Council Regulation (EC) No 41/2008 of 14 January 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1371/2005 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of grain oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel originating in the United States of America and Russia
Date: 2008-01-14
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Russia, United States, anti-dumping duty, anti-dumping legislation, originating product, plate, steel

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory)

I

REGULATIONS

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 41/2008

of 14 January 2008

amending Regulation (EC) No 1371/2005 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of
grain oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel originating in the United States of
America and Russia

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

B. PRESENT INVESTIGATION

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 11(3) thereof,

(3)

The information at the Commission’s disposal indicated
that certain GOES which typically have a thickness of up
inter alia, to their high electro-
to 0,1 mm and due,
magnetic efficiency,
low weight and low heat deve-
lopment associated with their use possess properties
which are not present in other types of GOES. As a
result of these characteristics, the use of these products
is also considered different and found typically in the
aircraft and medical engineering industries. Therefore, it
was considered appropriate to review the case as far as
the scope of the product is concerned.

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

(4)

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

A. MEASURES IN FORCE

By Regulation (EC) No 1371/2005 (2),
the Council
imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of
grain oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical
steel
(GOES) originating in the United States of
America (USA) and Russia (the definitive Regulation).

By Decision 2005/622/EC (3), the Commission accepted
price undertakings offered by two cooperating exporting
producers that were imposed a company specific duty of
31,5 % (AK Steel Corporation, USA) and 11,5 % (Novo-
lipetsk Iron and Steel Corporation (NLMK), Russia)
respectively. The
anti-dumping duties
applicable to all other companies, except Viz Stal,
Russia, subject to a duty of 0 %, are 37,8 % for USA
and 11,5 % for Russia.

country-wide

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

(EC) No 2117/2005 (OJ L 340, 23.12.2005, p. 17).

(2) OJ L 223, 27.8.2005, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 223, 27.8.2005, p. 42.

after

determined,

the Advisory
consulting
Having
Committee,
that sufficient evidence existed to justify
the initiation of a partial interim review, the Commission,
by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European
Union,
interim review in accordance
with Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation (4). The inves-
tigation was limited in scope to the definition of the
product subject to the measures in force in order to
assess the need for amendment of the product scope.

initiated a partial

(5)

(6)

C. PRODUCT UNDER REVIEW

The product under review is grain oriented flat-rolled
products of silicon-electrical steel, currently classifiable
within CN codes 7225 11 00 (of a width of 600 mm
or more) and 7226 11 00 (of a width of less than 600
mm). These codes are given only for information.

GOES are produced from hot-rolled coils of silicon
alloyed steel of different
thicknesses of which the
particular grain structure is uniformly directed in order
to allow for magnetic conductivity with a high degree of
efficiency.
Inefficiency with regard to this magnetic
conductivity is called ‘core loss’, which is the prime
indicator of the quality of the product.

(4) OJ C 254, 20.10.2006, p. 10.

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(7)

(8)

(9)

The market is typically divided into high conductivity or
high permeability grades and regular grades. The high
permeability grades allow achieving lower core losses
for any given thickness of the sheets. Such characteristics
are especially relevant for industrial producers of elec-
trical power transformers.

D. INVESTIGATION

The Commission advised the Community producers of
GOES, all known Community importers and users as
well as all known exporting producers in the USA and
Russia of the initiation of the review.

the
The Commission requested information from all
abovementioned parties and from those other parties
who made themselves known within the time limit set
in the notice of
the investigation. The
Commission also gave the interested parties the oppor-
tunity to make their views known in writing and to
request a hearing.

initiation of

(10)

The following companies cooperated in the investigation
and provided relevant information to the Commission:

Community producers

— ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel GmbH, Gelsenkirchen,

Germany,

— Orb Electrical Steels Limited — Cogent Power

Limited, Newport, United Kingdom,

Thin GOES-importer in the Community

— Gebrüder Waasner GmbH, Forchheim, Germany,

Thin GOES-users in the Community

— Gebrüder Waasner GmbH, Forchheim, Germany,

— Sangl GmbH, Erlangen, Germany,

— Vacuumschmelze GmbH, Hanau, Germany.

E. RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

1. Different identity of ‘ordinary’ versus ‘thin’ GOES

producers

(11) None of the producers of GOES, which were investigated
in the framework of the procedure leading to the impo-
sition of the measures in force, produce GOES of the
thickness as targeted by the current product scope inves-
tigation.

