18.9.2012 [ EN_| Official Journal of the European Union L 251/29 COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 833/2012 of 17 September 2012 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain aluminium foils in rolls originating in the People’s Republic of China THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 of 30 November 2009 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: 0] 0] A. PROCEDURE 1. Initiation On 20 December 2011, the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) announced, by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union (?) (Notice of Initiation’), the initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding with regard to imports into the Union of certain aluminium foil in rolls originating in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The proceeding was initiated following a complaint lodged on 9 November 2011 by the European Association of Metals (Eurométaux) (‘the complainant)) on behalf of producers representing more than 50 %, of the total Union production of certain aluminium foil in rolls. The complaint contained prima facie evidence of dumping of the said product and of material injury resulting therefrom, which was considered sufficient to justify the initiation of an investigation. 2. Parties Concerned by the Proceeding The Commission officially advised the complainant, other known Union producers, the exporting producers in the PRC, producers in the analogue country, importers, distributors, and other parties known to be concerned, and representatives of the PRC of the initiation of the proceeding. Interested parties were given an opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing within the time limit set in the Notice of Initi- ation. The complainant, other Union producers, the exporting producers in the PRC, importers and distributors made their views known. All interested parties, who so L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 51. C 371, 20.12.2011, p. 4. ©) requested and showed that there were particular reasons why they should be heard, were granted a hearing. In view of the apparent high number of Union producers, importers and exporting producers 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, importers and exporting producers were asked to make themselves known to the Commission and to provide, as specified in the Notice of Initiation, basic information on their activities related to the product concerned (as defined in section 3 below) during the period from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011. As regards the Union producers, in the Notice of Initiation the Commission announced that it had provisionally selected a sample of Union producers on the basis of the information received from the cooperating Union producers prior to the initiation of the investigation. That sample consisted of the four largest known companies or groups of companies in the Union. As explained in recital (24) below, only two unrelated importers provided the requested information and agreed to be included in the sample. Therefore, in view of the limited number of cooperating importers, sampling was deemed to be no longer necessary. A third importing company provided a submission without submitting a questionnaire response. As explained in recital (26) below, 14 exporting producers in the PRC provided the requested information and agreed to be included in the sample. On the basis of the information received from these parties, the Commission selected a sample of four exporting producers having the largest volume of exports to the Union. 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 all Chinese exporting producers known to be concerned and to the authorities of the PRC. Two companies came forward and requested MET, one company was part of the selected sample, the other not. Requests for IT were received from the companies in the sample and the company that requested MET but was not part of the sample. The Commission sent questionnaires to all exporting producers that made themselves known within the deadlines set out in the Notice of Initiation, namely the four sampled companies and all other companies