Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to 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^f1, and in particular Article 13(4) thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97 of 10 January 1997 extending the definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by Regulation (EEC) No 2474/93 on bicycles originating in the People’s Republic of China to imports of certain bicycle parts from the People’s Republic of China, and levying the extended duty on such imports registered under Regulation (EC) No 703/96^f2 and in particular Article 3 thereof,

Having regard to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/45 of 20 January 2020 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1379 as regards the extension of the anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of bicycles originating in the People’s Republic of China to imports of certain bicycle parts originating in the People’s Republic of China by Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97^f3,

Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 88/97 of 20 January 1997 on the authorisation of the exemption of imports of certain bicycle parts originating in the People’s Republic of China from the extension by Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97 of the anti-dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2474/93^f4, and in particular Articles 4 to 7 thereof,

After informing the Member States,

Whereas:

An anti-dumping duty applies on imports into the Union of essential bicycle parts originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘China’) (‘the extended duty’) as a result of the extension of the anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of bicycles originating in China by Regulation (EC) No 71/97.

Under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 71/97 the Commission is empowered to adopt the necessary measures to authorise the exemption of imports of essential bicycle parts which do not circumvent the anti-dumping duty.

Those implementing measures are set forth in Regulation (EC) No 88/97 establishing the specific exemption system.

On that basis the Commission has exempted a number of bicycle assemblers from the extended duty (‘the exempted parties’).

As provided for in Article 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union subsequent lists of the exempted parties^f5.

The most recent Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1087^f6 concerning exemptions under Regulation (EC) No 88/97 was adopted on 19 June 2019.

For the purposes of this Decision, the definitions set out in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 88/97 apply.

Between 19 December 2016 and 17 October 2019, the Commission received from the parties listed in Tables 1 and 3 requests for exemption with the information required to determine whether these requests were admissible in accordance with Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97.

The parties requesting exemption were given an opportunity to comment on the Commission’s conclusions concerning the admissibility of their requests.

In accordance with Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, pending a decision on the merits of requests from the parties requesting exemption, the payment of the extended duty in respect of any imports of essential bicycle parts declared for free circulation by these parties listed in Tables 1 and 3 below was suspended as from the day on which the Commission received their respective requests.

The Commission established during its examination that the value of the parts originating in China constituted less than 60 % of the total value of the parts of all the bicycles assembled by both parties. This was also the case for the majority of the assembled bicycles by both parties.

Consequently, the Commission concluded that the respective assembly operations of Merida Polska Sp. Z o.o. and of Juan Luna Cabrera fall outside the scope of Article 13(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036.

For that reason, and in accordance with Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the parties listed in Table 1 fulfil the conditions for exemption from the extended duty.

In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the exemptions should take effect as from the date of receipt of the requests. The customs debts in respect of the extended duty from the parties requesting exemption should therefore be considered void from the same date.

The parties were informed of the Commission’s conclusions on the merits of their requests and were given an opportunity to comment thereon.

Since the exemptions apply only to the parties specifically referred to in Table 1, the exempted parties should notify the Commission^f7 without delay of any changes to these (for instance, following a change in the name, legal form or address or following the setting up of new assembly entities).

In case of change in reference, the exempted parties should provide all relevant information, in particular on any modification in its activities linked to assembly operations. Where appropriate, the Commission will update the references accordingly.

The exempted or suspended parties listed in Table 2 notified the Commission, between 2 May 2019 and 20 February 2020, of changes in their references (names, legal forms and addresses). The Commission, after having examined the information submitted, concluded that those changes do not affect the assembly operations with regard to the conditions of exemption or suspension set forth in Regulation (EC) No 88/97.

The examination of the merits of the requests from the parties listed in Table 3 is ongoing. Pending a decision on the merits of their requests, the payment of the extended duty by these parties is suspended.

Since the suspensions apply only to the parties specifically referred to in Table 3, these parties should notify the Commission^f8 without delay of any changes to these (for instance following a change in the name, legal form or address or following the setting up of new assembly entities).

On 3 July 2019 the Commission received from that party a request to withdraw the application for an exemption while the examination of its merits was ongoing and the payment of the extended duty was suspended.

The Commission accepted the withdrawal and consequently the suspension of the payment of the extended duty should be lifted. The extended duty should be collected as from the date of receipt of the request for exemption submitted by that party, namely the date on which the suspension took effect, that is 25 October 2018.

The party was informed of the Commission’s conclusions and was given an opportunity to comment thereon. No comments were submitted.

The exempted parties listed in Table 5 notified the Commission, between 30 June 2019 and 3 February 2020, of the following: closing down of its activities (Bicicletas Monty S.A.), and the renunciation of the exemption from the payment of extended duty (Gor Kolesa, proizvodnja koles, d.o.o).

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: