From the request for investigation, analysis of issues to note in the next procedures in the case of dumping epoxy resin imports into the EU

1. Related and unrelated importers

According to Article 127 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the EU Customs Code, a person is considered to be “related” if:

(a) he is an officer or business director of the other party;

(b) he is a legally recognised business partner;

(c) he is an employer and an employee;

(d) a third party directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds 5% or more of the voting shares or outstanding shares of both parties;

(e) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other party;

(f) both are directly or indirectly controlled by a third party;

(g) jointly control the activities of a third party directly or indirectly; or

(h) are members of the same family (OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558).

Pursuant to Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the EU Customs Code, ''person'' here means a natural person, a legal person and any association of non-legal persons recognised by EU or national law as having the capacity to perform legal acts (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).

Data not provided by importers may also be used in relation to aspects of this investigation other than the determination of dumping.

In addition, unrelated importers of the product under investigation from relevant EU countries and territories are invited to participate in this investigation

Given the potential for a large number of unrelated importers to participate in this proceeding and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limit, the Commission may limit to a reasonable number of unrelated importers the investigation by selecting a sample (this procedure is also known as 'sampling').

The sampling is carried out in accordance with Article 17 of the Basic Regulation. In order to assist the Commission in deciding whether sampling is necessary and, if so, how to select the sample, all unrelated importers or their representatives must provide the Commission with the information on their company(ies) required in the Annex to this Notice within 7 days of the publication of this Notice.

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

If sampling is required, the importer may be selected on the basis of the largest volume of consumption of the product under investigation in the EU and which can reasonably be investigated within the time available.

Once the Commission has received the information necessary for the selection of the sample, it will inform the parties concerned of its decision on the sample of importers.

The Commission will also add a note reflecting the selection of the sample to the file for inspection by interested parties.

Any comments on the selection of the sample must be received within 3 days of the notification of the decision to select the sample.

In order to obtain the information necessary for the investigation, the Commission will provide the uninvolved importers sampled with a questionnaire.

The parties must submit a complete response to the questionnaire within 30 days of notification of the decision on the model, unless otherwise provided. A copy of the importer questionnaire is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on the DG Trade website https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2733.

2. Procedure for determining injury/damage and investigating EU producers

The determination of injury is based on positive evidence of dumping and includes an objective examination of the volume of dumped imports, their impact on prices in the EU market and the subsequent impact of such imports on the EU industry. In order to determine whether the EU epoxy resin industry is injuring, EU producers are also invited to participate in the Commission investigation.

Given the large number of EU producers involved and in order to complete the investigation within the statutory time limit, the Commission has decided to limit the investigation to a reasonable number of EU producers by selecting a sample (a ‘sampling’ procedure). The sampling is carried out in accordance with Article 17 of the Basic Regulation. The Commission has provisionally selected a sample of EU producers. Further details can be found in the dossier for inspection by interested parties. Interested parties are invited to comment on this provisional sample.

In addition, other EU producers or representatives acting on their behalf who believe that they should be included in the sample must contact the Commission within 7 days of publication of this Notice. All comments relating to the provisional sample must be received within 7 days of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise specified. All known EU producers and associations of such producers will be informed by the Commission of the companies finally selected for inclusion in the sample.

The EU producers sampled will be required to submit complete responses to a questionnaire within 30 days of notification of the decision to include them in the sample, unless otherwise specified. A copy of the questionnaire for EU producers is available for inspection by interested parties and on the DG Trade website https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2733.

3. Procedure for assessing the EU's interests in the event of price distortion of imported raw materials for dumping purposes

In the event of a raw material distortion as defined in Article 7(2a) of the Basic Regulation, the Commission will conduct an examination of the EU's interests as provided for in Article 7(2b) of that Regulation.

Interested parties are invited to provide all relevant information to enable the Commission to determine whether establishing the level of measures pursuant to Article 7(2a) of the Basic Regulation would be in the EU's interests. In particular, interested parties are invited to provide any information on the availability of spare capacity in China, competition for raw materials and the impact on the supply chains of EU companies.

In the absence of cooperation, the Commission may conclude that the application of Article 7(2a) of the Basic Regulation is consistent with the EU's interests. In any case, a decision will be taken under Article 21 of the Basic Regulation on whether the application of anti-dumping measures would be in the EU's interests. EU producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and consumer organisations are invited to provide the Commission with information on the EU's interests in this case.

