No L 330/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 11. 90 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 3421/90 of 26 November 1990 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of aspartame originating in Japan and the United States of America THE COMMISSION 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 Article 11 thereof, After consultations within the Advisory Committee as provided for in the above Regulation, Whereas : @ @) A. PROCEDURE The Commission received a complaint lodged by the Holland Sweetener Company Vof (hereafter referred to as HSC), the sole producer of aspartame in the Community. The complaint contained evidence of dumping of this product originating in Japan and the United States of America and of material injury resulting therefrom, which was considered sufficient to justify the initiation of proceeding. The Commission accordingly announced, by a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Communities(?), the initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports into the Community of aspartame (hereafter referred to as APM) falling eithin CN code ex 2924 29 90, originating in Japan and the United States of America and commenced an investigation. The Commission officially advised the exporters and importers known to be concerned, the repre- sentatives of the exporting country and the complainant and gave the parties directly concerned the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to request a hearing. All exporters, some importers and the Community producer made their views known in writing. ZZ o L 209, 2. 8. 1988, p. 1. o C 52, 3. 3. 1990, p. 12 O (6 (10) (1) Submissions were also made by associations repre- senting consumers of APM. The investigation of dumping covered the period from 1 January until 31 December 1989. The Commission sought and verified all the infor- mation it deemed to be necessary for the purpose of a preliminary determination and carried out investigations at the premises of the following: (a) Community producer: Holland Sweetener Company Vof, Maastricht, The Netherlands (b) Japanese producer/exporter: Ajinomoto Co. Ltd Tokyo, Japan (c) US producer/exporter: : The NutraSweet Company, Deerfield, USA (d) Importer related to the Japanese producer/ exporter: Deutsche Germany Ajinomoto, GmbH, Hamburg, The Commission requested and received detailed written and oral submissions from the Community producer, the exporters and a number of importers, and verified the information provided to the extent considered necessary. B. PRODUCT UNDER CONSIDERATION APM is a sweetening ingredient with a taste profile similar to sugar but a smaller caloric value. The main applications for APM are in the soft drink, food and dairy industries. APM is also used in the table top market ie. the low calorie tablets and powder used to sweeten coffee and tea. Although APM is produced worldwide under diffe- - rent technologies the product is uniform and there are no major differences in physical or chemical characteristics. APM produced by the US exporter was sold, domestically as well as for export to the Commu- nity, under the brand name of NutraSweet. The Japanese product was exported to the Community under the same NutraSweet brand name, whereas for domestic sales the brand name of Pal was used.