3.6.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 14313 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 488/2008 of 2 June 2008 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of citric acid 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 Community (') (the basic Regulation) and in particular Article 7 thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: A. PROCEDURE 1. Initiation On 23 July 2007, a complaint concerning imports of citric acid originating in the People’s Republic of China was lodged by the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) (the complainant) on behalf of a producer rep- resenting a major proportion of the total Community production of citric acid, in this case more than 25 %. This complaint contained evidence of dumping of the said product and of material injury resulting therefrom, which was considered sufficient to justify the initiation of a proceeding. On 4 September 2007, the proceeding was initiated by the publication of a notice of initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (?). 2. Parties concerned by the proceeding The Commission officially advised the exporting producers, importers, users known to be concerned and their associations, consumers associations, the represen- tatives of the exporting country and the Community (") OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2117/2005 (O] L 340, 23.12.2005, p. 17). () O] C 205, 4.9.2007, p. 14. ©) producers of the initiation of the anti-dumping proceeding. Interested parties were 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. In order to allow exporting producers to submit a claim for market economy treatment (MET) or individual treatment (IT), if they so wished, the Commission sent claim forms to the Chinese exporting producers known to be concerned and to the representatives of the PRC. Eight exporting producers, including groups of related companies, requested MET pursuant to Article 2(7) of the basic Regulation, or alternatively IT — should the investigation establish that they do not meet the conditions for MET. In view of the apparent large number of exporting producers and importers involved in this investigation, sampling was envisaged in the notice of initiation, in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation. In order to enable the Commission to decide whether sampling would be necessary and, if so, to select a sample, exporting producers and importers and represen- tatives acting on their behalf were requested to make themselves known and to provide, as specified in the notice of initiation, basic information on their activities related to the product concerned within 15 days of the date of publication of the notice of initiation. As far as the exporting producers are concerned, in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation, a sample was selected based on the largest representative volume of exports of citric acid to the Community, which could reasonably be investigated within the time available. On the basis of the information received from the exporting producers, a sample of four companies, or groups of related companies (the sampled companies) having the largest volume of exports to the Community was selected. In terms of export volume the four sampled companies represent 79 % of the total exports of citric acid from the PRC to the Community during the investigation period. In accordance with Article 17(2) of the basic Regulation, the parties concerned were consulted and raised no objection.