13.5.2022

Official Journal of the European Union

C 195/2

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

Publication of the total number of allowances in circulation in 2021 for the purposes of the Market Stability Reserve under the EU Emissions Trading System established by Directive 2003/87/EC and of the number of unallocated allowances during the period 2013-2020

(2022/C 195/02)

1. INTRODUCTION

In 2015, the Council and the European Parliament took the decision to establish a Market Stability Reserve (1) under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) established by Directive 2003/87/EC (2). The Market Stability Reserve began operating in January 2019. Its purpose is to avoid that the EU carbon market operates with a large structural surplus of allowances, with the associated risk that this prevents the EU ETS from delivering the necessary investment signal to achieve the EU’s emission reduction target in a cost-efficient manner. Its purpose is also to make the EU ETS more resilient in relation to supply-demand imbalances, so as to enable the EU carbon market to function in an orderly way.

The Decision states that, by 15 May each year and starting in 2017, the Commission shall publish the total number of allowances in circulation. This figure determines whether some of the allowances intended to be auctioned should be placed into the Reserve, or be released from the Reserve.

On 12 May 2021, the Commission published the total number of allowances in circulation in 2020, amounting to around 1.58 billion allowances (3). The number of allowances to be placed in the Reserve over the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022 was 378 905 382.

This Communication is the sixth publication for the purposes of the Market Stability Reserve, and concerns the year 2021. It contains the total number of allowances in circulation, and sets out in detail how this figure has been calculated pursuant to Article 1(4) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814. This publication will determine the number of allowances that will be placed in the Reserve from September 2022 to August 2023.

2. FUNCTIONING OF THE MARKET STABILITY RESERVE

The Market Stability Reserve functions in an automatic manner when the total number of allowances in circulation is outside of a predefined range. In accordance with Article 1(5) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 allowances are added to the Reserve if the total number of allowances in circulation exceeds the threshold of 833 million allowances. Pursuant to Article 1(6) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 allowances are released from the Reserve, if the total number of allowances in circulation is lower than 400 million allowances. In practical terms, allowances are added to the Reserve by auctioning less, and released from the Reserve by auctioning 100 million more allowances in the future.

The publication of the total number of allowances in circulation, on the basis of which allowances will be added to or released from the Reserve, is therefore a key element for the operation of the Reserve.

In the context of the last major revision of the EU ETS (4), important changes were made to the functioning of the Market Stability Reserve. During the period from 2019 to 2023, the percentage of the total number of allowances in circulation determining the number of allowances put in the Reserve if the threshold of 833 million allowances is exceeded is temporarily doubled from 12 % to 24 %, pursuant to Article 1(5), first subparagraph, last sentence, of Decision (EU) 2015/1814. In addition, as from 2023, the number of allowances held in the Market Stability Reserve that exceeds the previous year’s auction volume will no longer be valid.

In accordance with Article 1(5) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 and on the basis of this Communication, 24 % (5) of the total number of allowances in circulation will therefore be placed in the Reserve over a period of 12 months starting on 1 September 2022. A corresponding amount will be deducted from the auction volumes of the Member States and the three EEA-EFTA countries, and of the United Kingdom in respect of the generation of electricity in Northern Ireland, in line with their respective auction shares. In this context, it is recalled that in accordance with Article 1(5), second subparagraph, of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 until 31 December 2025, allowances redistributed for the purposes of solidarity and growth within the Union are not taken into account to determine the relevant shares.

3. NUMBER OF UNALLOCATED ALLOWANCES DURING THE PERIOD 2013-2020

During the period 2013-2020 not all allowances initially planned for free allocation were allocated to the operators, due to three different reasons:

1.	unused allowances from the new entrants reserve;

2.	reduced activity (closures, partial cessations, significant capacity reductions);

3.	allowances withheld from allocations in view of Article 10a(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC because of the calculations being based on the assumption that installations could be deemed at risk of carbon leakage while in practice that was not the case.

Unallocated allowances are either to be placed in the Market Stability Reserve in accordance with Article 1(3) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814, or placed in the new entrants reserve for the period 2021-2030 under Article 10a(7), first sentence of Directive 2003/87/EC.

The number of unallocated allowances to be placed in the Market Stability Reserve and in the new entrants reserve for the period 2021-2030 is as follows:

—

The unallocated allowances to be placed in the Market Stability Reserve in accordance with Article 1(3) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 are 886 806 455 in number. This is the sum of 301 801 477 unallocated allowances from the new entrants reserve for the period 2013-2020 under Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC and 585 004 978 unallocated allowances from reduced activity under Articles 10a(19) and 10a(20) of Directive 2003/87/EC (viz. closures, partial cessations or significant capacity reductions).

—

The unallocated allowances to be placed in the new entrants reserve for the period 2021-2030 under Article 10a(7), first sentence of Directive 2003/87/EC are 131 289 138 in number. This number results from the number of 156 289 138 unallocated allowances that are due to changes in the carbon leakage status of installations, from which is deducted the number of 25 million allowances to be set aside for Greece under Article 10a(9) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

4. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ALLOWANCES IN CIRCULATION

According to Article 1(4) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814, the total number of allowances in circulation ‘shall be the cumulative number of allowances issued in the period since 1 January 2008, including the number issued pursuant to Article 13(2) of Directive 2003/87/EC in that period and entitlements to use international credits exercised by installations under the EU ETS in respect of emissions up to 31 December of that given year, minus the cumulative tonnes of verified emissions from installations under the EU ETS between 1 January 2008 and 31 December of that same given year, any allowances cancelled in accordance with Article 12(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC and the number of allowances in the reserve.’

In short, the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC) relevant for feeds into and releases from the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) is determined by the following formula:

TNAC = Supply – (Demand + allowances in the MSR)

There are three different elements that determine the total number of allowances in circulation: first, the supply of allowances since 1 January 2008; second, the demand for allowances (number of allowances surrendered and cancelled); and third, the holdings of the Reserve.

Pursuant to Article 10(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the Market Stability Reserve relates to allowances for stationary installations, thus aviation allowances and verified aviation emissions are not considered in this context.

4.1. Supply

The supply of allowances to the market is determined by a number of different elements:

—	allowances banked (6) from the period 2008-12 of the EU ETS,

—	allowances allocated for free between 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2021, including the allowances allocated from the new entrants reserve,

—

allowances not allocated to installations pursuant to Articles 10a(7), 10a(19) and 10a(20) of Directive 2003/87/EC, that were placed in the Market Stability Reserve in 2020 as per Article 1(3) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 (7),

—	50 million unallocated allowances auctioned for the Innovation Fund pursuant to Article 10a(8) (8) of Directive 2003/87/EC must be deducted from these volumes.

—	At the beginning of 2021, 200 million allowances were transferred from the Market Stability Reserve to the new entrants reserve for the period 2021-2030, according to Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

—

allowances issued for auctioning between 1 January 2013 (9) and 31 December 2021,

—	To this volume must be added 7 213 787 allowances used for the flexibility, as set out in Article 6(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) in 2021.

—	allowances deducted from auctioning volumes during the period 2014-2016, and allowances deducted from auctioning volumes from 2019 to 2021 in accordance with the previous Commission Communications (11),

—	allowances monetised by the European Investment Bank for the purposes of the ’NER300’ programme,

—	international credit entitlements exercised by installations in respect of emissions up to 31 December 2020. International credit entitlements can no longer be used as of the period 2021-2030.

