The Council, by Regulation (EC) No 91/2009, imposed anti-dumping measures on certain iron or steel fasteners originating in the People’s Republic of China. By Implementing Regulation (EU) No 723/2011, the Council extended those measures to certain iron or steel fasteners consigned from Malaysia (‘the extended measures’) with the exception of imports produced by the Malaysian companies which are specifically mentioned in that Regulation.

The investigation confirmed that Andfast was not related to any of the Chinese or Malaysian exporters or producers subject to the anti-dumping measures and had not exported the product concerned to the European Union during the investigation period of the investigation that led to the extended measures, i.e. 1 January 2008 to 30 September 2010. Andfast’s first exports of the product concerned occurred subsequently to the extension of measures to Malaysia.

The processing activities of Andfast can be considered as a completion and assembly operation in the sense of Article 13(2) of the basic Regulation. Andfast imports blanks from the People’s Republic of China which are subsequently threaded, plated and put together with the nuts and the washers at its premises in Malaysia. The finished product is sold and exported to its related company in the Union.

This is not considered to be a process involving circumvention as it could be demonstrated that the value added to the parts brought in from the People’s Republic of China, during the assembly and completion operation, is greater than 25 % of the manufacturing costs.

No evidence was found that Andfast was purchasing the finished product concerned from the People’s Republic of China to resell or tranship to the European Union.

In accordance with the above findings that Andfast has not engaged in circumvention practices, the company should be exempted from the anti-dumping measures in force.

The registration of imports of certain iron or steel fasteners consigned from Malaysia by Andfast, as imposed by the initiating Regulation, should cease. In accordance with Article 14(5) of the basic Regulation, which provides that measures shall be applied against registered imports from the date of registration, and in view of the exemption of the company from measures, no anti-dumping duty should be collected on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners consigned from Malaysia by Andfast which entered the Union under registration imposed by the initiating Regulation.

The exemption from the extended measures granted to imports of certain iron or steel fasteners produced by Andfast shall, in accordance with Article 13(4) of the basic Regulation, remain valid on condition that the facts as finally ascertained justify the exemption and that it is not, for instance, established that the exemption was granted on the basis of false or misleading information submitted by the company concerned. Should prima facie evidence indicate otherwise, or should exports from Andfast to the European Union increase dramatically, an investigation may be initiated by the Commission to establish whether withdrawal of the exemption is warranted.

The exemption from the extended measures granted to imports of certain iron or steel fasteners produced by Andfast was established on the basis of the findings of the present review. This exemption is thus exclusively applicable to imports of certain iron or steel fasteners consigned from Malaysia and produced by that specific legal entity. Imported iron or steel fasteners, produced by any company not specifically mentioned in Article 1(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 723/2011 with its name, including entities related to those specifically mentioned, shall not benefit from the exemption and should be subject to the residual duty rate as imposed by that Regulation.

It is considered that special measures are needed in this case in order to ensure the proper application of such exemptions. These special measures are the requirement of the presentation to the customs authorities of the Member States of a valid commercial invoice, which shall conform to the requirements set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 723/2011. Imports not accompanied by such an invoice shall be made subject to the extended anti-dumping duty.

Andfast and all other interested parties were informed of the facts and considerations on the basis of which it was intended to grant an exemption to Andfast from the extended measures. No comments were received,