30. 9. 97 Official Journal of the European Communities L 267/19 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1891/97 of 26 September 1997 imposing a definitive countervailing duty on imports of farmed Atlantic salmon originating in Norway THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3284/94 of 22 December 1994 on protection against subsidized imports from countries not members of the European Community ('), and in particular Article 11 (6) thereof, Having regard to the proposal submitted by the Commis- sion after consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: O] A. PROCEDURE 1. Complaint On 31 August 1996, the Commission announced, by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Communities(?), the initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of farmed Atlantic salmon originating in Norway and commenced an investigation. The proceeding was initiated as a result of a complaint lodged jointly by the Scottish Salmon Growers' Association Ltd and by the Shetland Salmon Farmers’ Association, acting on behalf of their members whose collective production of farmed Atlantic salmon constitues a major propor- tion of the total Community output of this product. The complaint contained sufficient evidence of subsidization of the imports concerned and of material injury resulting therefrom to justify the initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding. Pursuant to Article 7 (9) of Regulation (EC) No 3284/94 (hereafter referred to as the ‘Basic Regulation’), consultations were offered to the Norwegian au- thorities prior to the initiation of the investigation, and took place in Brussels from 19 to 20 August 1996. The consultations did not lead to a mutually agreed solution between the parties. () OJ L 349, 31. 12. 1994, p. 22. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1252/95 (O] L 122, 2. 6. 1995, p. 2). () OJ C 253, 31. 8. 1996, p. 20. A parallel anti-dumping proceeding was initiated with regard to the same imports () and has been the subject of a separate investigation from the present anti-subsidy proceeding. 2. Initiation of investigations The Commission officially advised the exporters and importers known to be concerned, the rep- resentatives of the exporting country and the complainant Community producers of the initia- tion of the proceeding. Interested parties were given the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing within a set time limit. The following methodology was used for collection of relevant data: (a) Producers/exporters in Norway On 3 September 1996, the Commission forwarded a letter together with the Notice of Initiation and a copy of the non-confidential version of the complaint to the known associ- ations representing salmon producers and exporters in Norway ie. the Norwegian Fish Farmers’ Association and the Federation of Norwegian Fishing Industry. It was explained that producers and exporters were requested to make themselves known by contacting the Commission and by providing certain informa- tion specified in paragraph 5 (a) of the Notice of Initiation (‘the preliminary questionnaire’). On 5 September 1996, a meeting was organised at the request of the Norwegian producers and exporters, i.e. the two associations and their legal representative. It became clear that there are in Norway around 650 fish farmers involved in the production of salmon, and 200 to 300 exporters (although most exports to the Community are concentrated in the hands of 40 to 50 of them). The purpose of the meeting was for the Norwegian industry to explain to the Commission the great difficulty in securing cooperation from almost 1 000 operators in the salmon business even in the form of a response to the preliminary questionnaire. For this reason, in order to limit the investigation to a reasonable number of parties in accordance with Article 18 (1) of the Basic Regulation, it was agreed that only a selected number of () O] C 253, 31. 8. 1996, p. 18.