CELEX: 31978K0121
Language: en
Date: 1978-01-18 00:00:00
Title: Commission recommendation No 121/78/ECSC of 18 January 1978 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on certain sheets and plates, of iron or steel, originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Japan

24. 1 . 78                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                No L 19 /9
                            COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION No 121 /78 / ECSC
                                                      of 18 January 1978
               imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on certain sheets and plates , of iron
                          or steel, originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Japan
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                     1 242 000 tonnes for 1974 to 903 000 tons for the first
COMMUNITIES,                                                      half of 1977, imports originating in Japan, Bulgaria
                                                                  and Czechoslovakia having risen from 194 000 tons
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             for 1974 to 358 000 tons for the first half of 1977 and
Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Articles              that, as a result, they have been able to acquire a
74 and 86 thereof,                                                market share of over 20 % in general and over 8 %
                                                                   for imports originating in Japan, Bulgaria and
Having regard to Commission recommendation                        Czechoslovakia, in the Community and that, on the
77/329/ECSC on protection against dumping or the                  other hand, the Community steel industry is in a
granting of bounties or subsidies by countries which              crisis situation characterized by a reduction of about
are not members of the European Coal and Steel                    40 % in the production of the sheets and plates
Community (1), as amended by recommendation No                    concerned between 1974 and 1977 in the Commu­
3004/77/ECSC (2), and in particular Articles 15 and 19            nity, and by a reduction in the numbers employed in
thereof,                                                          the Community steel industry from 780 000 to
                                                                  720 000 between 1974 and 1977 and by short-time
Having heard the opinions expressed within the Advi­              working and that, as a result, the Community steel
sory Committee provided for by recommendation                     industry recorded serious losses in most of the firms
77/329/ECSC,                                                      concerned ;
Whereas the Commission has received a complaint,
submitted in the name of the relevant Community                   Whereas, in order to remedy this situation, the
industry, setting out evidence as to the existence of             Commission has introduced, in particular, a system of
dumping of certain sheets and plates, of iron or steel,           guidance prices (4) for sales within the Community of
originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Japan and                certain steel products produced by the European steel
certain other countries and material injury resulting             industry ;
therefrom ;
Whereas the Commission has published basis                        Whereas, the import prices into the Community of
prices (3) based on the lowest normal prices or costs of          products originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and
production in the supplying countries where normal                Japan are considerably lower than these guidance
conditions of competition prevail, including the costs            prices and such undercutting prevents the European
of transport, insurance and customs duties ;                      producers from achieving the guidance prices and
                                                                  jeopardizes the equilibrium of the entire pricing
Whereas the prices of imports into the Community of               system and causes material injury to the Community
the products which are the subject of the complaint               industry or to a major part of it ;
have been compared with these basis prices ;
Whereas a preliminary examination of the matter                   Whereas immediate action has been requested by two
                                                                  Member States ;
based on this comparison shows that these products
originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Japan are
offered for import within the Community (British and
French markets) at prices lower than the basis prices             Whereas, in the serious conditions being experienced
and that dumping has taken place, the margin of                   by the Community steel industry, the interests of the
                                                                  Community require immediate action ;
which is constituted by this undercutting ;
Whereas, with regard to injury to the industry                    Whereas it is for the Commission, without prejudice
concerned, the evidence submitted to the Commis­
                                                                  to the results of the investigation opened in accor­
sion shows that, on the one hand, imports into the                dance with Article 1 1 of recommendation 77/329/
Community of the products increased globally from                 ECSC, to decide promptly to apply provisional
(>) OJ No L 114, 5. 5. 1977, p. 6.
                                                                  measures consisting of the imposition of a provisional
(2) OJ No L 352, 31 . 12. 1977, p. 13.                            anti-dumping duty on imports of the products
(3) cf. Communication from the Commission of 31
    December 1977 concerning the basis prices of certain          (4) OJ No L 114, 5. 5. 1977, p. 1 ; OJ No C 174, 22. 7. 1977
    steel products, OJ No L 353, 31 . 12. 1977, p. 1 .                and OJ No L 352, 31 . 12. 1977, p. 17.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 19 / 10                      Official Journal of the European Communities                             24. 1 . 78
concerned originating in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and                                Article 2
Japan, the rate of which corresponds to the difference
between the basis price published by the Commission          The entry of the products described in Article 1 for
                                                             consumption within the Community shall be condi­
for this product and its price on importation into the
Community,
                                                             tional upon the deposit of security for the amount of
                                                             the provisional duty.
MAKES THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATION :                                                 Article 3
                                                             This recommendation shall be notified to the Member
                        Article 1                            States .
 1 . A provisional anti-dumping duty is hereby               It shall enter into force for each Member State on the
imposed on the following products originating in             date of its publication in the Official Journal of the
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Japan :                         European Communities.
— sheets and plates other than electrical, of iron or        Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 18 of
     steel not further worked than hot rolled of a thick­
     ness of 2 mm or more,
                                                             recommendation 77/329/ECSC, it shall apply until
                                                             the entry into force of an Act of the Commission
— Common Customs Tariff subheading 73.13 B I a),             either adopting definitive measures or extending the
— NIMEXE codes 73.13-17, 19 , 21 , 23, 26.                   provisional duty, and in any event for a maximum
                                                             period of three months.
2. The amount of this duty shall be equal to the
amount by which the effective price (basic price plus
extras) established by contract, free frontier duty-paid,    Done at Brussels, 18 January 1978 .
is lower than the effective price (basic price plus
extras) published by the Commission for these                                           For the Commission
products.
                                                                                       Wilhelm HAFERKAMP
3 . The provisions in force for the collection of
customs duty shall apply to the collection of this duty.                                    Vice-President