L 153/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 8.6.2001 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 21 May 2001 suspending the examination procedures concerning obstacles to trade, within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94, consisting of trade practices maintained by Brazil in relation to imports of textile products and sorbitol (notified under document number C(2001) 1449) (2001/429/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 328694 of 22 December 1994 laying down Community procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Community's rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 356/ 95 (%), and in particular Article 11(2)(a) thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: A. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 1. Examination on imports of textile products (1)  On 12 January 1998 Febeltex, (Fédération Belge du Textile) lodged a complaint pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 (hereinafter ‘the Regula- tion’). (2)  Febeltex alleged that Community sales of textile products in Brazil are hindered by a number of obstacles to trade within the meaning of Article 2(1) of the Regulation, i.e. ‘a practice adopted or maintained by a third country and in respect of which international trade rules establish a right of action’. The alleged obstacles to trade were: — Brazil's non-automatic licensing system for imports of textile products into this country, The complai- nant alleged that this system was not justified since it () O] L 349, 31.12.1994, p. 71. () O] L 41, 23.2.1995, p. 3. did not implement any commercial policy measure compatible with the WTO, — Brazilian requirements on import payment terms operated through an ‘horizontal regime’ (which Brazil applies to all imports), as well as a ‘specific regime’ (which it applies to imports of textile prod- ucts), — a minimum import pricing scheme. According to Febeltex, several textile products were subject to discretionary minimum import prices operated via both the import licensing and the custom valuation systems. (3)  The Commission decided that the complaint contained sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an exam- ination procedure. A corresponding notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Communi- ties (3). (4 The Brazilian authorities were informed of the initiation of the investigation and were requested to respond to a questionnaire on the alleged barriers to trade. The Brazilian government replied and provided the Commis- sion with the information requested. (5)  The final report on the examination procedure was circulated to the Member States on 9 November 1998, at the meeting of the Advisory Committee. 2. Examination on imports of sorbitol (6)  On 2 October 1998 Cerestar Holding BV lodged a complaint under Article 4 of the Regulation. () O] C 63, 27.2.1998, p. 2.