Commission Regulation (EC) No 174/2008 of 27 February 2008 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 994/2007 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of ferro-silicon originating in the People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Russia
Date: 2008-02-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Russia, anti-dumping duty, anti-dumping legislation, import, iron, originating product, semi-metal

28.2.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 55/23

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 174/2008

of 27 February 2008

amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 994/2007 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on
imports of ferro-silicon originating in the People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Russia

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

taking are no longer a valid form of measure in view of
the findings made during the investigation.

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

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

After consulting the Advisory Committee,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

On 30 November 2006, the Commission announced, by
a notice published in the Official Journal of the European
Union (2), the initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding
with regard to imports into the Community of ferro-
silicon (FeSi) originating in the People’s Republic of
China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia and Russia.

FeSi,

currently

The Commission, by Regulation (EC) No 994/2007 (3)
imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports
of
classifiable within CN codes
7202 21 00, 7202 29 10 and 7202 29 90, originating
in the People's Republic of China, Egypt, Kazakhstan,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Russia.
The measures applicable to these imports consist of an ad
valorem duty, except for an exporting producer in the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from which an
undertaking was accepted in the said Regulation.

In the context of the examination on whether the price
undertaking continues to be practical, it was found that
FeSi prices continued to fluctuate after the imposition of
the provisional measures and the acceptance of
the
undertaking. Overall,
found that FeSi prices
it was
showed a considerable volatility. Due to the above
described volatility of the price,
it was concluded that
the fixed minimum import prices (MIPs) of the under-

(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 C 291, 30.11.2006, p. 34.
(3) OJ L 223, 29.8.2007, p. 1.

(5)

(6)

(7)

In order to overcome this problem, the possibility to
index the MIPs to the price of the main cost input was
examined. It was concluded, however, that the volatility
in prices on the market cannot be merely explained by
an increase in the price of the main cost input, thus it is
not possible to index the minimum import prices.
Therefore,
it was concluded that the undertaking in its
current form, namely with fixed minimum prices is not
workable any longer and that the problem posed by the
the minimum price would not be
fixed character of
remedied by means of price indexation. Therefore,
it
was concluded that FeSi
is not considered anymore
suitable for a fixed price undertaking (see also recitals
131 and 132 of Council Regulation
(EC) No
172/2008 (4)) and that the acceptance of the undertaking
offered by the company concerned should be withdrawn.

The company concerned was informed of
the Com-
mission's conclusions and given an opportunity to
comment.

The company claimed that the Commission's reasoning
for the withdrawal of
the undertaking contradicts its
Community interest analysis whereby it stated in its
disclosure to the company that ‘while the information
available shows that FeSi prices have indeed followed
an upward trend in the months following the IP, the
prices for major cost inputs of FeSi have also increased
in the same period’.

In this respect, it is noted that the above statement, as
confirmed in recital 106 of Regulation (EC) No
172/2008, does not establish a correlation between the
price evolution of FeSi and the cost of inputs but was
intended to explain the economic situation of
the
Community industry.
in accordance with the
Indeed,
Commission established practice regarding indexation of
the MIPs, the MIPs can be indexed only in cases where
the price of the product subject to the undertaking varies
depending on the main input. In this particular case, the
cost of the main input (electricity) did not show a strong
correlation with the increase of the price of FeSi. Even if
there had been correlation between the prices of FeSi and
its main input, in view of the divergent electricity prices
on different markets, no suitable source of information
regarding electricity prices exists as a basis to index a
MIP, contrary to commodity prices for other products
such as oil. Moreover, other raw materials such as coke
variant
and

constitute major

quartzite

also

but

(4) See page 6 of this Official Journal.

L 55/24

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.2.2008

components of the cost of production of FeSi. Therefore,
if the MIPs were indexed to the price of each of these
inputs, complex indexing formulae would have to be
established making the determination of the parameters
of indexation and the workability of the undertakings
extremely complex. Therefore,
it was concluded that it
is not possible to index the minimum import prices to
the price of the main cost input, thus the company's
claim was rejected accordingly.

it

is against

The company further claimed that
the
practice of the Commission to change the level or the
form of
the measure provisionally determined and/or
proposed at definitive stage on the basis of information
that covers a period which is subsequent to the IP. In
accordance with the clauses of
the
company was made aware that the Commission may
withdraw the acceptance of
the undertaking at any
stage during its implementation due to changed circum-
stances from those prevailing at the time of acceptance
of
the undertaking or because the monitoring and
enforcement of the undertaking prove to be impractical
and a solution which is acceptable to the Commission is
not found. On this basis, the claim was rejected.

the undertaking,

The company also claimed that the Commission came to
a wrong conclusion in its assessment of the effectiveness
of the undertaking partially because it used unverified
post-IP data.
the
respect,
Commission followed its regular practice as it primarily
used Eurostat data for its analysis as well as the periodic
company.
submitted
report
undertaking
Accordingly, this claim was rejected.

is noted that

In this

the

by

it

(8)

(9)

the

undertaking, which authorise

the
clauses of
Commission to unilaterally withdraw the acceptance of
the undertaking, the Commission has concluded that the
acceptance of the undertaking offered by Silmak Dooel
Export Import, Jegunovce should be withdrawn.

(11)

In parallel to the current Regulation, the Council, by
Regulation (EC) No 172/2008, has imposed a definitive
ferro-silicon orig-
anti-dumping duty on imports of
inating,
in the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, which will be applicable to the imports of
these products manufactured by the exporting producer
concerned,

inter alia,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Import,

The acceptance of the undertaking offered by Silmak Dooel
Export
anti-
dumping proceeding concerning imports of ferro-silicon origi-
nating, inter alia, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
is hereby withdrawn.

in connection with the

Jegunovce

Article 2

Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 994/2007 is
hereby repealed.

Article 3

(10)

Therefore,
in accordance with Article 8(9) of the basic
Regulation and also in accordance with the relevant

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, 27 February 2008.

For the Commission

Peter MANDELSON
Member of the Commission