The number of allowances banked from the period 2008-2012 of the EU ETS is 1 749 540 826 allowances (12). This ’banking total’ represents the total number of allowances issued during the period 2008-2012 of the EU ETS, which were not surrendered to cover verified emissions or cancelled. For the purpose of the determination of the total number of allowances in circulation it therefore represents the number of allowances in circulation at the start of the period 2013-20 of the EU ETS on 1 January 2013 and is taken into account as such in the calculation.

The number of allowances allocated for free between 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2021, including allowances allocated from the new entrants reserve is 7 141 195 439 (13).

The number of unallocated allowances pursuant to Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC was 301 801 477. The volume of 50 million allowances auctioned for the Innovation Fund were deducted from this amount.

The number of unallocated allowances pursuant to Articles 10a(19) and 10a(20) of Directive 2003/87/EC was 585 004 978.

200 million allowances were taken from the Market Stability Reserve and placed in the new entrants reserve.

According to the reports from the auctions on the common auction platform and on the relevant opt-out platforms (14), the number of allowances auctioned between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2021, including the so-called early auctions, is 6 598 419 287.

To this volume, 7 213 787 allowances were added based on Article 6(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/842.

In line with article 1(2) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814, the number of allowances deducted from auctioning volumes during the period 2014-2016 is 900 000 000.

The number of allowances deducted from auctioning volumes from 2019 to 2021 pursuant to the previous Commission Communications (15) was 1 095 875 607 allowances.

300 000 000 allowances have been monetised by the European Investment Bank for the purposes of the NER300 programme (16).

The international credit entitlements exercised by installations in respect of emissions up to 31 December 2020 correspond to 497 248 017 (17).

4.2. Demand

The demand consists of the total verified emissions from installations between 1 January 2013 (18) and 31 December 2021, which is 14 836 567 505 tonnes (19), and allowances cancelled in that same period, which corresponds to 621 882 allowances.

4.3. Holdings of the Market Stability Reserve

In line with Article 1(2) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814, the 900 million allowances deducted from auctioning volumes during the period 2014-2016 were placed in the Reserve when it began operating on 1 January 2019.

In line with the previous Commission Communications (20), 772 749 992 allowances were placed in the Reserve in the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020.

In line with the Commission Communication of 8 May 2020 (21), 196 823 820 allowances were placed in the Reserve in the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 August 2021.

In line with the Commission Communication of 12 May 2021, 126 301 795 allowances were placed in the Reserve in the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 December 2021.

In line with Article 1(3) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814, 301 801 477 allowances were added to the Reserve at the end of 2020, corresponding to the number of unallocated allowances pursuant to Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC. 585 004 978 allowances were added to the Reserve at the end of 2020, corresponding to the number of unallocated allowances pursuant to Articles 10a(19) and Article 10a(20) of Directive 2003/87/EC. In total, the number of unallocated allowances added to the Market Stability Reserve at the end of 2020 was 886 806 455, as was explained in part 3 of this Communication.

In line with article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the holdings of the Market Stability Reserve were reduced by 50 million allowances, that were auctioned in 2020 for the Innovation Fund.

In line with article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the holdings of the Market Stability Reserve were reduced by 200 million allowances, that were placed in the new entrants reserve.

For the period up to 31 December 2021, there were therefore 2 632 682 071 allowances in the Reserve.

4.4. Total number of allowances in circulation

In the light of the foregoing, the total number of allowances in circulation amounts to 1 449 214 182 allowances.

5. CONCLUSION

In line with Decision (EU) 2015/1814, over a 12-month period – from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 –, a total of 347 811 404 allowances will be placed in the Market Stability Reserve.

The next publication will be made in May 2023 to determine Reserve feeds from September 2023 until August 2024.

Overview

Supply

a)	Banking from the period 2008-2012

1 749 540 826

b)	Allowances allocated for free for the period between 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2021, including from the new entrants reserve

7 141 195 439

c)	Unallocated allowances pursuant to Articles 10a(7), 10a(19) and 10a(20) of Directive 2003/87/EC

886 806 455

d)	Allowances deducted from c) in order to be auctioned in 2020 for the Innovation Fund

-50 000 000

e)	Allowances deducted from c) and placed in the new entrants reserve in 2021

- 200 000 000

f)	Total number of allowances auctioned between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2021, including early auctions

6 598 419 287

g)	Allowances used for flexibility under Regulation (EU) 2018/842

7 213 787

h)	Allowances deducted from auctioning volumes during the period 2014-2016

900 000 000

i)	Allowances deducted from auctioning volumes in 2019-2021 pursuant to the previous Commission Communications

1 095 875 607

j)	The number of allowances monetised by the European Investment Bank for the purposes of the NER300 programme

300 000 000

k)	International credit entitlements exercised by installations in respect of emissions up to 31 December 2020

497 248 017

Sum (supply)

18 919 085 631

Demand

(a)	Tonnes of verified emissions from installations under the EU ETS between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2021

14 836 567 505

(b)	Allowances cancelled in accordance with Article 12(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC by 31 December 2021

621 882

Sum (demand)

14 837 189 387

Market Stability Reserve holdings

Number of allowances in the Market Stability Reserve

2 632 682 071

Total number of allowances in circulation

1 449 214 182

(1) Decision (EU) 2015/1814 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 October 2015 concerning the establishment and operation of a market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading scheme and amending Directive 2003/87/EC (OJ L 264, 9.10.2015, p. 1).

(2) Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32).

(3) Communication C/2021/3266 from the Commission (OJ C 187, 17.5.2021, p. 3).

(4) Directive (EU) 2018/410 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2018 amending Directive 2003/87/EC to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments, and Decision (EU) 2015/1814, (OJ L 76, 19 March 2018, p. 3).

(5) Representing 2 % per month.

(6) Allowances issued during the period 2008-2012 of the EU ETS, which were not surrendered to cover verified emissions or cancelled were ‘banked’ for use at the beginning of the third trading period (2013-2020) of the EU ETS. These allowances were deleted and simultaneously an equal number of allowances were created in the period 2013-2020. Thus, this number represents the exact number of ETS allowances in circulation at the start of the period 2013-2020 of the EU ETS. See https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets/union-registry_en#ecl-inpage-1121 section ‘Faq’ point on ‘What is banking?’

(7) Article 1(3) of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 states that ‘Allowances not allocated to installations pursuant to Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC and allowances not allocated to installations because of the application of Article 10a(19) and (20) of that Directive shall be placed in the reserve in 2020.’

(8) Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC states that ‘In addition, 50 million unallocated allowances from the market stability reserve shall supplement any remaining revenues from the 300 million allowances available in the period from 2013 to 2020 under Commission Decision 2010/670/EU, and shall be used in a timely manner for [the Innovation Fund].’

(9) This figure includes the so-called early auctions, i.e. allowances valid for the period 2013-20, which have been auctioned before 1 January 2013.

(10) Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate action to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement and amending Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 (OJ L 156, 19.6.2018, p. 26).

(11) Communications from the Commission of 15 May 2018 C(2018) 2801 (OJ C 169, 16.5.2018, p. 3), 14 May 2019 C(2019) 3288 (OJ C 167, 16.5.2019, p. 5), 8 May 2020 C(2020) 2835 (OJ C 164, 13.5.2020, p. 17) and 12 May 2021 C(2021) 3266 (OJ C 187, 17.5.2021, p. 3).

(12) See Carbon Market Report 2015; COM (2015) 576.

(13) Based on an extract of the EU Transaction Log (EUTL) on 1 April 2022.

(14) Available at: https://www.eex.com/en/markets/environmental-markets/eu-ets-auctions and https://www.theice.com/marketdata/reports/148.

