L 149/30 Official Journal of the European Union 17.6.2003 COMMISSION DECISION of 16 June 2003 suspending the extended anti-dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EC) No 1023/2003 on imports of certain malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings consigned from Argentina, whether declared as originating in Argentina or not (notified under document number C(2003) 1693) (2003/434[EC) 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 (!), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1972/2002 (3, and in parti- cular Article 14(4) thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 2, ) ) ) ) ) A. PROCEDURE By Regulation (EC) No 1784/2000 () (the definitive Regulation), the Council imposed an anti-dumping duty of 34,8 % on imports of threaded malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings (malleable fittings) originating in Brazil, and falling under the CN code ex 7307 19 10 (TARIC code 7307 19 10 11). On 12 August 2002, the Commission received a request, pursuant to Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 384/96 (the basic Regulation), from the Defence Committee of the Malleable Cast Iron Pipe Fittings Industry of the European Union. The request alleged the existence of circumvention of the anti-dumping duties imposed by the definitive Regulation on imports of malleable fittings originating in Brazil. According to the request, the circumvention practice consisted of transhipment of malleable fittings originating in Brazil via Argentina to the Community. This request was submitted on behalf of producers representing a major proportion of the Community production of malleable fittings and contained sufficient evidence regarding the factors set out in Article 13(1) of the basic Regulation. The Commission initiated an investigation into the alleged circumvention by Regulation (EC) No 1693/2002 (%) (the initiating Regulation), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 909/2003 (. By Regulation (EC) No 1023/2003 (), the Council extended the definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by definitive Regulation on imports of malleable fittings falling within CN code ex 7307 19 10 (TARIC code 1. L 305, 7.11.2002, p. 1. L 208, 18.8.2000, p. 8. L 258, 26.9.2002, p. 27. L 128, 24.5.2003, p. 7. See page 1 of this Official Journal. 7307 19 10 10), originating in Brazil, to imports of the same threaded fittings consigned from Argentina (whether declared as originating in Argentina or not) (TARIC codes 7307 1910 11 and 7307 19 10 19), with the exception of those produced by DEMA SA, San Justo, Buenos Aires, Argentina (TARIC additional code A438). B. GROUNDS Article 14(4) of the basic Regulation provides for the possibility of suspension of anti-dumping measures in the Community interest on the grounds that market conditions have temporarily changed to an extent that injury would be unlikely to resume as a result of such a suspension. Article 14(4) further specifies that the anti- dumping measures concerned may be reinstated at any time if the reason for suspension is no longer applicable. The investigation concluded by Regulation (EC) No 1023/2003 that measures on malleable fittings origi- nating in Brazil were circumvented by exports consigned from Argentina. However, it also concluded that exports from Argentina to the Community significantly decreased during the investigation period (July 2001 — June 2002) and that they totally stopped after the end of this investigation period. These findings are based both on Eurostat and statistical information obtained from the Argentinian authorities. The cessation of exports consigned from Argentina took place before the initiation of the Commission anti- circumvention investigation in September 2002, and therefore cannot be attributed to that fact. Instead, it appears that the decline and subsequent elimination of the circumventing flow of exports from Argentina was due to remedial actions undertaken by the Argentinian authorities, themselves prior to the initiation of the Community anti-circumvention investigation. Indeed, on 5 October 2001, the Argentinian authorities initiated an anti-dumping proceeding on exports of Brazilian malle- able fittings to Argentina and, in February 2002, an anti- fraud investigation was initiated by the Argentinian customs concerning imports of the same product from Brazil.