Council Regulation (EC) No 2070/2003 of 24 November 2003 terminating the partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of fluorspar originating in the People's Republic of China
Date: 2003-11-24
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: China, anti-dumping duty, fluorine, import, originating product

27.11.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 311/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2070/2003

of 24 November 2003

terminating the partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of
fluorspar originating in the People's Republic of China

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

3. Investigation

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

(4)

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 (1) (basic
Regulation), and in particular Article 11(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal submitted by the Commission
after consulting the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

A. PROCEDURE

1. Measures in force

In September 2000, the Council, by Regulation (EC) No
2011/2000 (2), imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty
fluorspar originating in the People's
on imports of
Republic of China (PRC). The duty took the form of a
minimum import price (MIP).

2. Initiation

On 13 June 2002, the Commission announced by a
notice published in the Official Journal of the European
Communities (3) (notice of initiation) the initiation of a
partial
the anti-dumping measures
applicable to imports into the Community of fluorspar
originating in the PRC pursuant to Article 11(3) of the
basic Regulation.

interim review of

(7)

The review was initiated on the initiative of the Commis-
sion in order to examine the appropriateness of the form
of the measures in force, currently an MIP, as it does not
differentiate between sales made to related parties and
sales made to unrelated parties, or between first sales
and successive sales to the Community and it had
become apparent that this could lead to enforcement
problems. Consequently, the existing measures did not
appear sufficient to counteract the dumping which is
causing injury.

the
The Commission officially advised the importers,
users known to be concerned and their associations, the
representatives of the exporting country concerned and
the Community producers about the initiation of the
proceeding. Interested parties were given the opportu-
nity to make their views known in writing and to
request a hearing within the time limit set out in the
notice of initiation.

(5)

An association of Community producers, a chamber of
commerce in the PRC, eight users, one importer in the
Community and one trader in the United States of
America made their views known in writing. All parties
which so requested within the time limit, and which
there were particular reasons why
demonstrated that
they should be heard, were granted the opportunity to
be heard.

(6)

The Commission sought and verified all the information
it deemed necessary for the purpose of a determination
of the appropriateness of the measures in force.

B. FINDINGS OF THE INVESTIGATION AND TERMINA-

TION OF THE PARTIAL INTERIM REVIEW

The initiation of an interim review was motivated by the
necessity to limit the risk of duty avoidance. Such duty
avoidance can occur in different circumstances. When
exporters, currently subject to the measures, export to
the Community, they are in a position to invoice at a
price above the MIP, and to subsequently compensate
such a price after customs declaration by an agreement
with the importers. This may render the MIP ineffective,
as it may mean that the product concerned is effectively
still exported below the MIP to the Community. Accord-
ingly, this could lead to subsequent resale prices in the
Community which prevent that the intended effects of
the measure,
to remove the injurious effects of
dumping, are achieved. The substantial general risk of
price manipulation when duties take the form of an MIP
was highlighted by the findings of the European Court
of Auditors in its 2000 Annual Report (recitals 1.31 and
1.35) (4). In order to address this problem, it was initially
envisaged to replace the MIP by an ad valorem duty.

i.e.

(1) OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1972/2002 (OJ L 305, 7.11.2002, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 241, 26.9.2000, p. 5.
(3) OJ C 140, 13.6.2002, p. 16.

(4) OJ C 359, 15.12.2001, p. 1.

L 311/2

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Official Journal of the European Union

27.11.2003

(8)

(9)

Although in general an ad valorem duty is considered to
be more appropriate to avoid the risk of price manipula-
tion, it was found that, in the specific circumstances of
the current case, the risk of price manipulation is very
low, if not non-existent, since, over a sustained period of
import prices have been well above the MIP.
time,
Therefore, exporters would not have any reason to
manipulate prices in the way set out in recital 7. This
was also confirmed by the comments from all interested
including the
parties which made their views known,
Community industry, which all considered that the form
of the measure should not be changed.

It is therefore concluded that, due to the particular and
very specific circumstances of the present case, there are
currently no reasons to change the form of the measure
concerning imports of fluorspar originating in the PRC
and the current partial interim review should be termi-

to the anti-dumping
nated without any amendment
measures imposed by Council Regulation (EC) No 2011/
2000,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

interim review of

The partial
the anti-dumping measures
applicable to imports of fluorspar originating in the People's
Republic of China, initiated pursuant to Article 11(3) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 384/96, is hereby terminated without amending
the anti-dumping duty in force.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that
of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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

Done at Brussels, 24 November 2003.

For the Council

The President

G. MAGRI