The relevant EU interest assessment information must be provided within 37 days of the publication of this Notice unless otherwise provided. This information may be provided either proactively or by completing a questionnaire prepared by the Commission. A copy of the questionnaire, including the questionnaire for users of the product under investigation, is available in the file for inspection by interested parties and on the website of DG Trade https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/investigations/case-view?caseId=2733. Information submitted pursuant to Article 21 of the Basic Regulation will only be considered if there is supporting factual evidence at the time of submission.

4. Interested parties

In order to participate in an investigation, interested parties, such as exporting producers, EU producers, importers and their representative associations, users and their representative associations, trade unions and consumer organizations, must demonstrate that there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation. Exporting producers, EU producers, importers and representative associations who have provided information in accordance with the procedures above will be considered 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 parties from the moment they disclose themselves and as long as there is an objective link between their activities and the product under investigation.

Being considered an “interested party” does not affect the application of Article 18 of the Basic Regulation. Access to the file available for inspection by interested parties is provided 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 ([1]).

5. Hearing of interested parties

Any interested party may request that their views be heard by the Commission's investigating body. Any request for a hearing must be made in writing and must state the reasons for the request and a summary of the matter that the interested party wishes to discuss at the hearing. The hearing will be limited to the issues raised in writing by the interested party. The timing of the hearings is as follows:

- For any hearing that takes place before the expiry of the provisional measures, the request must be made within 15 days of 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 interim discovery phase, the request must be made within 5 days of the date of the interim findings or information document. The hearing will normally take place within 15 days of the date of the notice or information document.

- At the final findings phase, the request must be made within 3 days of the final disclosure. The hearing will normally take place within the time allowed for comment on the final information. If additional final information is available, the request must be made promptly after receipt of the additional final information.

The subsequent hearing will normally take place within the time allowed for comment on the draft findings notice. The time frame does not affect the right of the Commission's services to accept hearings outside the time frame in justified cases and the right of the Commission to refuse hearings in justified cases. When the Commission's services deny a request for a hearing, the party concerned will be notified of the reasons for the denial.

6. Instructions for submitting a written application and submitting a completed application

First, it should be noted that Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of a trade remedy investigation will not be copyrighted information.

Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data that is copyrighted by a third party, must request the copyright holder's express permission to allow the Commission to:

a) use the information and data for the purposes of this trade remedy proceeding and

b) provide the information and/or data to interested parties in this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their right of defence.

All written submissions, including information requested in the Commission's Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties that request confidential treatment will be labelled 'Sensitive' (not public). Parties submitting information in this investigation are invited to provide reasons for their request for confidential treatment.

“Sensitive” information is information that is considered confidential under Article 19 of the Basic Regulation and Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (the Anti-Dumping Agreement). It is also information that is protected under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to submit non-confidential summaries of that information under Article 19(2) of the Basic Regulation, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Such summaries must be sufficiently detailed to enable a reasonable understanding of the nature of the information submitted in confidence. If a party providing confidential information fails to provide a valid reason for the request for confidential treatment or fails to provide a non-confidential summary of that information in the form and quality requested, the Commission may disregard the information, unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is accurate.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI), including requests for registration as interested parties, scanned power of attorney and certificates. By using TRON.tdi or email, interested parties express their agreement to the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document published on the website of DG Trade: https://europa.eu/!7tHpY3.

Interested parties must provide their name, address, telephone number and valid email address, and they must ensure that the email address provided is an official business email that is active and checked daily.

Once contact details are provided, the Commission will only communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email, unless they have expressly requested to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the documents sent requires the use of a registered mail.

For further rules and information regarding correspondence with the Commission, including the principles applicable to submissions via TRON.tdi and via email, interested parties should consult the instructions for communicating with interested parties mentioned above at:

Commission contact address: Directorate-General for Trade European Commission

Office: CHAR 04/039 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË

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

Email: For dumping cases: TRADE-AD711-ER-DUMPING@ec.europa.eu

For injury determinations: TRADE-AD711-ER-INJURY@ec.europa.eu

7. Investigation progress

The investigation shall be concluded in accordance with Article 6(9) of the Basic Regulation within one year, but not later than 14 months from the date of publication of this Notice. Pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Basic Regulation, provisional measures may be applied no later than seven months, but in any case not later than eight months, from the date of publication of this Notice. Pursuant to Article 19a of the Basic Regulation, the Commission shall provide information on its plans to apply provisional duties four weeks before the application of provisional measures. Interested parties shall have three working days to comment in writing on the accuracy of the calculations.

