29.5.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 164/9

(a)

Any importer who imported goods into the Union for which anti-dumping duties were established by customs authorities may apply for a refund.

(b)

Where anti-dumping duties were imposed further to an investigation in which the Commission resorted to a sample of exporting producers to assess dumping pursuant to Article 17 of the Basic Regulation, importers can request a refund regardless of whether the importers’ exporting producers were sampled or not.

(a)

Applications must be submitted within maximum six months of the date when the amount of the anti-dumping duties were determined by the competent customs authorities, i.e. the date of notification of the customs debt by the customs authorities under Article 221 of the Community Customs Code. The submission must be done to the competent authority of the Member State in which the goods were cleared for free circulation in the Union (see 3.2. and 3.3 below).

(b)

Even if an importer is challenging the validity of anti-dumping duties applied to its transactions under the provisions of the Customs legislation of the Union, whether this action suspends the payment of duties or not, the importer must nonetheless introduce an application for a refund within the six-month time limit from the determination of duties in order for the application to be admissible.

The Commission may in agreement with the applicant decide to suspend the refund investigation until the liability to the anti-dumping duties has been finally established.

(a)

The Commission will establish, for a representative period, a dumping margin in respect of all the exports of the product concerned made by the exporting producer to all its importers in the Union and not only to the importer claiming a refund.

(b)

Consequently, the refund investigation will cover all product control numbers (4) falling under the product definition set out in the Regulation imposing the anti-dumping duties and not only those of the products imported into the Union by the applicant.

(c)

Unless circumstances have changed, the same methodology as the one applied during the investigation which led to the duty will be followed.

—

no refund of the anti-dumping duties paid when the dumping margin is found equal or higher to the anti-dumping duty collected,

or

—

the refund of a part of the anti-dumping duties paid when the dumping margin has decreased below the anti-dumping duty collected,

or

—

the refund of all of the anti-dumping duties paid when the dumping margin has been eliminated versus the anti-dumping duty collected.

(a)

Six-month time-limit

All applications for reimbursement must be submitted to the competent authorities of the appropriate Member State within the six-month time-limit (5) set out in Article 11(8) second indent of the basic Regulation.

The deadline of six months must be respected even in cases where a Regulation imposing the duty in question is being challenged before the Courts of the European Union or where the application of the Regulation is being challenged before national administrative or judicial bodies (see point 2.3(b) above).

Depending on each specific case, the six-month time-limit will be counted from:

(b)

Date of submission of the application

When forwarding the application to the Commission, the Member State must indicate the date of submission of the application, i.e. the date on which the Member State’s competent authority has effectively received the application.

For their own benefit, applicants should obtain evidence of the receipt of their application at the offices of the appropriate Member State. For instance:

(a)

all invoice(s) and other documents on which customs procedures were based;

(b)

all customs documents identifying the import transactions for which a refund is sought, showing specifically the basis for determining the amount of the duties to be levied (the type, quantity and value of the goods declared and the rate of anti-dumping duty applied), as well as the precise amount of the anti-dumping duties levied;

(c)

declarations that:

(d)

information on normal values and on export prices that show that the dumping margin of the exporting producer has decreased under the level of the duty in force or has been eliminated. This is especially required where the applicant is associated with the exporting producer.

If the applicant is not associated with the exporting producer, and if the relevant information is not immediately available, the application should contain a statement from the exporting producer that the dumping margin has been reduced or eliminated and that it will provide to the Commission all the relevant supporting data. This is the data on normal values and on export prices for a representative period during which its goods were exported to the Union. This period will be later determined by the Commission (see 4.1(a) below).

If the exporting producer is based in a non-market economy country, the normal value will be determined under Article 2(7)(a) of the basic Regulation unless the exporting producer receives a market economy treatment (MET) under Article 2(7)(c) (see 3.5 below for more information on the procedure regarding non-market economy countries);

(e)

corporate information relating to the applicant;

(f)

power of attorney if the application is submitted by a third party;

(g)

a list of import transaction for which a refund is claimed (for the convenience of the applicant a pre-form with the requested information is attached to this notice as Annex II);

(h)

proof of payment of anti-dumping duties for which a refund is claimed.

Copies of originals of invoices, customs entry forms and other such documents must be provided with a declaration of their authenticity from the applicant or its exporting producer as the case may be. In addition, such documents, or their translations, should be in one of the official languages of the Union.

