Commercial Information Circulars

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

2 March 2012

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 172/2012

European Union (EU)* : Anti-dumping Measures on Imports of Ironing Boards Originating in the Mainland of China and Partial Reopening of the Anti-dumping Investigation Concerning Imports of Ironing Boards Originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China

Further to the Commercial Information Circular No. 186/2007 of 26 April 2007, the European Commission (the Commission) has announced the partial reopening of the anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of ironing boards originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China. The reopening is limited in scope to the implementation of a judgment of the General Court of the EU annulling a Council regulation imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty on imports of ironing boards originating in the Mainland of China, insofar as it concerns imports into the EU of ironing boards manufactured by Zhejiang Harmonic Hardware Products Co. Ltd. ('Harmonic'). The notice can be accessed through the following link:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:063:0010:0012:EN:PDF.

DETAILS

2.The General Court of the EU, through its judgment of 8 November 2011, annulled Articles 1 and 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 452/2007 in so far as they impose a definitive anti-dumping duty and collect definitively the provisional duty on ironing boards manufactured by Harmonic. As a consequence of the judgment, imports into the EU of ironing boards manufactured by Harmonic are no longer subject to the anti-dumping measures imposed. The Commission has thus decided to reopen the anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of ironing boards originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China limited in scope to the implementation of the judgment as far as Harmonic is concerned.

3. Consequently, the definitive anti-dumping duties paid on imports into the EU of ironing boards originating in the Mainland of China, manufactured by Harmonic, and the provisional duties definitively collected should be repaid or remitted. The repayment or remission must be requested from national customs authorities in accordance with applicable customs legislation.

4. Salient points of the investigation are set out below-

(a) Date of Publication of the Notice

2 March 2012

(b) Product Coverage

Ironing boards currently falling within CN codes ex 3924 90 00, ex 4421 90 98, ex 7323 93 00, ex 7323 99 00, ex 8516 79 70 and ex 8516 90 00 (TARIC codes 3924 90 00 10, 4421 90 98 10, 7323 93 00 10, 7323 99 00 10, 8516 79 70 10 and 8516 90 00 51) manufactured by Harmonic (TARIC additional code A786).

All interested parties must make themselves known by contacting the Commission, present their views, submit any information, and provide supporting evidence within 20 days from 2 March 2012, unless otherwise specified. All interested parties may also apply to be heard by the Commission within the same 20-day time limit.

Interested parties must make all submissions and requests in writing (not in electronic format, unless otherwise specified) and must indicate their name, address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.

Commission address for correspondence:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate H
Office: N105 04/092
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Fax +32 22956505

Interested parties may request the intervention of the Hearing Officer of Directorate-General for Trade, who acts as an interface between the interested parties and the Commission services through offering, where necessary, mediation on procedural matters affecting the protection of their interests in this proceeding, in particular with regard to issues concerning access to file, confidentiality, extension of time limits and the treatment of written and/or oral submission of views. For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages of the website of the DG for Trade (http://ec.europa.eu/trade/tackling-unfair-trade/hearing-officer/index_en.htm).

BACKGROUND

5. Definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of ironing boards originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China has been imposed since 27 April 2007. The current rate of duty is 42.3% of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price before duty (except for six companies with individual duty rates ranging from 18.1% to 39.6%). For details, please refer to the Commercial Information Circulars No. 144/2010 of 31 March 2010 and No. 601/2010 of 22 December 2010.

ENQUIRIES

6. 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.

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.

(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.