The applicant of this interim review — Ester Industries Limited — is currently subject to a definitive anti-dumping duty of 29,3 %.

In July 2010, the Commission received a request for a partial interim review pursuant to Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation. The request, limited in scope to the examination of dumping, was lodged by Ester Industries Limited, an exporting producer from India (‘Ester’ or ‘the applicant’). In its request, the applicant claimed that the circumstances on the basis of which measures were imposed have changed and that these changes are of a lasting nature. The applicant provided prima facie evidence that the continued imposition of the measure at its current level was no longer necessary to offset injurious dumping.

The Notice of Initiation mentioned that the partial interim review would also assess the need, depending on the review findings, to amend the rate of duty applicable to imports of the product concerned from exporting producers in the country concerned not individually mentioned in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1292/2007, i.e. the anti-dumping duty rate as applying to ‘all other companies’ in India.

The investigation of the level of dumping covered the period from 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010 (‘the review investigation period’ or ‘the RIP’).

The Commission officially informed the applicant, the authorities of the exporting country and the Union industry of the initiation of the partial interim review investigation. Interested parties were given the opportunity to make their views known in writing and to be heard.

In order to obtain the information necessary for its investigation, the Commission sent a questionnaire to the applicant and received a reply within the deadline set for that purpose.

The Commission sought and verified all information it deemed necessary for the determination of dumping. A verification visit was carried out at the premises of the applicant.

The product concerned by this review is the same as that defined in Regulation (EC) No 1292/2007, as last amended, imposing the measures in force, namely polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, originating in India, currently falling within CN codes ex 3920 62 19 and ex 3920 62 90.

As in previous investigations, this investigation has shown that PET film produced in India and exported to the Union and the PET film produced and sold domestically on the Indian market, as well as the PET film produced and sold in the EU by the Union producers, have the same basic physical and chemical characteristics and the same basic uses.

These products are therefore considered to be alike within the meaning of Article 1(4) of the basic Regulation.

In accordance with Article 2(2) of the basic Regulation, the Commission first examined whether the applicant’s domestic sales of the like product to independent customers were representative, i.e. whether the total volume of such sales was equal to at least 5 % of the total volume of the corresponding export sales to the Union.

The Commission subsequently identified those types of the like product sold domestically by the company that were identical or directly comparable to the types sold for export to the Union.

It was further examined whether the domestic sales of the applicant were representative for each product type, i.e. whether domestic sales of each product type constituted at least 5 % of the sales volume of the same product type to the Union. For the product types sold in representative quantities it was then examined whether such sales were made in the ordinary course of trade, in accordance with Article 2(4) of the basic Regulation.

The examination as to whether the domestic sales of each product type, sold domestically in representative quantities, could be regarded as having been made in the ordinary course of trade was made by establishing the proportion of the profitable sales to independent customers of the type in question. In all cases where the domestic sales of the particular product type were made in sufficient quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, normal value was based on the actual domestic price, calculated as a weighted average of all the domestic sales of that type made during the RIP.

For the remaining product types where domestic sales were not representative or not sold in the ordinary course of trade, normal value was constructed in accordance with Article 2(3) of the basic Regulation. Normal value was constructed by adding to the manufacturing costs of the exported types, adjusted where necessary, a reasonable percentage for selling, general and administrative expenses and a reasonable margin for profit, on the basis of actual data pertaining to production and sales, in the ordinary course of trade, of the like product, by the exporting producer under investigation in accordance with the first sentence of Article 2(6) of the basic Regulation.

In the previous interim review leading to the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 366/2006, it was determined that price undertakings influenced the past export prices and made them unreliable for the determination of future export behaviour. In that interim review, given that Ester was selling the product concerned in substantial quantities on the world market, it was decided to establish the export price on the basis of prices actually paid or payable to all third countries.

It is recalled that the acceptance of price undertakings was withdrawn in March 2006, i.e. more than three years before the current RIP. Therefore, Ester’s export prices to the Union in the current RIP were not influenced by any price undertakings. It can be thus concluded that they can be considered reliable for the determination of future export behaviour.

Since all export sales of the applicant to the Union were made directly to independent customers, the export price was established on the basis of the prices actually paid or payable for the product concerned in accordance with Article 2(8) of the basic Regulation.

The comparison between the weighted average normal value and the weighted average export price was made on an ex-works basis and at the same level of trade. In order to ensure a fair comparison between normal value and the export price, account was taken, in accordance with Article 2(10) of the basic Regulation, of differences in factors which affected prices and price comparability. For this purpose, due allowance in the form of adjustments was made, where applicable and justified, for differences in transport, insurance, handling, loading and ancillary costs, commissions, financial costs and packing costs paid by the applicant.

The applicant claimed that, compared to the previous interim review investigation, it is offering its customers a wider variation of chemical coatings and this aspect should be taken into account when classifying the product concerned into different product types. However, the company did not demonstrate that the different types of chemical coatings affected price comparability and, in particular, that the customers consistently paid different prices on the domestic market and on the EU export market depending on the type of chemical coating. Therefore, the product classification applied in the previous investigations should be maintained and the claim must be rejected.

The applicant also claimed an adjustment on the export price, based on the benefits received upon exportation under the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB) on a post-export basis. In this respect, it was found that under this scheme, the credits received when exporting the product concerned could be used to offset customs duties due on imports of any goods or could be freely sold to other companies. In addition, there is no constraint that the imported goods should only be used in the production of the exported product concerned. Ester did not demonstrate that the benefit under the DEPB scheme affected price comparability and, in particular, that the customers consistently paid different prices on the domestic market because of the DEPB scheme benefits. Therefore, the claim was rejected.

The applicant further claimed an adjustment on the export price, based on the benefits received under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG) and under ‘Export Credits’ Scheme. In this regard it has to be noted that, similarly as with the other schemes mentioned above, there is no constraint that the imported goods under the EPCG Scheme should only be used in the production of the exported product concerned. Secondly, the applicant did not submit any evidence of an explicit link between pricing of the exported goods and the benefits received under the EPCG and ‘Export Credits’ Schemes. Finally, the applicant did not demonstrate that the benefits under these two schemes affected price comparability and, in particular, that the customers consistently paid different prices on the domestic market because of the EPCG and ‘Export Credits’ Schemes benefits. Therefore, the claim has to be rejected.

As provided for under Article 2(11) of the basic Regulation, the weighted average normal value by type was compared with the weighted average export price of the corresponding type of the product concerned. Following the comments on disclosure set out in recitals 44 and 45 below, the dumping margin, expressed as a percentage of the cif Union frontier price, duty unpaid, is 8,3 %.