(15) See footnote 11 above.

(16) A first tranche of 200 million allowances – sold in 2011 and 2012 – and a second tranche of 100 million allowances – sold in 2013 and 2014; see for further details

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/system/files/2016-11/summary_report_ner300_monetisation_en.pdf.

(17) Based on an extract of the EUTL on 1 April 2022.

(18) With respect to verified emissions in the period 2008-2012, please see explanations on the banking total (section 3.1.).

(19) The total verified emissions are based on an extract from the EUTL on 1 April 2022 to take into account verified emissions reported by 31 March 2022. Emissions reported after that date are therefore not reflected in this total.

(20) See footnote 20 above.

(21) See footnote 21 above.

13.5.2022

Official Journal of the European Union

C 195/11

Notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of fatty acid originating in Indonesia

(2022/C 195/05)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a complaint pursuant to Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (1) (‘the basic Regulation’), alleging that imports of fatty acid originating in Indonesia are being subsidised and are thereby causing injury (2) to the Union industry.

1. Complaint

The complaint was lodged on 31 March 2022 by the Coalition against Unfair Trade in Fatty Acid (‘the complainant’). The complaint was made on behalf of the Union industry of fatty acid in the sense of Article 10(6) of the basic Regulation.

An open version of the complaint and the analysis of the degree of support by Union producers for the complaint are available in the file for inspection by interested parties. Section 5.5 of this Notice provides information about access to the file for interested parties.

2. Product under investigation

The product subject to this investigation is fatty acids with a carbon chain length of C6, C8, C10, C12, C14, C16 or C18 with an iodine value below 105g/100g and with a ratio of free fatty acids to triglycerides (degree of split - DoS) of at least 97 %, originating in Indonesia, including:

—	single fatty acid (also referred to as ‘pure cut’); and

—	blends containing a combination of two or more carbon chain lengths (‘the product under investigation’).

All interested parties wishing to submit information on the product scope must do so within 10 days of the date of publication of this Notice (3).

3. Allegation of subsidisation

The product allegedly being subsidised is the product under investigation originating in Indonesia (‘the country concerned’), currently classified under CN codes ex 2915 70 40, ex 2915 70 50, ex 2915 90 30, ex 2915 90 70, ex 2916 15 00, ex 3823 11 00, ex 38 23 12 00, ex 3823 19 10 and ex 3823 19 90 (TARIC codes: 2915704095, 2915705010, 2915903095, 2915907095, 2916150010, 3823110020, 3823110070, 3823120020, 3823120070, 3823191030, 3823191070, 3823199070 and 3823199095). The CN and TARIC codes are given for information only without prejudice to their possible amendment at future steps of the proceeding. The scope of this investigation is subject to the definition of the product under investigation as contained in section 2.

The complaint contains sufficient evidence that the producers of the product under investigation from the country concerned have benefitted from a number of subsidies granted by the Government of Indonesia.

The subsidies consist, inter alia, of (1) direct transfer of funds and potential direct transfers of funds or liabilities, (2) government revenue forgone or not collected, and (3) government provision of goods or services for less than adequate remuneration. The complaint referred, for example, to the provision of export financing and guarantees on preferential terms by the Indonesia EXIM Bank and ASEI, various grants, the income tax holiday, the income tax allowance facility, the import duty and VAT exemption for machinery, the import tax exemption in Bonded Zones, various schemes for Special Economic Zones, the import duty exemption and import duty drawback scheme under KITE, preferential financing under the People’s Business Credit program, government provision of palm oil for less than adequate remuneration, and government provision of gas for less than adequate remuneration.

It is alleged that the above schemes are subsidies since they involve a financial contribution from the Government of Indonesia or other regional governments (including public bodies) and confer a benefit to the recipient. They are alleged to be contingent upon certain sectors, products and/or regions and are therefore specific and countervailable.

In view of Articles 10(2) and 10(3) of the basic Regulation, the Commission prepared a memorandum on sufficiency of evidence containing the Commission’s assessment on all the evidence at its disposal concerning the country concerned and on the basis of which the Commission initiates the investigation. That memorandum can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties.

The Commission reserves the right to investigate other relevant subsidies, which may be revealed during the course of the investigation.

4. Allegation of injury and causation

The complainant has provided evidence that imports of the product under investigation from the country concerned have increased in absolute terms and in terms of market share.

The evidence provided by the complainant shows that the volume and the prices of the imported product under investigation have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the quantities sold and the level of prices charged and market share held by the Union industry, resulting in substantial adverse effects on the overall performance and the financial situation of the Union industry.

5. Procedure

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that the complaint has been lodged by or on behalf of the Union industry and that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of a proceeding, the Commission hereby initiates an investigation pursuant to Article 10 of the basic Regulation.

The investigation will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the country concerned is being subsidised and whether the subsidised imports have caused injury to the Union industry.

If the conclusions are affirmative, the investigation will examine whether the imposition of measures would not be against the Union interest.

The Government of Indonesia has been invited for consultations.

The Commission also draws the attention of the parties that further to the COVID-19 outbreak, a Notice (4) was published on the potential consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.

The Commission further draws the attention of the parties to the separate on-going anti-dumping investigation covering the same product (5). The exporting producers, the Union industry, and all the interested parties in that anti-dumping investigation are invited to register separately for this investigation and to submit the relevant information according to the modalities and the timelines specified in this Notice without regard to the information possibly submitted in the context of the anti-dumping investigation. The information or comments submitted in the context of the anti-dumping investigation may not automatically be taken into account in this investigation, and parties are invited to submit as a matter of principle all the information concerning this investigation separately in the context of this procedure.

5.1. Investigation period and period considered

For the sake of efficiency, the investigation of subsidisation and injury will cover the same period as the one examined in the separate ongoing investigation (namely, the period from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021) (‘the investigation period’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from 1 January 2018 to the end of the investigation period (‘the period considered’).

5.2. Comments on the complaint and the initiation of the investigation

All interested parties wishing to comment on the complaint (including matters pertaining to injury and causality) or any aspects regarding the initiation of the investigation (including the degree of support for the complaint) must do so within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

Any request for a hearing with regard to the initiation of the investigation must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

5.3. Procedure for the determination of subsidisation

Exporting producers (6) of the product under investigation from the country concerned and the authorities of the country concerned are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

5.3.1. Investigating exporting producers

Procedure for selecting exporting producers to be investigated in the country concerned

(a) Sampling

In view of the potentially large number of exporting producers in the country concerned involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit the exporting producers to be investigated to a reasonable number by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all exporting producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with information on their company(ies) within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/AS688_SAMPLING_FORM_FOR_EXPORTING_PRODUCER. Tron access information can be found in section 5.7.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of exporting producers, the Commission has also contacted the authorities of the country concerned and may contact any known associations of exporting producers.

If a sample is necessary, the exporting producers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of exports to the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available. All known exporting producers, the authorities of the country concerned and associations of exporting producers will be notified by the Commission, via the authorities of the country concerned if appropriate, of the companies selected to be in the sample.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample of exporting producers, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision whether they are included in the sample. The sampled exporting producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2599).

The Commission will add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

The questionnaire will also be made available to any known association of exporting producers, and to the authorities of the country concerned.

Without prejudice to the application of Article 28 of the basic Regulation companies that have agreed to their possible inclusion in the sample but are not selected to be in the sample will be considered to be cooperating (’non-sampled cooperating exporting producers’). Without prejudice to section (b) below, the countervailing duty that may be applied to imports from non-sampled cooperating exporting producers will not exceed the weighted average margin of subsidisation established for the exporting producers in the sample (7).

