4. 2.97 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 33/11 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 209/97 of 3 February 1997 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain handbags originating in the People’s Republic of China 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 Com- munity (), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2331/96 (%), and in particular Article 7 thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: (1) 2 3) A. PROCEDURE 1. Initiation On 4 May 1996, the Commission announced, by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Communities(’), the intiation of an anti-dumping proceeding with regard to imports into the Community of certain handbags origin- ating in the People’s Republic of China and commenced an investigation. The proceeding was initiated as a result of a complaint lodged in March 1996 by the European Committee for Leather Goods Industries — Comité Européen des Industries de la Maroquinerie (Cedim), whose collective output was alleged to represent a major proportion of Community production of handbags. The complaint contained sufficient evidence of dumping by the imports concerned and of material injury resulting there- from to justify the initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding. 2. Investigation The Commission officially advised the exporters and importers known to be concerned, the repre- sentatives of the exporting country and the complainant Community producers about the initi- ation of the proceeding. Interested parties were () OJ No L $6, 6. 3. 1996, p. 1. @) OJ No L 317, 6. 12. 1996, p. 1. () OJ No C 132, 4. 5. 1996, p. 4. “ © given the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing within the time limit set out in the notice of initiation. A number of producers in the country concerned as well as of Community importers and producers made their views known in writing. All parties who so requested within the above time limit were grantéd a hearing. In view of the large number of Community pro- ducers manufacturing the product concerned in the Community and supporting the complaint, and in conformity with Article 17 (1) of Council Regula- tion (EC) No 384/96 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the basic Regulation’), it was considered appropriate to limit the investigation to a sample of producers which could reasonably be investigated within the time available. Four Member States — France, Italy, Spain and Portugal — whose production repre- sented a large majority of Community production of handbags were selected. In each of these Member States three producers were selected ac- cording to their size, constituting a representative spread of production and employment. The sampled companies were selected from a list of manufacturers of the product concerned, whose turnover was considered representative for that country, submitted by the respective National Asso- ciations. The Community producers thus sampled were sent questionnaires. Parties concerned who, following the notice of initiation, had expressed their wish to be consulted by the Commission on the final selection of the sample, were thus given disclosure of the sampled companies and of the methodology used for their selection. After this disclosure, the Commission received notice of actual threats of commercial retaliation against some of the sampled Community producers by some of their customers, who are also importers and major retailers in the Community. Certain sampled Community producers were subjected to severe commercial pressure at an advanced stage of the investigation in an effort to persuade them to withdraw their support for the complaint. It was therefore considered appropriate not to make any further disclosure of the names of these companies.