YUETONG FASTENERS

  According to a report in the European Union Gazette on December 21st, the European Union officially announced the initiation of anti-dumping investigation against Chinese steel fasteners, and a series of related investigations will be launched soon. It is understood that the main reason for this anti-dumping investigation is the price issue.
  Any request for hearing on starting an investigation must be made within 15 days from the date of publication of this notice.
  According to the announcement, the products under investigation are steel fasteners, excluding stainless steel fasteners, i.e., wood screws (excluding lag screws), self-tapping screws, other screws and head bolts (with or without nuts or washers, but excluding screws and bolts for fixing railway track building materials) and washers ("products under investigation").

  It is said that the dumped products are products under investigation, originated from the People's Republic of China ("People's Republic of China" or "related countries"), and are currently classified according to CN codes 73181290, 73181491, 73181499, 73181558, 73181568, 73181582, 73181588. Ex73181595(TARIC codes 7318159519 and 7318159589) ,ex 73182100 (TARIC codes 7318210031, 7318210039, 7318210095 and 7318210 098) and ex73182200(TARIC codes 7318) CN and TARIC codes are for reference only.
  In addition, the dumping and damage investigation will cover the period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 ("investigation period"). The review of trends related to damage assessment will cover the period from January 1, 2017 to the end of the investigation period ("the considered period").
  Recently, in order to help and guide relevant enterprises to prepare for the EU anti-dumping investigation against steel fasteners in China, China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products and China General Machinery Parts Industry Association jointly held a network early warning work meeting for EU anti-dumping investigation against steel fasteners, introducing case information, listening to enterprise opinions, analyzing the case and discussing countermeasures! Nearly 200 business representatives from all over the country attended the meeting.
The meeting pointed out that this investigation will be conducted according to the newly revised anti-dumping regulations of EU. The enterprises involved in the case need to submit a sample questionnaire within 7 days and carry out other corresponding response work, which is very short of time. Enterprises involved in cases that do not respond to lawsuits may get punitive tax rates, thus losing the EU market.
  According to the Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Responding to Anti-dumping Cases of Export Products, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products is responsible for organizing and coordinating the anti-dumping response of the industry.

China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products
Key question answer
I. Scope of products involved. The products involved in this case are steel fasteners, so it is necessary to obtain the customs code and product description of the products involved according to the announcement of filing a case by the European Commission. However, it should be emphasized that the customs code is for reference only, and the enterprise should determine whether to produce the products involved according to the product description in the filing announcement. Enterprises can also send an application email for product clarification to the European Commission to determine whether their products are involved in the case. However, due to time constraints, it is suggested that enterprises send an application email for product clarification and submit a sampling questionnaire at the same time, so as not to miss the deadline for submitting questionnaires stipulated by the European Commission.
2, about the enterprises involved. After the announcement of filing a case, the enterprise should not only determine whether to produce the products involved, but also determine whether it has exported to the EU during the dumping investigation period (listed in the announcement of filing a case). If the enterprise produces the products involved and exports to the EU during the above period, it can basically be identified as the enterprise involved.
3. About cooperative enterprises. According to the requirements of the European Commission, if the enterprise fills in and submits the sampling questionnaire and the production factor questionnaire within the specified time, it will be regarded as a cooperative enterprise and may obtain a separate/average tax rate; Otherwise, it will be regarded as a non-cooperative enterprise, and the export products may be subject to the highest tax rate.

4, about the qualification of responding to the lawsuit of the trading company. If the trading company has an associated factory, it can respond to the lawsuit together with the factory; If a trading company does not have an associated factory, it is generally difficult for the European Commission to give a simple trading company a separate/average tax rate. The trading company can negotiate with the factory for future shipment arrangements, and the factory will fill in and submit a questionnaire. After the factory obtains the separate/average tax rate, the trading company can enjoy the tax rate of the factory with the factory's statement when shipping. It is suggested that the trading company inform the factory to submit the questionnaire on time as soon as possible, and the highest tax rate may apply if it does not respond to the lawsuit.

5. About sampling. When there are a large number of exporters or producers, the European Commission will determine the survey targets by sampling. Generally, 3-5 enterprises with a large export volume will be selected for investigation. In addition to submitting a sampling questionnaire, the sampled enterprises need to fill out a large questionnaire and will receive a separate tax rate; For cooperative enterprises that are not sampled, only the sampling questionnaire and the factor of production questionnaire will be filled in, and the average tax rate of the sampled enterprises will be obtained if the large questionnaire is not filled in.
6. defense of representative third country. Under the premise of a certain export price, the normal value will determine the level of dumping margin. According to the new regulations, when there is significant distortion, a representative third country will be selected when calculating the normal value, so the selection of a representative third country is very important for the calculation of dumping margin. According to the new regulations, submitting comments within 10 days after the information disclosure on the selection and alternative data sources of representative third countries is the best opportunity for responding enterprises to change the responding results. Enterprises must attach great importance to the defense of two rounds of separate disclosure and related issues in preliminary ruling of representative third countries.
7., on the defense of damage and dumping. Damage and dumping are two aspects of the case. In general, the Chamber of Commerce organizes enterprises to jointly conduct the defense of damages, and makes industry defense on the aspects that the industries in the EU have not suffered damages, dumping damages have no causal relationship, or the measures taken are not in line with the interests of the EU, which brings pressure to the European Commission, so as to achieve the result of no measures to close the case or reduce the tax rate as a whole. Dumping defense is generally conducted by enterprises alone, and sampling questionnaires and production factor questionnaires are submitted. Sampling enterprises need to submit large questionnaires and accept verification, and the European Commission will decide the dumping margin according to enterprise data. If an enterprise only participates in the defense of industry damage without filling in the sampling questionnaire, it will be subject to the highest tax rate if it cannot close the case without damage. If the enterprise only fills in the sampling questionnaire and does not participate in the defense of damage, it will give up the right and opportunity of defense that may win without damage and bring pressure to the investigation of the case. Therefore, dumping and defense of damages complement each other, and enterprises should pay equal attention to them.
8., about the shipment node. According to the investigation procedure of the new EU law, it is possible for the EU to make preliminary ruling and levy temporary anti-dumping duties within 7 months (no more than 8 months at the latest) after filing the case. The European Commission will make preliminary ruling and pre-disclosure four weeks in advance, and register the products involved from the date of pre-disclosure. The European Commission may also take import registration measures at the request of the complainant, provided that the prima facie evidence is established, to prevent further expansion of the harmful effects of imported dumped products on EU industries after filing the case. Anti-dumping duties may be retroactively imposed on imported products during the period from import registration to preliminary ruling. The levied retroactively period shall not exceed 90 days before the preliminary ruling from the date of implementation of import registration. Based on the above preliminary ruling time and import registration time, it is suggested that enterprises should not ship a large number of goods after filing a case. If there is no registration and levied retroactively, they should also consider not to ship goods after 5 months, so as to avoid taxation of goods arriving in Hong Kong.