(b) Individual amount of countervailable subsidisation for companies not included in the sample

Pursuant to Article 27(3) of the basic Regulation, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers may request the Commission to establish their individual amount of countervailable subsidisation. Exporting producers wishing to claim an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation must fill in the questionnaire and return it duly completed within 30 days of the date of notification of the sample selection, unless otherwise specified. A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2599).

The Commission will examine whether non-sampled cooperating exporting producers can be granted an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation in accordance with Article 27(3) of the basic Regulation.

However, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers claiming an individual amount of countervailable subsidisation should be aware that the Commission may nonetheless decide not to determine their individual amount of countervailable subsidisation if, for instance, the number of non-sampled cooperating exporting producers is so large that such determination would be unduly burdensome and would prevent the timely completion of the investigation.

5.3.2. Investigating unrelated importers (8) (9)

Unrelated importers of the product under investigation from the country concerned to the Union are invited to participate in this investigation.

In view of the potentially large number of unrelated importers involved in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission may limit to a reasonable number the unrelated importers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling will be carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary and, if so, to select a sample, all unrelated importers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are hereby requested to provide the Commission with the information on their company(ies) requested in the Annex to this Notice within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of unrelated importers, the Commission may also contact any known associations of importers.

If a sample is necessary, the importers may be selected based on the largest representative volume of sales of the product under investigation in the Union which can reasonably be investigated within the time available. All known unrelated importers and associations of importers will be notified by the Commission of the companies selected to be in the sample.

Once the Commission has received the necessary information to select a sample, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision on the sample of importers. The Commission will also add a note reflecting the sample selection to the file for inspection by interested parties. Any comment on the sample selection must be received within 3 days of the date of notification of the sample decision.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for its investigation, the Commission will make available questionnaires to the sampled unrelated importers. Those parties must submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of the notification of the decision about the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for importers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2599).

5.4. Procedure for the determination of injury and investigating Union producers

A determination of injury is based on positive evidence and involves an objective examination of the volume of the subsidised imports, their effect on prices on the Union market and the consequent impact of those imports on the Union industry. In order to establish whether the Union industry is injured, Union producers of the product under investigation are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

In view of the large number of Union producers concerned and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limits, the Commission has decided to limit to a reasonable number the Union producers that will be investigated by selecting a sample (this process is also referred to as ‘sampling’). The sampling is carried out in accordance with Article 27 of the basic Regulation.

The Commission has provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. Details can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties. Interested parties are hereby invited to comment on the provisional sample. In addition, other Union producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, that consider that there are reasons why they should be included in the sample must contact the Commission within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. All comments regarding the provisional sample must be received within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

All known Union producers and/or associations of Union producers will be notified by the Commission of the companies finally selected to be in the sample.

The sampled Union producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

A copy of the questionnaire for Union producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2599).

5.5. Procedure for the assessment of Union interest

Should the existence of subsidisation and injury caused thereby be established, a decision will be reached, pursuant to Article 31 of the basic Regulation, as to whether the adoption of countervailing measures would not be against the Union interest. Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations are invited to provide the Commission with information on the Union interest.

Information concerning the assessment of Union interest must be provided within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice unless otherwise specified. This information may be provided either in a free format or by completing a questionnaire prepared by the Commission. A copy of the questionnaires, including the questionnaire for users of the product under investigation, is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2599). The information submitted pursuant to Article 31 will only be taken into account if supported by factual evidence at the time of submission.

5.6. Interested parties

In order to participate in the investigation interested parties, such as exporting producers, Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations first have to demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Exporting producers, Union producers, importers and representative associations who made information available in accordance to the procedures described in sections 5.3.1, 5.3.2, and 5.4 above will be considered as interested parties if there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Other parties will only be able to participate in the investigation as interested party from the moment they make themselves known, and provided that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation. Being considered as an interested party is without prejudice to the application of Article 28 of the basic Regulation.

Access to the file available for inspection for interested parties is made via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI. Please follow the instructions on that page to get access (10).

5.7. Possibility to be heard by the Commission investigation services

All interested parties may request to be heard by the Commission’s investigation services.

Any request to be heard must be made in writing and must specify the reasons for the request as well as a summary of what the interested party wishes to discuss during the hearing. The hearing will be limited to the issues set out by the interested parties in writing beforehand.

The timeframe for hearings is as follows:

—	For any hearings to take place before the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice and the hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

—	After the provisional stage, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the provisional disclosure or of the information document, and the hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document.

—

At definitive stage, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure, and the hearing will normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the right of the Commission services to accept hearings outside the timeframe in duly justified cases and to the right of the Commission to deny hearings in duly justified cases. Where the Commission services refuse a hearing request, the party concerned will be informed of the reasons for such refusal.

In principle, hearings will not be used to present factual information which is not yet on file. Nevertheless, in the interest of good administration and to enable Commission services to progress with the investigation, interested parties may be directed to provide new factual information after a hearing.

5.8. Instructions for making written submissions and sending completed questionnaires and correspondence

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence investigations shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing the Commission a) to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions, including the information requested in this Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Sensitive’ (11). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 29(2) of the basic Regulation, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets. By using TRON.tdi or email, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf. The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid email address and they should ensure that the provided e-mail address is a functioning official business e-mail which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi and by email, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Trade

Directorate G

Office: CHAR 04/039

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

TRON. tdi: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi

Email:

TRADE-AS688-FA-SUBSIDY@ec.europa.eu

TRADE-AS688-FA-INJURY@ec.europa.eu

6. Schedule of the investigation

Pursuant to Article 11(9) of the basic Regulation, the investigation shall, whenever possible, be concluded within 12 months and in any event no later than 13 months from the date of the publication of this Notice. In accordance with Article 12(1) of the basic Regulation, provisional measures may be imposed not later than 9 months from the publication of this Notice.

In accordance with Article 29a of the basic Regulation, the Commission will provide information on the planned imposition of provisional duties 4 weeks before the imposition of provisional measures. Interested parties may request this information in writing within 4 months from the publication of this Notice. Interested parties will be given 3 working days to comment in writing on the accuracy of the calculations.

In cases where the Commission intends not to impose provisional duties but to continue the investigation, interested parties will be informed in writing of the non-imposition of duties 4 weeks before the expiry of the deadline under Article 12(1) of the basic Regulation.

Interested parties will be given in principle 15 days to comment in writing on the provisional findings or on the information document, and 10 days to comment in writing on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. Where applicable, additional final disclosures will specify the deadline for interested parties to comment in writing.

7. Submission of information

As a rule, interested parties may only submit information in the timeframes specified in sections 5 and 6 of this Notice. The submission of any other information not covered by those sections should respect the following timetable:

—	Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

—

Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the provisional disclosure or the information document at provisional stage. Beyond such deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information provided that such parties can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner.

—	In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure.

8. Possibility to comment on other parties’ submissions

In order to guarantee the rights of defence, interested parties should have the possibility to comment on information submitted by other interested parties. When doing so, interested parties may only address issues raised in the other interested parties’ submissions and may not raise new issues.

Such comments should be made according to the following timeframe:

—	Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest within 75 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document should be submitted within 7 days from the deadline to comment on the provisional findings or on the information document, unless otherwise specified.

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the disclosure of the definitive findings should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this further disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this further disclosure, unless otherwise specified.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the Commission’s right to request additional information from interested parties in duly justified cases.

