L 208/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.8.2000 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1784/2000 of 11 August 2000 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings originating in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Thailand THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 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 (') and in particular Articles 9 and 10(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal submitted by the Commission after consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: A. PROVISIONAL MEASURES The Commission, by Regulation (EC) No 449/2000 (?), hereinafter the ‘provisional Regulation’), imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports into the Community of malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings originating in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Thailand, whereas no duties were imposed on imports originating in Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugo- slavia because their market shares had provisionally been found to be de minimis. B. SUBSEQUENT PROCEDURE Subsequent to the disclosure of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it was decided to impose a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports from Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Thailand and not to adopt provisional measures on imports originating in Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugo- slavia, interested parties who so requested were granted an opportunity to be heard by the Commission. They also made written submissions making their views known on the provisional findings. The Commission continued to seek and verify all infor- mation deemed necessary for the definitive findings. Further verification visits were carried out at the prem- ises of the following importers/traders which had replied to the questionnaire: — Jannone SA, Spain, — Nefit BV, The Netherlands, — Thisa SA, Spain. All parties were informed of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it was intended to recommend the imposition of a definitive anti-dumping (") OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 905/98 (O] L 128, 30.04.1998, p. 18). () O] L 55, 29.2.2000, p. 3. duty and the definitive collection of amounts secured by way of provisional duty. They were also granted a period within which they could make representations subse- quent to this disclosure. The oral and written arguments submitted by the parties were considered, and, where appropriate, the provisional findings have been modified accordingly. C. THE INITIATION OF THE PROCEEDING Some interested parties reiterated their claim concerning the non-inclusion of certain third countries in the invest- igation, namely Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey and the United States of America in the sense that this non-inclusion would be discriminatory and therefore invalidate the initiation of the proceeding. In this respect, it is confirmed that no proceeding could be initiated as regards Bulgaria and Poland since no dumping existed on the basis of the evidence of normal value and export price information for the Bulgarian and Polish products provided by the complainant in the same manner as for the countries concerned by the present investigation. With regard to the imports from the United States of America and Turkey, the informa- tion available indicated de minimis import levels. This claim should therefore be rejected. D. PRODUCT UNDER CONSIDERATION AND LIKE PRODUCT 1. Product under consideration The provisional Regulation described the product under consideration as threaded malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings (‘malleable fittings’ or ‘fittings’), which are joined by a screwing joining system, falling within CN code ex 7307 19 10. This definition is hereby confirmed. Following the disclosure of the provisional findings, one interested party argued that, in addition to CN code 7307 19 10, other CN codes should also fall within the scope of the investigation since the product under consideration was also imported into the Community under these latter codes. It claimed, moreover, that the investigation should be extended to unthreaded fittings, since these were imported into the Community, where they were threaded and sold.