Commercial Information Circulars

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e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 230/2/3/2/13

22 January 2009

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 47/2009

European Union (EU)* : Initiation of a "New Exporter" Review of the Anti-dumping Measures on Imports of Hand Pallet Trucks and Their Essential Parts Originating in the Mainland of China

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 476/2008 of 22 September 2008, the European Commission (the Commission) has published a regulation to initiate a "new exporter" review of the anti-dumping measures imposed on imports of hand pallet trucks and their essential parts originating in the Mainland of China. The regulation can be accessed through the following link :
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:017:0019:0022:EN:PDF.

DETAILS

Ground for the Review

2. The Commission has initiated the "new exporter" review, in request of Crown Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd (the applicant), which alleged that it did not export the product concerned to the EU during the period of investigation (1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004) on which the anti-dumping measures were based, and that it is not related to the Chinese exporting producers which are subject to the existing anti-dumping measures.
3. Having examined the evidence available, the Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of a "new exporter" review. The anti-dumping duty in force with regard to the product concerned produced and sold for export to the Community by the applicant is therefore repealed. At the same time, such imports are subject to registration for nine months from 23 January 2009, so that anti-dumping duties can be levied retroactively should the review result in a determination of dumping in respect of the applicant.

Review Procedures

4. Salient points of the "new exporter" review are set out below -

   (a) Date of Publication of the Regulation	:	22 January 2009
   (b) Product Coverage	:	Hand pallet trucks and their essential parts, i.e. chassis and hydraulics, normally declared under CN codes ex 8427 90 00 and ex 8431 20 00. Hand pallet trucks are defined as trucks with wheels supporting lifting fork arms for handling pallets, designed to be manually pushed, pulled and steered, on smooth, level, hard surfaces, by a pedestrian operator using an articulated tiller. The hand pallet trucks are only designed to raise a load, by pumping the tiller, to a height sufficient for transporting and do not have any other additional functions or uses such as for example (i) to move and to lift the loads in order to place them higher or assist in storage of loads (high lifters); (ii) to stack one pallet above the other (stackers); (iii) to lift the load to a working level (scissor lifts); or (iv) to lift and to weigh the loads (weighing trucks).
   (c) Procedures	:	In order to obtain necessary information for the investigation, the Commission will send a questionnaire to the applicant. The Commission will also send market economy status claim forms to the applicant and the authorities of the Mainland of China. Duly substantiated claims for market economy status must reach the Commission within 40 days from 23 January 2009. All interested parties may make their views known in writing and provide supporting evidence to the Commission within 40 days from 23 January 2009, unless otherwise specified. They may also apply to be heard by the Commission within 40 days from 23 January 2009. It is envisaged to choose Canada as a market economy country for the purpose of establishing normal value in respect of the Mainland of China. Interested parties are invited to comment on the appropriateness of this choice within 10 days from 23 January 2009. All correspondence must be made in writing (not in electronic format, unless otherwise specified) indicating the name, address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the interested parties and should be sent to the following address : European Commission Directorate-General for Trade Directorate H Office: N-105 4/92 B-1040 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIE Fax (32-2) 295 65 05

BACKGROUND

5. Definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of hand pallet trucks and their essential parts originating in the Mainland of China has been imposed since 22 July 2005. The current rate of duty is 46.7% of the net, free-at-Community-frontier price before duty (except for four companies with individual duty rates ranging from 7.6% to 39.9%).

ENQUIRIES

6. For enquiries concerning the contents of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

(Chandler CHAN)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.