9. Extension to time limits specified in this Notice

Extensions to the time limits provided for in this Notice should only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified upon good cause being showed.

In any event, any extension to the deadline to reply to questionnaires will be limited normally to 3 days, and as a rule will not exceed 7 days.

Regarding time limits for the submission of other information specified in the Notice of initiation, extensions will be limited to 3 days unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

10. Non-cooperation

In cases where any interested party refuses access to or does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, provisional or final findings, affirmative or negative, may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 28 of the basic Regulation.

Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

If an interested party does not cooperate or cooperates only partially and findings are therefore based on facts available in accordance with Article 28 of the basic Regulation, the result may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated.

Failure to give a computerised response shall not be deemed to constitute non-cooperation, provided that the interested party shows that presenting the response as requested would result in an unreasonable extra burden or unreasonable additional cost. The interested party should immediately contact the Commission.

11. Hearing Officer

Interested parties may request the intervention of the Hearing Officer for trade proceedings. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

The Hearing Officer may organise hearings and mediate between the interested party/-ies and Commissions services to ensure that the interested parties’ rights of defence are being fully exercised. A request for a hearing with the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for the requests. These hearings should only take place if the issues have not been settled with the Commission services in the due course.

Any request must be submitted in good time and expeditiously so as not to jeopardise the orderly conduct of proceedings. To that effect, interested parties should request the intervention of the Hearing Officer at the earliest possible time following the occurrence of the event justifying such intervention. In principle, the timeframes set out in section 5.6 to request hearings with the Commission services apply mutatis mutandis to requests for hearings with the Hearing Officer. Where hearing requests are submitted outside the relevant timeframes, the Hearing Officer will also examine the reasons for such late requests, the nature of the issues raised and the impact of those issues on the rights of defence, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer’s web pages on DG Trade’s Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/

12. Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG TRADE’s Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/trade-defence/

(1) OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 55.

(2) The general term ‘injury’ refers to material injury as well as to threat of material injury or material retardation of the establishment of an industry as set out in Article 2(d) of the basic Regulation.

(3) References to the publication of this Notice mean publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(4) On the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations OJ C 86, 16.3.2020, p. 6.

(5) Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of fatty acid originating in Indonesia (OJ C 482, 30.11.2021, p. 5).

(6) An exporting producer is any company in the country concerned which produces and exports the product under investigation to the Union market, either directly or via a third party, including any of its related companies involved in the production, domestic sales or exports of the product under investigation.

(7) Pursuant to Article 15(3) of the basic Regulation, any zero and de minimis amounts of countervailable subsidies and amounts of countervailable subsidies established in the circumstances referred to in Article 28 of the basic Regulation shall be disregarded.

(8) Only importers not related to exporting producers can be sampled. Importers that are related to exporting producers have to fill in Annex I to the questionnaire for these exporting producers. In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ’’person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

(9) The data provided by unrelated importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of subsidisation.

(10) In case of technical problems please contact the Trade Service Desk by Email: trade-service-desk@ec.europa.eu or by Tel. +32 22979797.

(11) A ’Sensitive’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 29 of the basic Regulation and Article 12.4 of the WTO Agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures. It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(12) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

ANNEX

☐	‘Sensitive’ version (1)
☐	Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’
	(tick the appropriate box)

ANTI-SUBSIDY PROCEEDING CONCERNING IMPORTS OF FATTY ACID ORIGINATING IN INDONESIA

INFORMATION FOR THE SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE OF UNRELATED IMPORTERS

This form is designed to assist unrelated importers in responding to the request for sampling information made in point 5.3.2 of the notice of initiation.

Both the ‘Sensitive’ version and the version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ should be returned to the Commission as set out in the notice of initiation.

1. IDENTITY AND CONTACT DETAILS

Supply the following details about your company:

Company name
Address
Contact person
Email address
Telephone
Fax

2. TURNOVER AND SALES VOLUME

Indicate the total turnover in euros (EUR) of the company, and the turnover and weight or volume for imports (2) and resales on the Union market after importation from Indonesia, during the investigation period, of fatty acid as defined in the notice of initiation.

	Tonnes	Value in euros (EUR)
Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR)
Imports of the product under investigation
Resales on the Union market after importation from Indonesia of the product under investigation

3. ACTIVITIES OF YOUR COMPANY AND RELATED COMPANIES (3)

Give details of the precise activities of the company and all related companies (please list them and state the relationship to your company) involved in the production and/or selling (export and/or domestic) of the product under investigation. Such activities could include but are not limited to purchasing the product under investigation or producing it under sub-contracting arrangements, or processing or trading the product under investigation.

Company name and location	Activities	Relationship

4. OTHER INFORMATION

Please provide any other relevant information which the company considers useful to assist the Commission in the selection of the sample.

5. CERTIFICATION

By providing the above information, the company agrees to its possible inclusion in the sample. If the company is selected to be part of the sample, this will involve completing a questionnaire and accepting a visit at its premises in order to verify its response. If the company indicates that it does not agree to its possible inclusion in the sample, it will be deemed not to have cooperated in the investigation. The Commission’s findings for non-cooperating importers are based on the facts available and the result may be less favourable to that company than if it had cooperated.

Signature of authorised official:

Name and title of authorised official:

Date:

(1) This document is for internal use only. It is protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43). It is a confidential document pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union (OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 55) and Article 12 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

(2) The 27 Member States of the European Union are: Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

(3) In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ’’person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

13.5.2022

Official Journal of the European Union

C 195/24

Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of Stainless Steel Refillable Kegs originating in the People’s Republic of China

(2022/C 195/07)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a complaint pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (1) (‘the basic Regulation’), alleging that imports of Stainless Steel Refillable Kegs, originating in the People’s Republic of China, are being dumped and are thereby causing injury (2) to the Union industry.

1. Complaint

The complaint was lodged on 31 March 2022 by European Kegs Committee (‘the complainant’). The complaint was made on behalf of the Union industry of Stainless Steel Refillable Kegs in the sense of Article 5(4) of the basic Regulation.

An open version of the complaint and the analysis of the degree of support by Union producers for the complaint are available in the file for inspection by interested parties. Section 5.6 of this Notice provides information about access to the file for interested parties.

2. Product under investigation

The product subject to this investigation is kegs, vessels, drums, tanks, casks and similar containers, refillable, of stainless steel, commonly known as ‘refillable stainless steel kegs’, with bodies approximately cylindrical in shape, with a wall thickness of 0,5 mm or more, of a kind used for material other than liquefied gas, crude oil, and petroleum products, of a capacity of 4,5 litres or more, regardless of the type of finish, gauge, or stainless steel grade, whether or not with additional components (extractors, necks, chimes or any other component), whether or not painted or coated with other materials (‘Kegs’ or ‘the product under investigation’).

The following products do not fall under the scope of this investigation: Necks, spears, couplers or taps, collars, valves and other components imported separately from the product under investigation.

All interested parties wishing to submit information on the product scope must do so within 10 days of the date of publication of this Notice (3).

3. Allegation of dumping

The product allegedly being dumped is the product under investigation, originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘the PRC’ or ‘the country concerned’), currently classified under CN codes ex 7310 10 00 and ex 7310 29 90 (TARIC codes 7310100010 and 7310299010). The CN and TARIC codes are given for information only without prejudice to their possible amendment at future steps of the proceeding. The scope of this investigation is subject to the definition of the product under investigation as contained in Section 2.

