Trade and Industry Department Commercial Information Circular No.52/2010

Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

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

28 January 2010

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 52/2010

European Union (EU)* : Results of "New Exporter" Review of the Anti-dumping Measures on Imports of Ironing Boards Originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China

Further to the Commercial Information Circular No. 218/2009 of 30 April 2009, the Council of the EU has published a regulation announcing the decision to re-impose a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of ironing boards originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China from a Mainland company, Greenwood Houseware (Zhuhai) Ltd, consequent to a "new exporter" review. With the imposition of the anti-dumping duty, the registration of imports of the subject product produced by the company is discontinued. The regulation can be accessed through the following link :
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:024:0001:0006:EN:PDF.

Salient points are set out below :

(a) Product	:	Ironing boards, whether or not free-standing, with or without a steam soaking and/or heating top, including sleeve boards, and essential parts thereof, i.e. the legs, the top and the iron rest, currently falling within CN codes ex 3924 90 00, ex 4421 90 98, ex 7323 93 90, ex 7323 99 91, ex 7323 99 99, ex 8516 79 70 and ex 8516 90 00.
(b) Rate of Duty	:	22.7% of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price before duty.
(c) Effective Date	:	29 January 2010 (The duty imposed shall be levied retroactively on imports of the product concerned which have been registered since 1 May 2009.

BACKGROUND

Definitive anti-dumping duty on ironing boards originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China has been imposed since 27 April 2007. The current duty in force is 38.1% of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price before duty (except for 6 companies whose individual duty rates range from 0% to 36.5%).

A Mainland company, Greenwood Houseware (Zhuhai) Ltd (the applicant), requested a "new exporter" review. The applicant claimed that it had not exported the product concerned to the EU during the period of investigation (1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005) on which the anti-dumping measures were based but had started exporting the product concerned to the EU thereafter, and that it was not related to the Chinese exporting producers which are subject to the existing anti-dumping measures. The European Commission therefore initiated the "new exporter" review on 30 April 2009. The anti-dumping duty in force with regard to the product concerned supplied by the applicant was repealed. At the same time, such imports were subject to registration for nine months from 1 May 2009, so that anti-dumping duties could be levied retroactively should the review result in a determination of dumping in respect of the applicant.

ENQUIRIES

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

Yours faithfully,

(Alex LI)
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.

Electronic services for Production Notification, Certificate of Origin, Textiles Notifications, and Cargo Manifests enable traders to lodge/make the relevant applications directly through their office computer faster and easier. Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd runs services for the above documents. Global e-Trading Services Ltd and Brio Electronic Commerce Ltd provide services for Cargo Manifests. Please call the service providers for enquiries on their services:

Brio Electronic Commerce Limited (Tel: 2111 1288)
Global e-Trading Services Limited (Tel: 8109 1820)
Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited (Tel: 2599 1700)

Note 1:	While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.
Note 2:	The biweekly newsletter "Business Alert - EU" of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council provides up-to-date information on the latest developments in EU trade policy and trade regulations. The newsletter is available for free e-subscription and can be accessed through http://www.tdctrade.com/alert/eualert.htm.