In the event that the Commission intends not to apply provisional duties but to continue the investigation, interested parties shall be informed by means of an information document on the non-imposition of duties four weeks before the expiry of the time limit pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Basic Regulation. Interested parties will have 15 days to comment in writing on the provisional findings or information documents and 10 days to comment in writing on the final findings, unless otherwise provided. Where applicable, the supplementary final notifications will specify the deadline for interested parties to comment in writing.

8. Submission of information, documents

Under EU rules, interested parties may only submit information within the timeframes specified by the Commission. Submission of any other information not included in those sections must comply with the following timetable:

- Any information, comments on the provisional findings stage must be submitted within 70 days of the publication of this Notification, unless otherwise provided.

- Unless otherwise provided, interested parties should not submit new factual information after the deadline for commenting on the provisional findings or information documents at the provisional findings stage. After this period, interested parties may submit new factual information only if they can demonstrate that such 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 for timely completion.investigation

- In order to complete the investigation within the required time, the Commission will not accept submissions from interested parties after the deadline for commenting on the final notice or, where applicable, after the deadline for commenting on the supplementary final notice.

9. Comments on information/submissions of other parties

In order to ensure the right to defence, interested parties must be able to comment on information submitted by other interested parties. Thus, interested parties may only address issues raised in the submissions of other interested parties and may not raise new issues.

Such comments shall be made within the following timeframes:

- Any comments on information submitted by other interested parties prior to the date of application of the provisional measure shall be made no later than the 75th day after the date of publication of this Notice, unless otherwise provided.

- Comments on information provided by other interested parties in connection with the provisional result or information document shall be made within 7 days of the deadline for comments on the provisional result or information document, unless otherwise provided.

- Comments on information provided by other interested parties in connection with the final notice shall be made within 3 days of the deadline for comments on the final notice, unless otherwise provided. If additional information is provided, comments on information provided by other interested parties in response to this information shall be made within 1 day of the deadline for comments, unless otherwise provided. The timeframe stated is without prejudice to the Commission's right to request additional information from interested parties in reasonable circumstances.

10. Handling of non-cooperation

Non-cooperation includes:

+ Where any interested party refuses access to or fails to provide the necessary information within the time limit or materially impedes the investigation, a provisional or final finding, affirmative or negative, of dumping may be made on the basis of the facts available, pursuant to Article 18 of the Basic Regulation;

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

If an interested party fails to cooperate or only partially cooperates and therefore the finding is based on the facts available pursuant to Article 18 of the Basic Regulation, the outcome may be less favourable to that party than if it had cooperated.

Failure to provide a response on the computer will not be considered non-cooperation, provided that the interested party demonstrates that providing the requested response would result in an unreasonable additional burden or unreasonable additional cost. In such a case, the interested party should contact the Commission immediately.

11. Hearings on Related Matters

Interested parties may request the intervention of the Hearings Officer for Commercial Proceedings. This officer considers requests for access to records, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extensions of time limits, and any other requests regarding the rights of interested parties and third parties that may arise during the course of the proceedings. The Hearings Officer may arrange hearings and conciliation between interested parties and Commission services to ensure that the rights of interested parties to defend are fully implemented.

It should be noted that a Request for a Hearing must be made in writing and must state the reasons for the request. The Hearings Officer will consider the reasons and determine whether they are reasonable and justifiable.

Such hearings should only take place if the issues have not been resolved with the Commission's services within the time limit.

All requests must be made promptly and expeditiously so as not to interfere with the orderly conduct of proceedings. To that end, interested parties should request the intervention of the Hearings Officer as soon as possible after the event that warrants such intervention has occurred. Where a request for a hearing is made outside the relevant timeframes set out in this Notice, the Hearings Officer will also consider the reasons for such late requests, the nature of the issues raised and their impact on the rights of defence, having due regard to the interests of good governance and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details, interested parties can consult the Hearing Officer's webpage on the DG Trade website: https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/contacts/hearing-officer_en.

12. Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected during this investigation will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The data protection notice informing all individuals about the processing of personal data within the framework of the Commission's trade defence activities is available on the DG Trade website: https://europa.eu/!vr4g9W