2005/802/EC: Commission Decision of 17 October 2005 accepting undertakings offered in connection with the anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of potassium chloride originating in the Russian Federation
Date: 2005-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Russia, anti-dumping legislation, chemical salt, import (EU), originating product

19.11.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 302/79

COMMISSION DECISION

of 17 October 2005

accepting undertakings offered in connection with the anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports
of potassium chloride originating in the Russian Federation

(2005/802/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

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)
(the
basic Regulation), and in particular Article 8 thereof,

After consulting the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

I. PROCEDURE

By Regulation (EEC) No 3068/92 (2),
the Council
imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of
in Russia (the
potassium chloride originating,
existing measures).

inter alia,

In March 2004, by means of a notice published in the
Official Journal of the European Union (3), the Commission
launched, on its own initiative, a partial interim review of
the existing measures to examine whether they should be
amended to take account of
the
European Union to 25 Member States on 1 May 2004
(enlargement).

the enlargement of

The results of that partial interim review showed that it
was in the interests of the Community to provide for the
temporary adaptation of the existing measures so as to
avoid a sudden and excessively negative impact on
importers and users in the 10 new Member States (the
EU10) immediately following enlargement.

To this end,
in May 2004, by Regulation (EC) No
1002/2004 (4),
the Commission accepted undertakings
in Russia,
from,
namely JSC Silvinit and JSC Uralkali, in respect of their
in order to provide
exports to the EU10. In addition,

two exporting producers

inter alia,

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

(EC) No 461/2004 (OJ L 77, 13.3.2004, p. 12).

(2) OJ L 308, 24.10.1992, p. 41. Regulation as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 1891/2005 (see page 14 of this Official Journal).

(3) OJ C 70, 20.3.2004, p. 15.
(4) OJ L 183, 20.5.2004, p. 16. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 588/2005 (OJ L 98, 16.4.2005, p. 11).

for the exemption from the anti-dumping duties imposed
by Regulation (EEC) No 3068/92 on imports made
under the terms of the undertakings, Regulation (EEC)
No
(EC)
amended
No 992/2004 (5).

by Regulation

3068/92 was

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

to Regulation (EC) No
In June 2005, pursuant
858/2005 (6),
the Commission accepted new under-
to the EU10 by these Russian
takings
companies for a further period which will expire on 13
April 2006.

for exports

In the meantime, in January 2004, separate requests were
received from JSC Silvinit
(the
applicants) for individual partial
interim reviews of the
existing measures pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic
Regulation.

and JSC Uralkali

after

determined,
that

consulting
sufficient evidence existed for

the Advisory
Having
the
Committee,
initiation of partial
the Commission
published notices of initiation and commenced an inves-
tigation (7).

interim reviews,

to the findings of these two partial

Pursuant
reviews, by Regulation (EC) No 1891/2005,
Council amended the rates of
imposed against the applicants.

interim
the
the anti-dumping duty

II. UNDERTAKINGS

As mentioned above,
the Commission has accepted
undertakings offered by the applicants with regard to
their exports to the EU10. In this regard it should be
recalled from Regulation (EC) No 992/2004 that these
undertakings were of a transitional nature and intended
as interim measure allowing potassium chloride purchase
prices in the EU10 to rise to those prevailing in the in
the Community as constituted immediately before enlar-
gement
these EU10 under-
takings were not directly equivalent to an anti-dumping
duty since the minimum import prices (MIPs) established
were, exceptionally, at lower levels than would usually be
the case (i.e they were set at levels which did not fully
eliminate the injurious effect of dumping).

(the EU15). Furthermore,

(5) OJ L 182, 19.5.2004, p. 23.
(6) OJ L 143, 7.6.2005, p. 11.
(7) OJ C 93, 17.4.2004, p. 2.

L 302/80

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.11.2005

(10) However, within the framework of the partial

interim
reviews and in addition to the above mentioned under-
takings already in force for their exports to the EU10, the
applicants have also offered to sell the product concerned
to customers in the EU15 at or above price levels which
eliminate the injurious effect of dumping.

impossible to monitor, or if they are breached in any
way, the Commission is entitled to withdraw acceptance
of the undertaking of the company concerned which
would result
in a definitive anti-dumping duty being
imposed in its place.

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

The undertakings offered in respect of sales to the EU10
will expire on 13 April 2006 and, until this time, the
undertakings for sales to the EU10 and the undertakings
offered for exports to the EU15 will operate in parallel.

It follows that, after the EU10 undertakings expire in
April 2006, the higher MIPs established in the under-
takings offered within the framework of
the partial
interim reviews for sales to the EU15 will also apply to
sales to the EU10. In this way, the same MIPs, set at non-
injurious levels will apply to all imports by the applicants
into the Community market as a whole, and the aim of
the transitional and exceptional measures applicable to
the exports to the EU10 in the period following enlar-
gement will have been achieved.

The companies will provide the Commission with regular
and detailed information concerning their exports to the
Community, meaning that
the undertakings can be
monitored effectively by the Commission. Furthermore,
the sales structure of the companies is such that the
Commission considers that the risk of circumvention of
the undertaking is limited.

relevant

In order that the Commission can monitor effectively the
companies’ compliance with the undertakings, when the
request for release for free circulation pursuant to an
undertaking is presented to the
customs
authority, exemption from the duty will be conditional
upon the presentation of an invoice containing at least
the items of information listed in the Annex to Regu-
lation (EC) No 1891/2005. This level of information is
also necessary to enable customs authorities to ascertain
with sufficient precision that the shipment corresponds
to the commercial documents. Where no such invoice is
presented, or when it does not correspond to the product
presented to customs, the appropriate anti-dumping duty
will instead be payable.

(15)

The exporting producers should also be aware that,
under the terms of the undertakings, if it is found that
in any way difficult or
the undertakings become

(16)

In view of all these factors, the undertakings offered by
the applicants within the framework of
the partial
interim reviews are acceptable,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The undertakings offered by the exporting producers and
companies mentioned below,
in connection with the present
anti-dumping proceedings concerning imports of potassium
chloride originating in Russia are hereby accepted.

TARIC
additional
code

A695

A520

Country

Manufacturer

Russian
Federation

Russian
Federation

Produced by JSC Silvinit, Solikamsk,
Russia and sold by JSC International
Potash Company, Moscow, Russia, to
the first independent customer in the
Community acting as an importer

Produced and sold by JSC Uralkali,
Berezniki, Russia or produced by
JSC Uralkali, Berezniki, Russia and
sold by Uralkali Trading SA, Geneva,
Switzerland to the first independent
customer in the Community acting
as an importer

Article 2

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

Done at Brussels, 17 October 2005.

For the Commission

Peter MANDELSON
Member of the Commission