Not the law itself: Notice

Address https://gelex.eu/eli/EU/notice/oj/C/2017/113/05@2017-04-11/en

Contents

1. Preamble

Judgment In its judgment of 19 March 2015 in Case T-413/13 City Cycle Industries v Council, the General Court of the European Union (the General Court) annulled Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 501/2013 of 29 May 2013 extending the definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 990/2011 on imports of bicycles originating in the People's Republic of China to imports of bicycles consigned from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia, whether declared as originating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia or not, to the extent that it applies to the Sri Lankan company City Cycle Industries. By its judgment of 26 January 2017, the Court of Justice dismissed the appeals submitted against that judgment by the Union industry (C-248/15 P), the European Commission (C-254/15 P) and the Council of the European Union (C-260/15 P). In particular, the Court of Justice found, in paragraph 73 of its judgment, that recital 78 of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 501/2013 did not contain any individual analysis of circumvention practices in which City Cycle Industries may have been engaged. The Court of Justice also found in paragraphs 75 and 76, that the conclusion as to the existence of transhipment operations in Sri Lanka could not legally be based only on the two findings expressly made by the Council, that is, first, that there had been a change in the pattern of trade and, second, that some of the producer-exporters had failed to cooperate. In its judgment of the same day in Joined Cases C-247/15 P, C-253/15 P and C-259/15 P, the Court of Justice annulled the judgment of the General Court of 19 March 2015 in Case T-412/13 Chin Haur Indonesia PT v Council of the European, and dismissed the action for annulment brought by Chin Haur against Regulation (EU) No 501/2013. In that case, the Court of Justice found, in paragraph 98 of its judgment, that the Council had sufficiently explained its evidence concerning the existence of circumventing practices in Indonesia. Consequences In accordance with Article 266 TFEU the Union's institutions must take the necessary steps to comply with the judgment. Therefore, the lack of sufficient reasoning in Regulation (EU) No 501/2013 concerning the available evidence on the existence of circumventing practices in Sri Lanka must be corrected. It is recognised that, in cases where proceedings consist of several administrative steps, the annulment of one of those steps does not annul the complete proceeding. The anti-dumping investigation is an example of such a multi-step proceeding. Accordingly, in complying with the Union Court's judgments of 19 March 2015 and 26 January 2017, the Commission has the possibility to remedy the aspects of the contested Regulation which led to its annulment, while leaving unchanged those parts which are not affected by the judgment. Therefore, findings reached in the contested Regulation which were not contested within the time-limits for a challenge or which were contested but rejected by the General Court's judgment or not examined by the General Court and therefore did not lead to the annulment of Regulation (EU) No 501/2013, remain valid. Reopening procedure In view of the above, the Commission reopens partially the anti-circumvention investigation concerning imports of bicycles consigned from Sri Lanka, whether declared as originating in Sri Lanka or not, that led to the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 501/2013 and resumes it at the point at which the irregularity occurred by publishing this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. The reopening is limited in scope to the implementation of the judgment of the General Court with regard to City Cycle Industries. The attention of operators is drawn to the fact that, because this re-opening concerns anti-circumvention measures under Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (the basic Regulation), extended duties can be readopted with retroactive effect. Written submissions The interested parties are invited to make their views known, submit information and provide supporting evidence on issues pertaining to the reopening of the investigation. Unless otherwise specified, this information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 20 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. Possibility to be heard by the Commission investigation services The interested parties may request to be heard by the Commission investigation services. Any request to be heard should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. For hearings on issues pertaining to the reopening of the investigation the request must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, a request to be heard must be submitted within the specific deadlines set by the Commission in its communication with these parties. Instructions for making written submissions and sending correspondence Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence investigations should be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing a) the Commission to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence. All written submissions and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled Limited. Interested parties providing Limited information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 19(2) of the basic Regulation, which will be labelled For inspection by interested parties. These summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence. If an interested party providing confidential information does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, such information may be disregarded. Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests by email including scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets, with the exception of voluminous replies which shall be submitted on a CD-ROM or DVD by hand or by registered mail. By using email, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid email address and they should ensure that the provided email address is a functioning official business email which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions by email, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above. Commission address for correspondence: European Commission Directorate-General for Trade Directorate H Office: CHAR 04/039 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË E-mail: TRADE-R563-BICYCLES-CIRC@ec.europa.eu Non-cooperation In cases where any interested party refuses access to or does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, findings, affirmative or negative, may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation. Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available. If an interested party does not cooperate or cooperates only partially and findings are therefore based on facts available in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation, the result may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated. Failure to give a computerised response will not be deemed to constitute non-cooperation, provided that the interested party shows that presenting the response as requested would result in an unreasonable extra burden or unreasonable additional cost. The interested party should immediately contact the Commission. Hearing Officer The exporting producer concerned and the Union industry may request the intervention of the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings. The Hearing Officer acts as an interface between the interested parties and the Commission investigation services. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and requests by third parties to be heard. The Hearing Officer may organise a hearing with an individual interested party and mediate to ensure that the interested parties' rights of defence are being fully exercised. A request for a hearing with the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. For hearings on issues pertaining to the initial stage of the investigation the request must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, a request to be heard must be submitted within specific deadlines set by the Commission in its communication with the parties. The Hearing Officer will also provide opportunities for a hearing involving parties to take place which would allow different views to be presented and rebuttal arguments offered on issues pertaining, among other things, to the implementation of the judgment. For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages on DG Trade's website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/ Processing of personal data Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Disclosure The exporting producer concerned and the Union industry will be subsequently informed of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it is intended to implement the judgment and will be given an opportunity to comment.

Versions

1. 2017-04-11