Home German Laws PROVISIONS ON INFORMATION CONSULTING AND DISCLOSURE OF INDUSTRIAL DAMAGE INVESTIGATION

PROVISIONS ON INFORMATION CONSULTING AND DISCLOSURE OF INDUSTRIAL DAMAGE INVESTIGATION

Order of the Ministry of Commerce

No. 19

The Provisions on Information Consulting and Disclosure of Industrial Damage Investigation, which were adopted at the 5th ministerial
meeting on May 17, 2006, are hereby promulgated and shall go into effect after 30 days as of promulgation.
Bo Xilai, the Minister

August 4, 2006

Provisions on Information Consulting and Disclosure of Industrial Damage Investigation
Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1

With a view to guaranteeing the industrial damage investigation to be carried out in an open, fair and impartial manner, and safeguarding
the legitimate rights and interests of the interested parties concerned, these Provisions are hereby formulated in accordance with
the Regulation of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-dumping and the Countervailing Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 2

The information consulting and disclosure of industrial damage investigation in anti-dumping and countervailing activities shall
be subject to these Provisions.

Article 3

The power to interpret these Provisions shall remain with the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 4

The interested parties concerned as referred to in these Provisions include:

(a)

the producer, export operator and domestic import operator of the investigated products in a foreign country (region), or the industrial
organization or any other organization of the producer, export operator and import operator of the investigated products;

(b)

the government of the export country (region) of the investigated products;

(c)

the producer of domestic identical products or the industrial organization or any other organization of the investigated products;
and

(d)

others.

Article 5

The term “information consulting” as mentioned in these Provisions refers to activities that all the interested parties concerned
in a case go to the public information consulting office of the trade relief measures of the Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter referred
to as the consulting office) to look up, read, extract and copy the relative public information related to industrial damage investigation.

Article 6

The term “information disclosure” as mentioned in these Provisions refers to the basic facts based on which the ruling on a case
in relation to industrial damage is made and which shall be informed to the interested parties concerned by the Ministry of Commerce
in a reasonable time before the final decision is made.

Chapter 2 Information Consulting

Article 7

All the interested parties concerned may consult the public information related to industrial damage investigation, with the exception
of the information as prescribed in Article 9 of these Provisions.

Article 8

The public information as prescribed in Article 7 of these Provisions shall include:

(a)

the open text or non-confidential summary of an application and the attachment(s) thereof,

(b)

the open text or non-confidential summary of the application materials for the registration of the interested parties concerned in
industrial damage investigation,

(c)

the open text or non-confidential summary of the questionnaires and supplementary questionnaires on industrial damage investigation
as offered by the interested parties concerned;

(d)

the open text or non-confidential summary of the other application materials as provided by the interested parties concerned to the
Ministry of Commerce during the process of industrial damage investigation, including the application materials on the hearing of
industrial damage investigation, relative answer sheets as delivered in delay, adjustment on the product scope, exclusion of domestic
producers and etc.; the open text or non-confidential summary of the opinions or comments put forward by the other interested parties
concerned on the relative application,

(e)

the comments and opinions of the relative interested parties concerned on the application for confidential information and the open
text or non-confidential summary of confidential information as provided by one interested party concerned;

(f)

the open text or non-confidential summary of the cahier or summary of such meetings as the hearing of industrial damage investigation;

(g)

announcements and circulars as issued by the Ministry of Commerce, including the announcements on case fling, preliminary ruling
and terminal ruling; circulars of decisions on the registration of application for industrial damage investigation, distribution
of investigation questionnaires, on-spot investigation, hearing and sampling investigation;

(h)

the open text or non-confidential summary of the disclosure materials of the basic facts based on which the Ministry of Commerce
has made the final decision on industrial damage; and

(i)

other materials that the Ministry of Commerce have acquired or formulated during the process of industrial damage investigation.

Article 9

Where any information cannot be obtained through open channels, and if the publication of it will make other competitors obtain material
gains or impose any material negative influence over the information provider or information source, or bring about any other negative
influence, the information shall be deemed as confidential information.

As regards any information that is confidential in nature or is requested by the interested party concerned as confidential, if the
relative interested party concerned can give justifiable reasons, the Ministry of Commerce shall take the aforesaid information as
confidential.

Article 10

Any relative information to the Ministry of Commerce provided by any interested party concerned shall be indicated as open or confidential.
Where otherwise, the Ministry of Commerce may regard it as open information.

Article 11

When providing confidential information, any interested party concerned shall give its application ground in written form and the
open text or non-confidential summary of identical information. If any interested party concerned requires to make modification or
supplementation to any content of the materials as have been provided, it shall provide the open text or non-confidential summary
of the relative modified or supplementary content meanwhile, and attach the explanations of modification as well.

