Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1.Common commercial policy - Protection against dumping practices - Conduct of the procedure - Duration exceeding one year - Whether permissible - Condition - Reasonable period

( Council Regulation No 3017/79, Art . 7(9 ) )

2.Common commercial policy - Protection against dumping practices - Dumping margin - Determination of the normal value - Factor to be given priority - Price charged in the ordinary course of trade - Impossibility of taking it into account owing to the low sales of the representative exporting undertakings on the domestic market - Constructed value

( Council Regulation No 3017/79, Art . 2B(3)(a ) and ( b ) )

3.Common commercial policy - Protection against dumping practices - Imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties - Retroactive effect - Prohibited - Derogation - Retroactive effect covering the period of application of the provisional anti-dumping duties - Absence of transitional provisions applicable to imports effected in pursuance of earlier contracts - Principle of the protection of legitimate expectation - Breach - None

Council Regulation No 3017/79, Arts 11, 12 and 13(4)(a ) )

Summary

1.The one-year period provided for in Article 7(9 ) of Regulation No 3017/79 for the conduct of anti-dumping proceedings is a guide rather than a mandatory period, as is clear both from the wording of the provision in question and from the nature of the anti-dumping proceedings, whose progress does not depend solely on the efforts of the Community authorities . However, it follows from that provision that the anti-dumping proceeding must not be extended beyond a reasonable period to be assessed according to the particular circumstances of each case .

2.In a situation where, in the course of an investigation, it appears that the undertakings whose representativity concerning exports to the Community has caused them to be chosen for the establishment of the factors from which the dumping margin is to be determined sell only limited quantities on their domestic market, so that the normal value of the dumped products cannot be determined from the prices actually paid or payable in the ordinary course of trade, Article 2B(3)(b ) of Regulation No 3017/79 allows recourse to the constructed value .

3.The prohibition on the imposition of retroactive anti-dumping duties enunciated in Article 13(4)(a ) of Regulation No 3017/79 is not absolute . There are exceptions, in particular where the retroactive effect of the regulation imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty covers the period of application of the provisional anti-dumping duty imposed by an earlier regulation .

If an anti-dumping proceeding is in progress, a circumspect and prudent trader knows or ought to know that the imposition of an anti-dumping duty is possible and can therefore take that possibility into account when entering into contractual obligations . For this reason, the fact that the imposition of an anti-dumping duty is not accompanied by transitional measures for transactions effected pursuant to earlier contracts is not contrary to the principal of the protection of legitimate expectations .