C 223/40
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
8.6.2022
5.3.1.
Investigating producers in the country concerned In view of the potentially large number of producers in the country concerned involved in this expiry review and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit the producers to be investigated to a reasonable number by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ’sampling’).
The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.
In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, including the ones who did not cooperate in the investigation leading to the measures subject to the present review, are hereby requested to make themselves known and to provide the Commission with information on their companies within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice.
This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/R770_SAMPLING_FORM_FOR_EXPORTING_PRODUCER Tron access information can be found in sections 5.6 and 5.9 below.
In order to obtain the information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of producers, the Commission will also contact the authorities of the country concerned and may contact any known associations of producers in the country concerned.
If a sample is necessary, the producers will be selected based on the largest representative volume of production, sales or exports which can reasonably be investigated within the time available.
All known producers, the authorities of the country concerned and associations of producers will be notified by the Commission, via the authorities of the country concerned if appropriate, of the companies selected to be in the sample.
Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample of producers, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision whether they are included in the sample.
The sampled producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.
The Commission will add a note to the file for inspection by interested parties reflecting the sample selection.
Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.
A copy of the questionnaire for producers in the country concerned is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s Internet: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tdi/case_details.cfm?id=2594 Without prejudice to the possible application of Article 28 of the basic Regulation, companies that have agreed to their possible inclusion in the sample but are not selected to be in the sample will be considered to be cooperating.
5.3.2.
Investigating unrelated importers (8) (9) Unrelated importers of the product under review from the country concerned to the Union, including those that did not cooperate in the investigation leading to the measures in force, are invited to participate in this investigation.
(8) Only importers not related to exporting producers can be sampled.
Importers that are related to exporting producers have to fill in the Annex to the questionnaire for these exporting producers.
In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558).
Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brotherin-law and sister-in-law.
In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ’’person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).
(9) The data provided by unrelated importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of Union interest.