with an
providing all
opportunity to submit information/observations, and, if
appropriate, to request a review.

The Pakistani and Egyptian authorities, the Pakistani and
Egyptian exporting producers and their associations, all
in particular the
interested parties in the Community,
Community industry,
traders and,
where relevant, their associations, received disclosure of

importers, users,

European Commission
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate B and C
TERV 0/13
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels
Fax (32-2) 295 65 05
Telex COMEUR B 21877.

(25) On the grounds of procedural efficiency, if no notice is
published before 28 February 2002 in the Official Journal
of the European Communities, indicating that an interested
party has requested a review, the anti-dumping measures
should automatically expire with regard to imports
originating in Egypt. If such a notice is published before
suspension should
the
continue until 15 April 2002, upon which date the
measures should expire unless a review investigation is
initiated before that date. If such a review is initiated, the
measures should remain suspended during the review
investigation,

aforementioned

date,

the

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
The application of anti-dumping duties as specified in
Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 is hereby suspended
with regard to imports of cotton-type bed linen originating in
Egypt.

2.
The anti-dumping duty specified in Article 1 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 2398/97 with respect to Egypt shall expire on 28
February 2002 unless a notice has been published in the Offi-
cial Journal of the European Communities before that date, indi-
cating that a request for a review has been received by the
Commission. If such a request is published, the anti-dumping
duty specified in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 with
respect to Egypt shall remain suspended but shall expire on 15
April 2002 unless a review has been initiated before that date.
During such a review,
if any, the application of the anti-
dumping duty with respect to imports originating in Egypt
shall remain suspended pursuant to paragraph 1.

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30.1.2002

Any request for a review by interested parties must be in
the following

3.
writing and must reach the Commission at
address no later than 14 February 2002:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate B and C
TERV 0/13
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels
Fax (32-2) 295 65 05
Telex COMEUR B 21877.

Article 2

The anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of cotton-
type bed linen originating in Pakistan is hereby terminated.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 28 January 2002.

For the Council

The President

J. PIQUÉ I CAMPS