The complainant claimed that it is not appropriate to use domestic prices and costs in the country concerned, due to the existence of significant distortions within the meaning of point (b) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation.

To substantiate the allegations of significant distortions, the complainant relied on the information contained in the the ‘Commission Staff Working Document on Significant Distortions in the Economy of the PRC’ dated 20 December 2017 (the ‘Commission report’). In particular, the complainant made reference to the specific section on distortions in the factors of production, and in particular on stainless steel, which is the main raw material for the product under investigation, and other material inputs. The Report notably mentions the 13th Five Year Plan for Mineral Resources by which ‘The Chinese government is influencing the supply and hence the prices of raw materials on the market by using a number of interventionist policies’. It also referred to chapter 14 dedicated to the steel sector and more specifically that the steel industry is regarded by the Chinese government as a key industry. This statement is confirmed in the numerous plans, directives and other documents focused on steel, which are issued at national, regional and municipal level. The government guides the development of the sector in accordance with a broad range of related policy tools and directives.

The complainant also referred to the report on overcapacities in the steel sector in China issued by the EU Chamber of Commerce in Beijing (4). This report indicates that there is still a massive overcapacity problem in China in the steel sector, including the stainless steel sector which is the main raw material for the product under investigation and that none of the efforts undertaken by the Chinese State to remedy the overcapacity problem have, to date, delivered the expected results. According to the report, since Chinese stainless steel production capacities systematically exceed domestic demand, an increasing number of Chinese producers have – government-incentivised – focused more and more on export markets.

Finally, the complainant referred to the Commission’s findings and conclusions in the recent anti-dumping investigation on certain hot rolled stainless steel sheets and coils (5). In that investigation, the Commission found that the stainless steel industry in China is heavily distorted because a) it is served by enterprises which operate under the ownership, control and policy supervision of the Government of China b) the costs of raw materials and energy in are not the result of free market force and c) wage costs in that sector are distorted and stainless steel companies have access to finance granted by institutions which implement public policy objectives or otherwise are not acting independently from the State. Therefore, prices and costs in China do not constitute a proper basis for establishing normal value.

As a result, in view of Article 2(6a)(a) of the basic Regulation, the allegation of dumping is based on a comparison of a constructed normal value on the basis of costs of production and sales in an appropriate representative country (i.e. Turkey), with the export price (at ex-works level) of the product under investigation when sold for export to the Union.

The dumping margins calculated on the basis of this comparison are significant for the country concerned.

In light of the information available, the Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence pursuant to Article 5(9) of the basic Regulation tending to show that, due to significant distortions affecting prices and costs, the use of domestic prices and costs in the country concerned is inappropriate, thus warranting the initiation of an investigation on the basis of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation.

The country report is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s Internet: (6).

4. Allegation of injury and causation

The complainant has provided evidence that imports of the product under investigation from the country concerned have increased overall in absolute terms and in terms of market share.

The evidence provided by the complainant shows that the volume and the prices of the imported product under investigation have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the quantities sold, on the level of prices charged and on the market share held by the Union industry, resulting in substantial adverse effects on the overall performance, the financial situation, and the employment situation of the Union industry.

5. Procedure

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that the complaint has been lodged on behalf of the Union industry and that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of a proceeding, the Commission hereby initiates an investigation pursuant to Article 5 of the basic Regulation.

The investigation will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the country concerned is being dumped and whether the dumped imports have caused injury to the Union industry.

If the conclusions are affirmative, the investigation will examine whether the imposition of measures would not be in the Union interest under Article 21 of the basic Regulation.

The Commission also draws the attention of the parties to the published Notice (7) on the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations that may be applicable to this proceeding.

5.1. Investigation period and period considered

The investigation of dumping and injury will cover the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 (‘the investigation period’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from 1 January 2018 to the end of the investigation period (‘the period considered’).

5.2. Comments on the complaint and the initiation of the investigation

Any request for a hearing with regard to the initiation of the investigation must be submitted within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

5.3. Procedure for the determination of dumping

Exporting producers (8) of the product under investigation from the country concerned are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

5.3.1. Investigating exporting producers

(a) Sampling

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary, and if so, to select a sample, all exporting producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are requested to provide the Commission with information on their companies within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi (‘TRON’) at the following address:

https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/AD689_SAMPLING_FORM_FOR_EXPORTING_PRODUCER

TRON access information can be found in sections 5.6 and 5.8 below.

The questionnaire will also be made available to any known association of exporting producers, and to the authorities of that country.

Without prejudice to the possible application of Article 18 of the basic Regulation, exporting producers that have agreed to be included in the sample but are not selected as part of the sample will be considered to be cooperating (‘non-sampled cooperating exporting producers’). Without prejudice to section 5.3.1(b) below, the anti-dumping duty that may be applied to imports from non-sampled cooperating exporting producers will not exceed the weighted average margin of dumping established for the exporting producers in the sample (9).

(b) Individual dumping margin for exporting producers not included in the sample

Pursuant to Article 17(3) of the basic Regulation, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers may request the Commission to establish their individual dumping margins. Exporting producers wishing to claim an individual dumping margin must fill in the questionnaire and return it duly completed within 30 days of the date of notification of the sample selection, unless otherwise specified. A copy of the questionnaire for exporting producers is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2602). The Commission will examine whether non-sampled cooperating exporting producers can be granted an individual duty in accordance with Article 9(5) of the basic Regulation.

However, non-sampled cooperating exporting producers claiming an individual dumping margin should be aware that the Commission may nonetheless decide not to determine their individual dumping margin if, for instance, the number of non-sampled cooperating exporting producers is so large that such determination would be unduly burdensome and would prevent the timely completion of the investigation.

5.3.2. Additional procedure with regard to the country concerned subject to significant distortions

Subject to the provisions of this Notice, all interested parties are invited to make their views known, submit information and provide supporting evidence regarding the application of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation. Unless otherwise specified, this information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

In particular, the Commission invites all interested parties to make their views known on the inputs and the Harmonised System (HS) codes provided in the complaint, propose (an) appropriate representative country(ies) and provide the identity of producers of the product under investigation in those countries. This information and supporting evidence must reach the Commission within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

Pursuant to point (e) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation, the Commission will shortly after initiation inform parties to the investigation about the relevant sources, including, where appropriate, the selection of an appropriate representative third country that it intends to use for the purpose of determining normal value pursuant to Article 2(6a) by means of a note to the file for inspection by interested parties. Parties to the investigation will be given 10 days to comment on the note, in accordance with point (e) of Article 2(6a).

With the aim of finally selecting the appropriate representative third country, the Commission will examine whether those third countries have a similar level of economic development as that of the country concerned, whether there is production and sales of the product under investigation in those third countries and whether relevant data are readily available. Where there is more than one representative third country, preference will be given, where appropriate, to countries with an adequate level of social and environmental protection. According to the information available to the Commission, possible appropriate representative third countries are Mexico and Turkey.

In the context of this exercise, the Commission invites all producers in the country concerned to provide information on the materials (raw and processed) and energy used in the production of the product under investigation within 15 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information must be provided via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi/form/AD689_INFO_ON_INPUTS_FOR_EXPORTING_PRODUCER_FORM

TRON access information can be found in sections 5.6 and 5.8 below.

Furthermore, any submissions of factual information to value costs and prices pursuant to point (a) of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation must be filed within 65 days of the date of publication of this Notice. Such factual information should be taken exclusively from public sources which are readily available.

5.3.3. Investigating unrelated importers (10) (11)

Unrelated importers of the product under investigation from the country concerned to the Union are invited to participate in this investigation.

