WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2918/97 by Arlene McCARTHY to the Council. Inquiry into anti-dumping duties on exports of unbleached cotton from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, China and Egypt
3. 4. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 102/149 Answer (10 November 1997) The General Secretariat of the Council took note of an article which appeared in the newspaper De Morgenö on 20 August 1997, containing implicit allegations against some officials in the Councilís security service. In view of the serious nature of those allegations and also if its duty of concern regarding its own officials, the General Secretariat of the Council decided to organize an inquiry to ascertain whether or not the allegations in question are justified. (98/C 102/222) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2918/97 by Arlene McCarthy (PSE) to the Council (8 September 1997) Subject: Inquiry into anti-dumping duties on exports of unbleached cotton from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, China and Egypt With regard to the new inquiry into anti-dumping duties on exports of unbleached cotton from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, China and Egypt, would the Council please clarify why it has approved a third such inquiry so soon after the previous Commission inquiry expired › without being officially terminated › following the Councilís rejection in May 1997 of the proposed duties? The Council rejected the previous complaint as it felt duties would create more harm than good to the Community as a whole. Does the Council not appreciate that this apparently political decision to initiate a new inquiry does all harm and no good? Would the Council not agree that this new, but essentially identical, case not only threatens those parties directly concerned › by creating renewed uncertainty during the period of the complaint, with the prospect of much more drastic repercussions in the form of factory closures and heavy redundancies across the EUís textiles finishing industry and wholesale sector should the duties be introduced › but that it also wastes a considerable amount of EU taxpayersí money? Answer (10 November 1997) 1. The Council would remind the Honourable Member that, under Article 5 of Council Regulation No 384/96 (basic anti-dumping Regulation), it is for the Commission alone to decide whether to initiate anti-dumping proceedings. According to the Councilís information, Eurocoton brought a complaint on 26 May 1997 in connection 2. with imports of unbleached cotton from several non-Union countries. Following submission of that complaint the Commission, acting in accordance with Article 5 of the abovementioned Regulation, decided to initiate anti-dumping proceedings and also an investigation (the notice was published in the Official Journal of 11 July 1997). 3. It should be noted that, pursuant to Article 6(9) of the basic Regulation, anti-dumping investigations must, whenever possible, be concluded within one year. They must in any event be concluded within fifteen months of initiation. 4. The Council is awaiting the outcome of the investigation before adopting a position on the matter