L 73/16 Official Journal of the European Union 15.3.2013 COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 215/2013 of 11 March 2013 imposing a countervailing duty on imports of certain organic coated steel products originating in the People’s Republic of China THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 597/2009 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Community ('), and in particular Article 17 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE 1.1. INITIATION (1) On 22 February 2012, the European Commission (") ¢ O] 0] ("Commission") announced by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union (%) (‘Notice of initiation’), the initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding with regard to imports into the Union of certain organic coated steel products originating in the People’s Republic of China (PRC' or the 'country concerned'). The anti-subsidy proceeding was initiated following a complaint lodged on 9 January 2012 by EUROFER (the complainant’) on behalf of producers representing in this case more than 70% of the total Union production of certain organic coated steel products. The complaint contained prima facie evidence of subsidisation of the said product and of material injury resulting therefrom, which was considered sufficient to justify the initiation of a proceeding. Prior to the initiation of the proceeding and in accordance with Article 10(7) of the basic Regulation, the Commission notified the Government of the PRC (the GOC') that it had received a properly documented complaint alleging that subsidised imports of certain organic coated steel products originating in the PRC were causing material injury to the Union industry. The L 188, 18.7.2009, p. 93. C 52, 22.2.2012, p. 4. () O () o —= GOC was invited for consultations with the aim of clar- ifying the situation as regards the contents of the complaint and arriving at a mutually agreed solution. The GOC accepted the offer of consultations and consul- tations were subsequently held. During the consultations, no mutually agreed solution could be arrived at. However, due note was taken of comments made by the authorities of the GOC in regard to the allegations contained in the complaint regarding the lack of counter- vailability of the schemes. Following the consultations, submissions were received from the GOC. 1.2. ANTI-DUMPING PROCEEDING On 21 December 2011, the European Commission announced by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union (%), the initiation of an anti- dumping proceeding concerning imports into the Union of certain organic coated steel products orig- inating in the PRC. On 20 September 2012, the Commission, by Regulation (EU) No 845/2012 (%), imposed a provisional anti- dumping duty on imports of certain organic coated steel products originating in the PRC. The injury analyses performed in this anti-subsidy and the parallel anti-dumping investigation are identical, since the definition of the Union industry, the representative Union producers and the investigation period are the same in both investigations. For this reason, comments on injury aspects put forward in any of these proceedings were taken into account in both proceedings. 1.3. PARTIES CONCERNED BY THE PROCEEDING The Commission officially advised the complainants, other known Union producers, the known exporting producers in the PRC, importers, traders, users, suppliers and associations known to be concerned, and the representatives of the PRC of the initiation of the proceeding. Interested parties were given the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing within the time limit set in the notice of initi- ation. C 373, 21.12.2011, p. 16. L 252, 19.9.2012, p. 33.