(a)

Representative period

For the purpose of determining the revised dumping margin, the Commission will specify the representative period which will normally include the date(s) of invoicing of the transaction(s) for which a reimbursement is sought. This period will normally cover a minimum of six months and include a short period prior to the date of invoicing of the first transaction by the exporting producer.

(b)

Dumping questionnaires

Pursuant to Article 6(2) of the basic Regulation, the exporting producer of the applicant and, where appropriate, the related importer(s), will be asked to submit information concerning all their sales to the Union, and not only sales to the applicant, made during the representative period.

The information will be sought by means of a questionnaire sent to the applicant’s exporting producer (and to any related importer in the Union) with replies due within 37 days.

The exporting producer may send confidential information directly to the Commission and not via de applicant. A non-confidential version of the reply to the questionnaire and of any other confidential information submitted should be provided in accordance with Article 19(2) of the basic Regulation. Such non-confidential information will be made available for inspection by interested parties.

(c)

Market Economy Treatment

If the exporting producer is based in a non-market economy, it can apply for MET for the purposes of the refund investigation. In this case, it will have to submit all the requested information under Article 2(7)(c) of the basic Regulation.

If MET is granted to the exporting producer, the normal value will be established on the basis of its own prices and costs under Article 2(1) - (6) of the basic Regulation.

If MET in not granted, the normal value will be established under Article 2(7)(c) of the basic Regulation (see point (d) below).

The MET determination in a refund investigation has no prospective nature and will apply only for the purpose of determining the dumping margin during the refund representative period.

The granting of MET for the purposes of the refund investigation is regardless whether the exporting producer has already been granted MET in the original investigation, or if it has cooperated in the original investigation.

(d)

Exports from non-market economy countries

If a refund is requested for duties on exports from a non-market economy and MET is not applied, normal value shall be established under Article 2(7)(a) of the basic Regulation (see point 3.5 for the necessary evidence to be provided by the applicant).

(e)

Verification visits

Parties submitting information should be aware that the Commission may verify the information received through a verification visit under Article 16 of the basic Regulation.

(a)

General methodology

The revised dumping margin will be established by comparing, for the representative period:

for the exported product(s) in question, in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 2 of the basic Regulation.

Article 11(9) of the basic Regulation provides for the use of ‘the same methodology as in the investigation which led to the duty, with due account being taken of Article 2 (Determination of dumping), and in particular paragraphs 11 and 12 thereof (Use of weighted averages in calculating the dumping margin), and of Article 17 (Sampling).’

The Commission may base the calculation of the revised dumping margin on a sample of the exporting producers, types of product or transactions concerned by the application(s), on the basis of Article 17 of the basic Regulation, in particular paragraph 3. The sampling will apply where the number of exporting producers, types of product or transactions concerned is so large that individual examinations would be unduly burdensome and prevent completion of the investigation in good time. This will be determined at the minimum over a period of 6 months counted from the date of lodging of the first request, or 12 months counted from the date of imposition of definitive measures, whichever is the later.

(b)

Implementation of Article 11(10) of the basic Regulation

Where the export price is constructed under Article 2(9) of the basic Regulation, the Commission shall calculate it with no deduction for the amount of anti-dumping duties paid when conclusive evidence is provided that the duty is duly reflected in resale prices and the subsequent selling prices in the Union. The Commission will examine whether an increase in selling prices to independent Union customers between the original and the refund investigation period incorporates the anti-dumping duties.

(c)

Use of review findings

When examining any application for refund, the Commission may decide at any time to initiate an interim review in accordance with Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation. The procedure regarding the application for refund will be suspended until the termination of the review.

The findings of the review investigation may only be used to determine the merits of a refund application provided that the date of invoicing of the transactions for which a refund is being claimed falls within the investigation period of the review.

(d)

Extrapolation

Notwithstanding point (c) above, for purposes of administrative efficiency, the dumping margin established in any investigation may be extrapolated for import transactions submitted for refund not occurring in that investigation period. This is subject to the following conditions:

—

supplies false or misleading information,

or

—

refuses access to relevant information or does not provide it within a reasonable period of time,

or

—

significantly impedes the investigation, including impeding the verification of the information to the extent deemed necessary by the Commission