2002/950/EC: Commission Decision of 3 December 2002 terminating the review of Council Regulation (EC) No 1601/1999 imposing a definitive countervailing duty on imports of stainless steel wire having a diameter of less than 1 mm originating in India
Date: 2002-12-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: India, import, monetary compensatory amount, originating product, steel, wire

6.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 330/33

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 3 December 2002

terminating the review of Council Regulation (EC) No 1601/1999 imposing a definitive counter-
vailing duty on imports of stainless steel wire having a diameter of less than 1 mm originating in
India

(2002/950/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 of 6
October 1997 on protection against subsidised imports from
the European Community (1), as
countries not members of
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1973/2002 (2), and in parti-
cular Article 20 thereof,

After consulting the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

A. PREVIOUS PROCEDURE

(3)

(1)

By Regulation (EC) No 1601/1999 (3),
the Council
imposed a definitive countervailing duty on imports of
stainless steel wire having a diameter of less than 1 mm
(hereinafter referred to as ‘the product concerned’) falling
within CN code ex 7223 00 19 originating in India. The
measures took the form of ad valorem duties of between
0 % and 42,9 % on individual exporters, with a residual
duty of 44,4 %.

(hereinafter referred to as ‘the basic Regulation’), from
one Indian producer, Nevatia Steel & Alloys Private
Limited (‘Nevatia’), in Bombay. The company concerned
claimed that it was not related to any other exporters of
the product concerned in India. Furthermore, it claimed
that it had not exported the product concerned during
the original
investigation period (1 April 1997 to 31
March 1998), but had exported the product concerned
to the Community since then.

2. Initiation of an accelerated review

The Commission examined the evidence submitted by
the Indian company concerned and considered it suffi-
cient to justify the initiation of a review in accordance
with the provisions of Article 20 of the basic Regulation.
After consultation of the Advisory Committee and after
the Community industry concerned had been given the
opportunity to comment, the Commission initiated, by a
notice in the Official
the European Commu-
Journal of
nities (4), an accelerated review of Regulation (EC) No
1601/1999 with regard to the company concerned and
commenced its investigation.

B. CURRENT PROCEDURE

1. Request for review

3. Product concerned

(2)

Subsequent to the imposition of definitive measures, the
Commission received a request for the initiation of an
accelerated review of Regulation (EC) No 1601/1999,
pursuant to Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 2026/97

(1) OJ L 288, 21.10.1997, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 305, 7.11.2002, p. 4.
(3) OJ L 189, 22.7.1999, p. 26.

(4)

The product covered by the current review is the same
product as that under consideration in Regulation (EC)
No 1601/1999, namely stainless steel wire having a
diameter of less than 1 mm.

(4) OJ C 261, 15.9.1999, p. 4.

L 330/34

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Official Journal of the European Communities

6.12.2002

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

4. Parties concerned

the

advised

the procedure. Furthermore,

The Commission officially
company
concerned and the Government of India of the initiation
of
it gave other parties
directly concerned the opportunity to make their views
known in writing and to request for a hearing. However,
no such views nor any request
for a hearing was
received by the Commission.

The Commission sent a questionnaire to the company
concerned and received a full reply within the required
deadline. The Commission sought and verified all infor-
mation it deemed necessary for the purpose of the inves-
tigation and carried out a verification visit
to the
premises of the company concerned.

C. RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

The Commission first examined whether Nevatia had
actually exported the product to the Community during
the investigation period of the original investigation.

In this respect, it was established that Nevatia had not
directly exported the product during the original investi-
gation period. However, Nevatia had sold the product
concerned to Mukand, one of
the Indian exporting
producers which had exported in the original investiga-
tion period and which was made subject to counter-
vailing measures with regard to its exports to the
Community. Nevatia argued that it had no knowledge of
the ultimate destination of
the products it sold to
Mukand and could not rule out that some or even all of
them were exported to the Community.

the original

investigation period,

Despite the lack of clarity with regard to whether Neva-
tia's products had been exported to the Community or
not during
the
Commission examined whether an individual subsidy
rate could be calculated for Nevatia. In this regard,
it
was established that Nevatia did not export the product
concerned either to the Community or to any other
country during the review investigation period, i.e. from
1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999.

facts available’.

In this
Regulation relating to ‘best
respect, consideration was given to the use of data
relating to one shipment of the product exported to the
Community by Nevatia after the investigation period of
this review. However, this shipment could not in any
case provide a representative basis for the establishment
of a reliable individual rate, particularly as this shipment
was considered negligible,
represented less than
0,01 % of its total sales of steel wires during the review
investigation period. In these circumstances, no indivi-
dual countervailing duty rate can be established for
Nevatia.

i.e.

D. FINAL COURSE OF ACTION

(11)

The Commission informed the company concerned of
the essential facts and considerations on the basis of
which it was proposed to terminate the review, and gave
the company a reasonable period of time to comment.
to
No comments which could change the proposal
terminate the review were submitted.

(12) Accordingly, it is confirmed that no individual counter-
vailing duty rate can be established for Nevatia in accor-
dance with Article 20 of the basic Regulation. The accel-
erated review should therefore be terminated,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Sole Article

The accelerated review of Council Regulation (EC) No 1601/
1999 concerning imports of stainless steel wire having a
diameter of
less than 1 mm originating in India is hereby
terminated.

Done at Brussels, 3 December 2002.

(10)

The Commission also examined whether there was any
alternative basis for calculating an individual rate for
Nevatia within the context of Article 28 of the basic

For the Commission

Pascal LAMY

Member of the Commission