In the open text or non-confidential summary, the material content thereof shall be illustrated in a reasonable manner. Under special
circumstances, the interested party concerned shall not be required to provide any open text or non-confidential summary upon the
approval of the Ministry of Commerce, but shall give enough reasons in written form for the failure of providing the relative open
text or non-confidential summary.

Article 12

Where an interest party concerned fails to provide any open text or non-confidential summary, or the open text or non-confidential
summary is not enough to reasonably illustrate the material content of confidential information, or any interested party concerned
fails to provide sufficient grounds for not providing the open text or non-confidential summary, the Ministry of Commerce may request
it to withdraw its application. In case an interested party concerned refuses to do so, the Ministry of Commerce may ignore the information
as has been provided, unless the Ministry of Commerce can employ other proper sources to fully prove that the said information is
accurate.

Article 13

Where the Ministry of Commerce considers that the grounds for the application for confidentiality filed by an interested party concerned
do not accord with the requirements of these Provisions, it shall, within 7 days as of the receipt of the relative open text or non-confidential
summary, give explanations to the interested party concerned and allow a reasonable time limit for comments. Where the Ministry of
Commerce determines to ignore the information as provided by an interested party concerned, it shall notify the interested party
concerned in written form, unless the Ministry of Commerce can apply other proper sources to fully prove that the information is
accurate.

Article 14

The Ministry of Commerce shall submit one copy of the open text or non-confidential summary of the aforesaid materials to the public
information consulting office for reference within 7 days as of the day when the relative materials as provided by the interested
party concerned and mentioned in Article 8 of these Provisions are received.

The open text or non-confidential summary of the relative information as formulated or acquired by the Ministry of Commerce and prescribed
in Article 8 of these Provisions shall, under no special circumstance, be delivered to the consulting office within 10 days as of
formulation.

Article 15

During the process of industrial damage investigation, the interested parties concerned may go to the consulting office to look up
any of the public information related to industrial damage investigation within the working hours.

The relative interested parties concerned may also consult the relative public information within 6 months after the final ruling
is announced.

Article 16

When looking up public information, an interested party concerned shall show the relative papers that can prove its identity, and
shall be subject to registration as well.

Article 17

An interested party concerned may look up, read, extract and copy the relative public information, but shall not be allowed to take
any original of public information out of the consulting office.

Chapter 3 Information Disclosure

Article 18

The Ministry of Commerce shall, within a reasonable time limit before the final ruling on a case is made, notify the interested parties
concerned and domestic applicants that have been registered to participate in industrial damage investigation of the basic facts
based on which the final ruling is made, and notify any other interested party concerned that has not been registered that it may
go to the consulting office for the relative materials of information disclosure, on the premise that the parties and applicants
herein comply with the requirements for protecting the confidential information .

Article 19

In general, the basic facts as prescribed in Article 18 of these Provisions include:

(a)

the term and formalities for industrial damage investigation;

(b)

the factors or data based on which the domestic products of the same kind are confirmed;

(c)

the factors or data based on which the domestic industrial confirmation is made;

(d)

the facts or date based on which the cumulative appraisal is made;

(e)

the data on the import quantity (absolute quantity or comparative quantity) of the dumping or subsidized products as well as the
import prices;

(f)

the relative economic factors or data on appraising whether the domestic industry is damaged;

(g)

the factors or data that have further impact on the domestic industry in the relative investigated state (region);

(h)

the acceptance of the relative information as provided by an interested party concerned, including the utilization and grounds of
the most useful information acquired; and

(i)

any other information that may have substantial impact on ruling.

Article 20

The Ministry of Commerce shall make an information disclosure before 30 days as of the day when the final ruling is made. Under special
circumstances, in case any fact cannot be disclosed within the aforesaid time limit, the Ministry of Commerce shall make a disclosure
within a reasonable time limit before the final ruling is made.

Article 21

An information disclosure shall be made in written form, which may be made to all the relative interested parties concerned or the
representatives thereof.

Article 22

After the disclosure of information, an interested party concerned may put forward its comments to the Ministry of Commerce in written
form within 10 days.

Article 23

As regards the comments as put forward by the interested parties concerned within the prescribed time limit, the Ministry of Commerce
shall take them into account, and accept whatever is reasonable in its final ruling. Where any basic fact is therefore different
in making the final ruling, the Ministry of Commerce shall, as long as the normal formalities for case investigation are not disturbed,
disclose the information, upon which the relative interested parties concerned may make comments.

Chapter 4 Supplementary Provisions

Article 24

The information consulting and disclosure on industrial investigation damage in respect of case review shall be performed by referring
to these Provisions.

Article 25

The power to interpret these Provisions shall remain with the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 26

These Provisions shall go into effect after 30 days as of promulgation.



 
Ministry of Commerce
2006-08-04