(12) Neither ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel GmbH, nor Orb
Electrical Steels Limited (Cogent) produce thin GOES
and the same situation applies to the US producers, i.e.
AK Steel Corporation and Allegheny Technologies Incor-
porated, and the Russian producers VIZ Stal and NLMK.
these producers had a direct
Consequently, none of
them objected to a possible
interest and none of
exclusion of thin GOES from the scope of the measures.

GOES-producers in the USA

— AK Steel Corporation, Butler, Pennsylvania,

— Allegheny Technologies

Incorporated,

Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania,

(13)

The production of thin GOES requires a process of re-
rolling, which is performed by specialised companies of
which only two are known to the Commission in the
countries concerned: the US producer Arnold Magnetic
Technologies and the Russian producer Ileko (Asha), of
which only the former company cooperated. As indicated
in recitals 10 and 11, there is no such production known
in the Community.

GOES-producers in Russia

2. Product differentiation

— Novolipetski
Lipetsk,

Iron & Steel Corporation (NLMK),

— VIZ Stal, Ekaterinburg,

Thin GOES-producer in the USA

— Arnold Magnetic Technologies, Marengo, Illinois,

(14) AK Steel Corporation produced thin GOES until 1971, as
so-called T-grades. The production process started from
fully finished GOES grades (both regular and high perme-
ability), from which the mill coating was removed and
where the sheets were re-rolled, re-annealed and re-
coated. Specific end-uses were found in the aircraft
industry,
transformers and a wide variety of electro-
technical applications, for which size and the weight of
the material is of a decisive importance. It was found that
such thin GOES are not
interchangeable with other
GOES.

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(15)

(16)

It was also examined whether such T-grades consisted of
a product which could be distinguished from ‘ordinary’
GOES on the basis of technical characteristics.
It was
found that the re-rolling production process (consisting
of a cold mechanical stretching and flattening process),
with re-annealing and re-coating, fundamentally alters the
technical specifications of the product, an observation
that
the
original manufacturers’ product guarantee.

corroborated by the disappearance of

is

the physical characteristic of
It was also found that
thickness is not
limited to 0,10 mm which was the
maximal thickness mentioned in the notice of initiation.
Most commercially occurring thicknesses are 0,1016 mm
and 0,1524 mm which in the USA are commonly
referred to as 4 ‘mil’ and 6 ‘mil’. One ‘mil’ stands for a
thousand of an inch or 0,0254 mm.

(17)

The product definition of thin GOES therefore has to be
specified as GOES which are re-rolled to a thickness of
maximum 0,16 mm, re-annealed and re-coated.

(18)

(19)

F. RETROACTIVE APPLICATION

the above findings that

In view of
thin GOES have
different basic physical and technical characteristics and
end-uses than other GOES, it is considered appropriate to
exempt imports of GOES of a thickness of maximum
0,16 mm from the anti-dumping measures in force.

Consequently, for goods not covered by Article 1(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 1371/2005 as amended by this
Regulation, the definitive anti-dumping duties paid or
entered in the accounts pursuant to Article 1(1) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1371/2005 in its initial version should be
repaid or remitted.

(20)

Repayment or remission must be requested from national
customs
in accordance with applicable
customs legislation.

authorities

(21)

the product,

Since the present review investigation is limited to the
clarification of the product and since it was not intended
this product type be covered by the original measures, in
order to prevent any consequent prejudice to importers
the
of
findings be applied from the date of
the entry into
force of the definitive Regulation. Moreover, in particular
in view of the relatively recent entry into force of the
original Regulation and of the expected limited number
of requests for refunds, there is no overriding reason not
to provide for such retro-active application.

is considered appropriate that

it

(22)

This review does not affect the date on which Regulation
(EC) No 1371/2005 will expire pursuant to Article 11(2)
of the basic Regulation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1371/2005 shall be replaced
by the following:

‘1.
A definitive anti-dumping duty is hereby imposed on
imports of grain oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-elec-
trical steel of a thickness of more than 0,16 mm, originating
in the United States of America and Russia, falling within CN
codes ex 7225 11 00 (products of a width of 600 mm or
more)
(TARIC code 7225 11 00 10) and ex 7226 11 00
(products of a width of less than 600 mm) (TARIC codes
7226 11 00 11 and 7226 11 00 91).’

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 28 August 2005.

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

Done at Brussels, 14 January 2008.

For the Council
The President

D. RUPEL