In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling is necessary and, if so, to select a sample, all unrelated importers, or representatives acting on their behalf, are requested to provide the Commission with the information on their company(ies) requested in the Annex to this Notice within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. This information can be sent via TRON.tdi or to the email address for injury issues indicated in section 5.8 below.

In order to obtain information it deems necessary for the selection of the sample of unrelated importers, the Commission may also contact any known associations of importers.

5.4. Procedure for the determination of injury and investigating Union producers

A determination of injury is based on positive evidence and involves an objective examination of the volume of the dumped imports, their effect on prices on the Union market and the consequent impact of those imports on the Union industry. In order to establish whether the Union industry is injured, Union producers of the product under investigation are invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

The Commission has provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. Details can be found in the file for inspection by interested parties. Interested parties are invited to comment on the provisional sample. In addition, other Union producers, or representatives acting on their behalf, who consider that there are reasons why they should be included in the sample must contact the Commission within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice. All comments regarding the provisional sample must be received within 7 days of the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

All known Union producers and associations of Union producers will be notified by the Commission of the companies finally selected to be in the sample.

The sampled Union producers will have to submit a completed questionnaire within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision of their inclusion in the sample, unless otherwise specified.

5.5. Procedure for the assessment of Union interest

Should the existence of dumping and injury caused be established, a decision will be reached, pursuant to Article 21 of the basic Regulation, as to whether the adoption of anti-dumping measures would not be in the Union interest. Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations are invited to provide the Commission with information as to whether the imposition of measures is not in the Union interest. In order to participate in the investigation, the representative consumer organisations have to demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Information concerning the assessment of Union interest must be provided within 37 days of the date of publication of this Notice unless otherwise specified. This information may be provided either in a free format or by completing a questionnaire prepared by the Commission. A copy of the questionnaires, including the questionnaire for users of the product under investigation, is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on DG Trade’s website (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2602). The information submitted pursuant to Article 21 of the basic Regulation will only be taken into account if supported by factual evidence at the time of submission.

5.6. Interested parties

In order to participate in the investigation interested parties, such as exporting producers, Union producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and representative consumer organisations must demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Exporting producers, Union producers, importers and representative associations who made information available in accordance to the procedures described in sections 5.3.1, 5.3.3, and 5.4 above will be considered as interested parties if there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Access to the file available for inspection for interested parties is made via TRON.tdi at the following address: https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI. Please follow the instructions on that page to get access (12).

5.7. Possibility to be heard by the Commission investigation services

All interested parties may request to be heard by the Commission’s investigation services.

Any request for a hearing must be made in writing and must specify the reasons for the request as well as a summary of what the interested party wishes to discuss during the hearing. The hearing will be limited to the issues set out by the interested parties in writing beforehand.

The timeframe for hearings is as follows:

—	For any hearings to take place before the deadline for the imposition of provisional measures, a request should be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice. The hearing will normally take place within 60 days of the date of publication of this Notice.

—

After the stage of provisional findings, a request should be made within 5 days from the date of the disclosure of the provisional findings or of the information document. The hearing will normally take place within 15 days from the date of notification of the disclosure or the date of the information document.

—

At the stage of definitive findings, a request should be made within 3 days from the date of the final disclosure. The hearing will normally take place within the period granted to comment on the final disclosure. If there is an additional final disclosure, a request should be made immediately upon receipt of this additional final disclosure. The hearing will then normally take place within the deadline to provide comments on this disclosure.

5.8. Instructions for making written submissions and sending completed questionnaires and correspondence

All written submissions, including the information requested in this Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Sensitive’ (13). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 19(2) of the basic Regulation, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including requests to be registered as interested parties, scanned powers of attorney and certification sheets. By using TRON.tdi or e-mail, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of DG Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf. The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid e-mail address and they should ensure that the provided e-mail address is a functioning official business e-mail which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or e-mail only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi and by e-mail, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Trade

Directorate G

Office: CHAR 04/039

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Email: TRADE-AD689-KEGS-INJURY@ec.europa.eu or TRADE-AD689-KEGS-DUMPING@ec.europa.eu

6. Schedule of the investigation

The investigation will be concluded, pursuant to Article 6(9) of the basic Regulation within normally 13, but not more than 14 months of the date of the publication of this Notice. In accordance with Article 7(1) of the basic Regulation, provisional measures may be imposed normally not later than 7 months, but in any event not later than 8 months from the publication of this Notice.

In accordance with Article 19a of the basic Regulation, the Commission will provide information on the planned imposition of provisional duties 4 weeks before the imposition of provisional measures. Interested parties will be given 3 working days to comment in writing on the accuracy of the calculations.

In cases where the Commission intends not to impose provisional duties but to continue the investigation, interested parties will be informed, by means of an information document, of the non-imposition of duties 4 weeks before the expiry of the deadline under Article 7(1) of the basic Regulation.

Interested parties will be given 15 days to comment in writing on the provisional findings or on the information document, and 10 days to comment in writing on the definitive findings, unless otherwise specified. Where applicable, additional final disclosures will specify the deadline for interested parties to comment in writing.

7. Submission of information

—	Any information for the stage of provisional findings should be submitted within 70 days from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

—

Unless otherwise specified, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline to comment on the disclosure of the provisional findings or the information document at the stage of provisional findings. After this deadline, interested parties may only submit new factual information if they can demonstrate that such new factual information is necessary to rebut factual allegations made by other interested parties and provided that such new factual information can be verified within the time available to complete the investigation in a timely manner.

—	In order to complete the investigation within the mandatory deadlines, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline to provide comments on the final disclosure or, if applicable, after the deadline to provide comments on the additional final disclosure.

8. Possibility to comment on other parties’ submissions

Such comments should be made according to the following timeframe:

—	Any comment on information submitted by other interested parties before the deadline of imposition of provisional measures should be made at the latest on day 75 from the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified.

—

Comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to the final disclosure should be submitted within 3 days from the deadline to comment on the final disclosure, unless otherwise specified. If there is an additional final disclosure, comments on the information provided by other interested parties in reaction to this disclosure should be made within 1 day from the deadline to comment on this disclosure, unless otherwise specified.

The outlined timeframe is without prejudice to the Commission’s right to request additional information from interested parties in duly justified cases.

9. Extension to time limits specified in this Notice

Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice should only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified upon good cause being shown.

In any event, any extension to the deadline to reply to questionnaires will be limited normally to 3 days, and as a rule will not exceed 7 days.

Regarding time limits for the submission of other information specified in the Notice of Initiation, extensions will be limited to 3 days unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.

10. Non-cooperation

Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

If an interested party does not cooperate or cooperates only partially and findings are therefore based on facts available in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation, the result may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated.

Failure to give a computerised response shall not be deemed to constitute non-cooperation, provided that the interested party shows that presenting the response as requested would result in an unreasonable extra burden or unreasonable additional cost. In this case the interested party should immediately contact the Commission.

11. Hearing Officer

The Hearing Officer may organise hearings and mediate between the interested party or parties and the Commission services to ensure that the interested parties’ rights of defence are being fully exercised. A request for a hearing with the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for the requests. These hearings should only take place if the issues have not been settled with the Commission services in due course.

Interested parties are invited to follow the timeframes set out in section 5.7 of this Notice also as regards interventions, including hearings, by the Hearing Officer. Any request must be submitted in good time and expeditiously so as not to jeopardise the orderly conduct of proceedings. To that effect, interested parties should request the intervention of the Hearing Officer at the earliest possible time following the occurrence of the event justifying such intervention. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for requests for interventions, the nature of the issues raised and the impact of those issues on the rights of defence, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

12. Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG Trade’s Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/trade-defence/

(1) OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 21.

