L 135/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 8. 5. 98 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 971/98 of 7 May 1998 initiating an investigation concerning the alleged circumvention of the anti-dumping duty imposed by Regulation (EEC) No 3433/91 on imports of gas-fuelled, non-refillable pocket flint lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China by imports of the same lighters consigned from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and by imports of certain disposable refillable pocket flint lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China and making such imports subject to registration 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 imports from countries not members of the European Community (*), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 905/98 (3, and in particular Articles 13 and 14 thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: ( ( ( ( 1 2 3 4 ) ) ) ) (2) REQUEST The Commission has received a request pursuant to Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 384/96 (here- inafter referred to as ‘the Basic Regulation’) to in- vestigate the alleged circumvention of the anti- dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3433/91 (), as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 423/97 (), on imports of gas-fuelled, non-refillable pocket flint lighters (hereinafter also ‘disposable lighters’) originating in the People’s Republic of China. According to the request, the aforementioned anti-dumping duty is allegedly circumvented by: (i) imports of disposable lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China which have been transhipped via Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan respectively; (ii) imports of disposable lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China which, after having been the subject of slight modifications, are declared as refillable and/or reflintable lighters although, in practical terms, they are not. Furthermore, a request was made to make these imports subject to registration by the customs authorities pursuant to Article 14(5) of the Basic 56, 6. 3. 1996, p. 1. 128, 30. 4. 1998, p. 18. oJ L oJ L OJ L 326, 28. 11. 1991, p. 1. oJ L 65, 6. 3. 1997, p. 1. Regulation and where justified, to extend the above anti-dumping duty to them. (b) APPLICANT The request was lodged by the European Lighters Manufacturers’ Federation on 24 March 1998 on behalf of the following Community producers: — Bic SA, Clichy Cedex, France, — Flamagas SA, Barcelona, Spain, — Tokai  Seiki GmbH, Modnchengladbach, Germany. According to the request, these companies are all manufacturers of disposable lighters and their collective output represents approximately 60 % of the total Community production of the like product. (c) PRODUCT The product concerned in the original investigation and in the review investigation (hereinafter ‘the previous investigation’), which resulted in an amendment of the anti-dumping duty in force by Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/95 (°), was gas- fuelled, non-refillable pocket flint lighters or dis- posable lighters. Disposable lighters are currently classifiable under CN code ex 961310 00. This CN code is given for information only. As described in more detail below, the request to initiate the current investigation alleges, inter alia, that the existing measures are being circumvented by altering disposable lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China and the only purpose of these alterations is to cause custom authorities to classify such imported lighters under a customs tariff heading different from that covering dis- posable lighters. (d) REGISTRATION In view of the fact that circumvention is alleged to take place, inter alia, by imports of disposable lighters originating in the People’s Republic of China which are declared as refillable and/or re- flintable lighters although in practical terms, they ¢) OJ L 101, 4. 5. 1995, p. 38.