Commercial Information Circular

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

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

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

22 December 2020

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 908/2020

European Union (EU)* : Initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding on imports of optical fibre cables originating in the Mainland of China

The European Commission (the Commission) published a notice 2020/C 442/07 on 21 December 2020 announcing the initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of optical fibre cables originating in the Mainland of China on the basis of a complaint lodged on 5 November 2020 by Europacable. The notice is available at:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:JOC_2020_442_R_0007&from=EN.

2.The product under investigation is single mode optical fibre cables, made up of one or more individually sheathed fibres, with protective casing, whether or not containing electric conductors, currently classified under CN code ex 8544 70 00 (TARIC code 8544 70 00 10). Please refer to the notice for detailed product description. All interested parties wishing to submit information on the product scope must do so within 10 days from 21 December 2020.

3.To enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all exporting producers in the Mainland of China, or representatives acting on their behalf, are requested to provide the Commission with information on their company(ies) within 7 days from 21 December 2020. The information must be provided via TRON.tdi at: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/423f4ef0-f84f-7cb6-0429-72e24a91d5ee. All exporting producers selected to be in the sample will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the sample selection, unless otherwise specified. Non-sampled cooperating^# exporting producers wishing to claim an individual subsidy amount must fill in the questionnaire and return it duly completed within the same deadline.

4.All interesting parties wishing to comment on the complaint or aspects regarding the initiation of the investigation must do so within 37 days from 21 December 2020. They may request to be heard by the Commission's investigation services. A request for hearing with or intervention of the Hearing Officer, who reports directly to the Commissioner for Trade of the EU, may also be made. Hearing requests should be made in writing, specifying the reasons for the request, within 15 days from 21 December 2020. Please refer to the notice for further deadlines and details.

5.For traders involved in the exports of the subject product from the Guangdong Province, please contact LI Xuefei, Director of Trade Remedy and Industry Injury Investigation Division under the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, at 86 20 3881 6201. The Division is responsible for, among others, guiding and coordinating enterprises in Guangdong Province in responding to anti-dumping investigations against products from the province.

6.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at 2398 5556.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Serena YUEN)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU comprises of 27 member countries, namely, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, 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 and Sweden. The United Kingdom (UK) withdrew from the EU with effect from 31 January 2020, and has entered an implementation period which is due to last until 31 December 2020. During the implementation period, the EU law will continue to apply in the UK generally.

^# Companies that have agreed to their possible inclusion in the same but are not selected to be in the sample will be considered to be cooperating.