(2) The general term ‘injury’ refers to material injury as well as to threat of material injury or material retardation of the establishment of an industry as set out in Article 3(1) of the basic Regulation.

(3) References to the publication of this Notice mean publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(4) European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, Overcapacity in China : an impediment to the Party’s reform agenda, February 2016, available online at https://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/publications-overcapacity-in-china

(5) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/508 of 7 April 2020 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain hot rolled stainless steel sheets and coils originating in Indonesia, the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan (OJ L 110, 8.4.2020, p. 3).

(6) Documents cited in the country report may also be obtained upon a duly reasoned request.

(7) On the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations (OJ C 86, 16.3.2020, p. 6).

(8) An exporting producer is any company in the country concerned which produces and exports the product under investigation to the Union market, either directly or via a third party, including any of its related companies involved in the production, domestic sales or exports of the product under investigation.

(9) Pursuant to Article 9(6) of the basic Regulation, any zero and de minimis margins, and margins established in accordance with the circumstances described in Article 18 of the basic Regulation will be disregarded.

(10) This section covers only importers not related to exporting producers. Importers that are related to exporting producers have to fill in Annex I to the questionnaire for these exporting producers. In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ’’person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

(11) The data provided by unrelated importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of dumping.

(12) In case of technical problems please contact the Trade Service Desk by Email: trade-service-desk@ec.europa.eu or by Tel. +32 22979797.

(13) A ’Sensitive’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 19 of the basic Regulation and Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement). It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(14) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

ANNEX

☐	‘Sensitive’ version
☐	Version ‘For inspection by interested parties’
(tick the appropriate box)

ANTI-DUMPING PROCEEDING CONCERNING IMPORTS OF STAINLESS STEEL REFILLABLE KEGS ORIGINATING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

INFORMATION FOR THE SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE OF UNRELATED IMPORTERS

This form is designed to assist unrelated importers in responding to the request for sampling information made in point 5.3.3 of the notice of initiation.

Both the ‘Sensitive’ version and the version ‘For inspection by interested parties’ ’should be returned to the Commission as set out in the notice of initiation.

1. IDENTITY AND CONTACT DETAILS

Supply the following details about your company:

Company name
Address
Contact person
Email address
Telephone

2. TURNOVER AND SALES VOLUME

Indicate the total turnover in euros (EUR) of the company, the value in euros (EUR) and volume in pieces and tonnes for imports and resales on the Union market after importation from the PRC during the investigation period, of the product under investigation as defined in the notice of initiation.

	In pieces	In tonnes	Value in euros (EUR)
Total turnover of your company in euros (EUR)
Imports of the product under investigation originating in the PRC
Imports of the product under investigation (all origins)
Resales on the Union market after importation from the PRC of the product under investigation

3. ACTIVITIES OF YOUR COMPANY AND RELATED COMPANIES (1)

Give details of the precise activities of the company and all related companies (please list them and state the relationship to your company) involved in the production and/or selling (export and/or domestic) of the product under investigation. Such activities could include but are not limited to purchasing the product under investigation, producing it under sub-contracting arrangements, or processing or trading it.

Company name and location	Activities	Relationship

4. OTHER INFORMATION

Please provide any other relevant information which the company considers useful to assist the Commission in the selection of the sample.

5. CERTIFICATION

Signature of authorised official:

Name and title of authorised official:

Date:

(1) In accordance with Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, two persons shall be deemed to be related if: (a) they are officers or directors of the other person’s business; (b) they are legally recognised partners in business; (c) they are employer and employee; (d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5 % or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them; (e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other; (f) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person; (g) together they control a third person directly or indirectly; or (h) they are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558). Persons shall be deemed to be members of the same family only if they stand in any of the following relationships to one another: (i) husband and wife, (ii) parent and child, (iii) brother and sister (whether by whole or half blood), (iv) grandparent and grandchild, (v) uncle or aunt and nephew or niece, (vi) parent-in-law and son-in-law or daughter-in-law, (vii) brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code, ’’person’’ means a natural person, a legal person, and any association of persons which is not a legal person but which is recognised under Union or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

		ISSN 1977-091X
Official Journal of the European Union		C 195

English edition	Information and Notices	Volume 65 13 May 2022

Contents		page
	II Information
	INFORMATION FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES
	European Commission
2022/C 195/01	Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.10690 – NORDIC CAPITAL / ELLOS GROUP) ( 1 )	1
2022/C 195/02	Communication from the Commission – Publication of the total number of allowances in circulation in 2021 for the purposes of the Market Stability Reserve under the EU Emissions Trading System established by Directive 2003/87/EC and of the number of unallocated allowances during the period 2013-2020	2

	IV Notices
	NOTICES FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS, BODIES, OFFICES AND AGENCIES
	Council
2022/C 195/03	The following information is brought to the attention of – – ABDOLLAHI Hamed, AL-NASSER Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed, AL-YACOUB Ibrahim Salih Mohammed, ARBABSIAR Manssor, BOUYERI Mohammed, EL HAJJ Hassan Hassan, IZZ-AL-DIN Hasan, MELIAD Farah, MOHAMMED Khalid Sheikh, SHAHLAI Abdul Reza, SHAKURI Ali Gholam, COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES, including New People’s Army (NPA), Hizballah Military Wing, Hizbul Mujahideen – HM, Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – PFLP, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, Devrimci Halk Kurtuluș Partisi-Cephesi – DHKP/C, Sendero Luminoso – SL, and Teyrbazen Azadiya Kurdistan – TAK persons and groups included on the list of persons, groups and entities subject to Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism and to Council Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism (see Annexes to Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/152 and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/147)	8
	European Commission
2022/C 195/04	Euro exchange rates — 12 May 2022	10

	Currency	Exchange rate
USD	US dollar	1,0408
JPY	Japanese yen	133,85
DKK	Danish krone	7,4413
GBP	Pound sterling	0,85293
SEK	Swedish krona	10,5648
CHF	Swiss franc	1,0377
ISK	Iceland króna	139,70
NOK	Norwegian krone	10,2898
BGN	Bulgarian lev	1,9558
CZK	Czech koruna	24,925
HUF	Hungarian forint	382,20
PLN	Polish zloty	4,6680
RON	Romanian leu	4,9470
TRY	Turkish lira	16,0132
AUD	Australian dollar	1,5163
CAD	Canadian dollar	1,3569
HKD	Hong Kong dollar	8,1702
NZD	New Zealand dollar	1,6692
SGD	Singapore dollar	1,4529
KRW	South Korean won	1 341,98
ZAR	South African rand	16,8806
CNY	Chinese yuan renminbi	7,0691
HRK	Croatian kuna	7,5235
IDR	Indonesian rupiah	15 255,73
MYR	Malaysian ringgit	4,5725
PHP	Philippine peso	54,589
RUB	Russian rouble
THB	Thai baht	36,150
BRL	Brazilian real	5,4161
MXN	Mexican peso	21,2531
INR	Indian rupee	80,6670

	V Announcements
	PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY
	European Commission
2022/C 195/05	Notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of fatty acid originating in Indonesia	11
2022/C 195/06	Notice of the impending expiry of certain anti-dumping measures	23
2022/C 195/07	Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of Stainless Steel Refillable Kegs originating in the People’s Republic of China	24


	(1) Text with EEA relevance.