L 96/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 18.4.2000 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 799/2000 of 17 April 2000 terminating the investigation concerning the alleged circumvention of anti-dumping measures imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2861/93 on imports of certain magnetic disks (3,5" microdisks) originating in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China by assembly operations in the Community, and discontinuing the registration of imports of microdisk parts introduced by Regulation (EC) No 1646/1999 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 905/98 (3, and in particular Articles 9, 13 and 14 thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: A. PROCEDURE On 29 July 1999, by Regulation (EC) No 16461999 (%), the Commission initiated an investigation pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 384/96 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the basic Regulation’) to investigate the alleged circumvention of the anti-dumping duties imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2861/93 (%), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2537/1999 (°), on imports of certain magnetic disks (3,5” microdisks) originating in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China by assembly operations in the Community, and instructed customs authorities, pursuant to Article 14(5) of the basic Regulation, to register the imports of the main microdisk parts covered by this investigation. The investigation was initiated following a request lodged on 14 June 1999 by the Committee of European Diskette Manufacturers (Diskma). The request contained sufficient prima facie evidence, in accordance with Article 13(3) of the basic Regulation, that anti-dumping duties on imports of 3,5” microdisks originating in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China were being circumvented by imports of microdisk parts from these countries used in assembly operations in the Community. This evidence was considered suficient to justify the initiation of an investigation. The Commission officially advised the authorities of Taiwan and the People's Republic of China of the initia- tion of the investigation and sent questionnaires to the microdisk assembler named in the request and to its related exporter in Taiwan. Questionnaires were also sent to exporting producers in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan which cooperated in the original 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1. 128, 30.4.1998, p. 18. 262, 21.10.1993, p. 4. 307, 2.12.1999, p. 1. () O] L () O] L () O] L 195, 28.7.1999, p. 9. () O] L () oL investigation. The companies concerned made their views known in writing. The investigation covered the period from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘IP). The Commission received complete replies from the following companies: (i) Exporters of microdisk parts: — CMC Magnetics Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan (‘CMC)*, — Vigobyte International Corporation, California, United States of America, (i) Assembler in the Community: — Europa Magnetics Corporation, Cramlington, United Kingdom (EMC)*. The Commission verified all the information it deemed necessary and carried out verification visits at the prem- ises of the companies indicated above by an asterisk. B. SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION Articles 13(1) and (2) of the basic Regulation provide for anti-dumping measures in force to be extended to imports of parts from the country subject to the meas- ures when circumvention of the measures is taking place. The present investigation focussed on whether the criteria set out in Article 13(2) of the basic Regulation were met. C. FINDINGS 1. Condition of Article 13(2)(a): Start or substantial increase of operations EMC started operations in 1993 and its activities increased constantly and substantially over the following years. Sales of microdisks assembled at EMC started immediately after the imposition of anti-dumping meas- ures on Japan, the Republic of China and Taiwan in October 1993. These sales increased by around 270 % between 1994 and the IP. During the same period, EMC's share of the Community market increased by around 420 %. This substantial increase in sales was matched by a similar increase in assembly capacity. EMC's present capacity is estimated at a substantial proportion of total Community demand, although