31. 8. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 221/47 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1717/96 of 29 August 1996 initiating an investigation concerning the circumvention of anti-dumping measures imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 993/93 on imports of certain electronic weighing scales originating in Japan by imports of the same product assembled in and/or transhipped through Indonesia and making the latter imports subject to registration THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Commun- ities ("), and in particular Articles 13 and 14 thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: 1 ) (l (1 ) OJ ) OJ A. REQUEST The Commission has received a request pursuant to Article 13 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 384/96 (herei- nafter referred to as ‘the Basic Regulation’) to inves- tigate the alleged circumvention by TEC Corpora- tion, Tokyo (hereinafter referred to as “TEC’) of the anti-dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 993/93 (3 with regard to this company on imports of certain electronic weighing scales originating in Japan, by assembly operations in and/or transhipments through Indonesia of the same product subsequently exported to the Community, to make the imports of these elec- tronic weighing scales subject to registration by the customs authorities pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the Basic Regulation and to propose to the Council the extension, where justified, of the above anti- dumping duty to the latter imports. B. APPLICANTS The request has been lodged on 19 July 1996 by the following companies: Bizerba GmbH & Co. KG, Campesa SA, Datapro- cess SpA, Dataprocess Industria SpA, Testut SA, Lutrana SA, GEC Avery Limited, Maatschappij Van Berkel’s Patent BV and Brevetti Van Berkel SpA. According to the request, these companies are all manufacturers of retail electronic weighing scales whose collective output represents approximately No L 56, 6. 3. 1996, p. 1. No L 104, 29. 4. 1993, p. 4. G ) ) 65 % of the total Community production of those scales. C. PRODUCT The product concerned is retail electronic weighing scales which incorporate a digital display of the weight, unit price and price to be paid, whether or not including a means of printing this data (herei- nafter referred to as ‘REWS’). This product is currently classified within CN code 8423 81 50. This code is given for information only and has no binding effect on the classification of the product. D. EVIDENCE The request contains sufficient evidence in accor- dance with the requirements of Article 13 of the Basic Regulation that the anti-dumping duty on imports of REWS produced by TEC and origina- ting in Japan is being circumvented by assembly operations in and/or transhipments through Indo- nesia of REWS subsequently exported to the Community. The evidence is as follows: (a) Since the initiation of the last anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of REWS originating in Japan on 26 February 1991, a clear change in the pattern of trade between Japan, Indonesia and the Community has taken place. Imports of REWS from Japan into the Community have decreased from 25470 units in 1992 to 652 units in the first half of the year 1995, whereas imports of the same product from Indonesia have increased from 0 in 1993 to well over 1 000 units in the first half of the year 1995. The complainants allege that all REWS imported into the Community from Indonesia are TEC branded products. This change in the pattern of trade is particularly illustrated, when considering TEC’s imports of REWS into the United Kingdom: in 1994, 275 units were imported from Japan and 300 units from Indo- nesia, whereas in 1995 almost no imports were recorded from Japan and 801 units were imported from Indonesia.