14. 5. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 119/35 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1251/91 of 13 May 1991 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of audio tapes in cassettes originating in Japan and the Republic of Korea, collecting definitively the provisional duty and terminating the procedure concerning Hong Kong THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88 of 11 July 1988 on protection against dumped or subsi- dized imports from countries not members of the Euro- pean Economic Community ('), and in particular Articles 9 and 12 thereof, Having regard to the proposal by the Commission after consultation within the Advisory Committee as provided for under the above Regulation, Whereas : M @3) A. PROVISIONAL MEASURES The Commission, by Regulation (EEC) No 3262/90 (%), imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports into the Community of audio tapes in cassettes (hereinafter referred to as audio cassettes) originating in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong and falling within CN code 8523 11 00. The duty was extended for a maximum period of two months by Council Regulation (EEC) No 578/91 (). B. SUBSEQUENT PROCEDURE Following the imposition of the provisional anti- dumping duty, all the exporters mentioned by name in Regulation (EEC) No 3262/90, as well as the representatives of the complainants, requested and were granted an opportunity to be heard by the Commission. They, as well as one importer, also made written submissions making their views known on the findings. The Commission continued to seek and verify all information it deemed to be necessary for its deter- minations. For this purpose, an investigation was carried out at the premises of the following exporter : () OJ No L 209, 2. 8. 1988, p. 1. () OJ No L 313, 13. 11. 1990, p. S. () OJ No L 65, 12. 3. 1991, p. 20. @ (6) @ ®) — Hitachi Maxell, Tokyo, Japan. .Upon request, the parties were informed of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it was intended to recommend the imposi- tion of definitive duties and the definitive collec- tion of amounts secured by way of a provisional duty. They were also granted a period within which to make representations subsequent to these dis- closures. Their oral and written comments were considered and, where appropriate, the Commis- sion’s findings were modified to take account of them. Owing to the complexity of the proceeding, in particular to the detailed verification of the vol- uminous data involved and the numerous argu-. ments put forward, the investigation could not be concluded within the time limit provided for in Article 7 (9) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88. i C. PRODUCT UNDER CONSIDERATION, LIKE PRODUCT, COMMUNITY INDUSTRY In its provisional findings (recitals 9 to 12 of Regu- lation (EEC) No 3262/90) the Commission found that although there are various models of audio cassettes differing in length and coating of tape and design of the cartridge, these models have the same basic physical characteristics, application, use and channels of distribution. This finding was questioned by one exporter who requested that audio cassettes whose tapes were coated with a metal pigment (hereinafter referred to as metal audio cassettes) should be excluded from "the scope of the proceeding. This exporter submitted that metal audio cassettes are extremely high quality cassettes bought by specialist consu- mers and require a cassette recorder with a specific key-function to appreciate their true quality. A similar claim was submitted by an importer requesting the exclusion of audio cassettes for answering machines from the scope of the proceeding. However, while the Commission accepts that there are minor differences in quality or use of audio cassettes, it considers that these are actually outweighed by the similarity of characteristics and functions which give them a high degree of inter- changeability. The Commission notes in this respect that metal audio cassettes can be used on a