Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1404 of 3 July 2023 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of stainless steel refillable kegs originating in the People’s Republic of China

• (118) The conclusions on sales volume of the Union industry on the Union market from recital (165) of provisional Regulation were confirmed. However, with the use of the conservative approach to determine the import quantities (see Section 4.2.5), the development of the Union industry’s market share had to also be adjusted. The Union industry’s sales volume and market share thus developed over the period considered as follows:

Table 4

Sales volume and market share

	2018	2019	2020	Investigation period
Sales volume on the Union market (pieces)	2 875 573	2 124 518	1 479 302	822 777
Index	100	74	51	29
Market share	82 %	86 %	87 %	87 %
Index	100	104	105	106
Source: Reply to the macro questionnaire provided by the complainant	Source: Reply to the macro questionnaire provided by the complainant	Source: Reply to the macro questionnaire provided by the complainant	Source: Reply to the macro questionnaire provided by the complainant	Source: Reply to the macro questionnaire provided by the complainant

• (119) The Union industry’s market share development slightly changed compared to the figures based on the import statistics as published in the provisional Regulation. Using the imports statistics, there was a steady situation in 2018 and 2019 with 5 percentage points drop in 2020 and then further 10 percentage points drop in the investigation period.

• (120) The data based on the conservative approach show 4 percentage point increase from 2018 to 2019 and then the market share remained steady until the end of the investigation period. As further discussed in section 5.1.1, the market share of the Union industry decreased by 14 percentage points in 2022 in comparison with the investigation period to the benefit of the imports from China, which increased by the same extent (from 13 % to 27 %).

• (121) The GOC claimed that “although the market share and sales volume of EU producers have declined during the investigation period, the decline is in line with consumer demand”, the decrease in which the GOC attributes to the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation in consumer goods. The GOC presented no evidence to suggest that there was either significant inflation in consumer goods during the period considered, nor that such alleged inflation would be the reason behind the decrease in demand for kegs. Nonetheless, the Commission itself concluded in recital (120) of the provisional Regulation that the consumption indeed decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the various lockdowns introduced in the Union. However, as explained in recitals of the provisional Regulation and in section 5.1 below, despite Covid-19 which resulted in decrease in demand, the market shares of both the Union industry and the Chinese exporting producers did not change significantly in the period 2019 – 2021 in a significantly smaller market, and the Commission concluded that the imports from China exercised significant price pressure on the Union industry forcing it to keep its price low and below cost of production thereby causing material injury. These arguments were therefore rejected as unfounded.

4.5.2.2.   Magnitude of the dumping margin and recovery from past dumping

• (122) In its comments on the provisional findings, the complainant claimed that, with the dumping margins established in the provisional stage varying between 65,3 % and 91 %, the magnitude of dumping should be considered substantial and included in the evaluation of injury as provided for in Article 3(5) of the basic Regulation.

• (123) The Commission noted that it had indeed, in the context of evaluation of all factors and indices relevant to assess injury to the Union industry, found that the magnitude of the dumping margins did have a substantial impact on the Union industry, in recital (170) of the provisional Regulation. The Commission subsequently established that dumping margins were even higher, ranging from 70,2% to 92,3 % (see Section 3.4 above). On that basis, the Commission confirmed the conclusion from recital (170) of the provisional Regulation.

4.5.3.   Microeconomic indicators

• (124) Following the imposition of provisional measures, no comments were received on any of the microeconomic indicators (prices and factors affecting prices, labour costs, inventories, profitability, cash flow, investments, return on investments and ability to raise capital). Therefore, the Commission confirmed its conclusion set out in recitals (172) to (185) of the provisional Regulation.

4.5.4.   Conclusion on injury

• (125) Despite the modification to consumption, import figures, and market shares, as presented above, the main macro and micro indicators continue to show a negative trend during the period considered. Whilst the market share of the exports from China appears to diminish in 2019 and (slightly) in 2020 to then remains stable in the IP, this has to be seen in the particular situation of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020 and the collapse of the Union market for kegs that followed. Following a slight market share loss in 2020, despite stringent zero-covid policy measures and the container crisis of 2021, imports from China maintained a substation market share, considerably supressing the |Union industry’s prices in the IP. Indeed, the Commission confirmed the underselling margins as established at provisional stage, ranging from 52,9 % to 58,8 %, causing significant price suppression in the market and negatively impacting the Union industry.

• (126) In their comments to pre-disclosure and reiterated at provisional disclosure and at final disclosure, the two sampled exporting producers claimed that the Union industry’s target prices per model were not reliable and against commercial logic. Ningbo and Penglai argued that certain models of a smaller capacity (5 and 10 litres) were more expensive than models with a larger capacity. Furthermore, they argued that it cannot be that one model of keg had the same target price with or without spears, and that was unreasonable that two models of kegs of the same capacity but produced under different standards had a different target price.

• (127) First, the Commission observed that the majority of kegs sold in the Union market have a capacity from 20 litres and up, while kegs of 5 and 10 litres were sold in limited quantities - they represented [0.4% - 0.6%] of the total Union consumption in the IP. It is commercially possible that niche products produced and sold in limited quantities had a higher price than mass products sold in considerably higher quantities. Furthermore, the production quantity had an impact on the cost of production too. Changing the product type requires steps such as changing the mould of the hydraulic press and other operations that slow down the flow of the production process. When the adaptation of the production process is done for the production of few hundreds of units of a certain product type, fixed costs and other costs have a significantly higher impact than for the production of a product type produced in tens of thousands of units.

• (128) Second, the Commission noted that the injury margin was expressed in ranges in order not to disclose confidential information of the Union producers, as explained above in recital (115). Therefore, the exporting producers estimated a minimum and maximum target price per model based on those ranges. The spears have an impact of around 10% on the price of the final product. The ranges in which the target prices of the two models are contained allow for this differentiation. Therefore, contrary to the argument of the exporting producers, the two models do not have the same price.

• (129) Lastly, the Commission noted that the capacity was not the only driver of the price. Other factors, such as the standard, clearly had an impact too. This can equally be observed in the export prices of the two sampled exporting producers, which also showed a difference of almost 50% for those exact same two models of kegs.

• (130) Therefore, these claims were rejected as unfounded.

• (131) With the other comments that the interested parties made on the injury findings addressed in the relevant Sections above, the Commission confirmed its conclusions from recitals (186) to (188), (190), and (191) of the provisional Regulation, and reaffirmed that the Union industry suffered material injury within the meaning of Article 3(5) of the basic Regulation.

5. CAUSATION

5.1.   Effects of the dumped imports

• (132) In Recital (217) of the provisional Regulation, the Commission concluded that the dumped imports from China caused the injury suffered by the Union industry.

• (133) Following the conservative scenario for the import volumes (as explained in Section 4.4.1 above) the Commission assessed whether the conclusions reached in recitals (193) to (209) of the provisional Regulation on causality remained valid.

• (134) The volume of imports from China decreased by 80 % over the period considered, from 617 607 pieces in 2018 to 118 460 pieces in 2021 and their market share decreased from 18% in 2018 to 13% in the investigation period. The import volumes and their market share, although decreasing as compared to the beginning of the period considered, remained significant during the investigation period.

• (135) Furthermore, these imports were made at prices significantly lower than those of the Union industry over the whole period considered. The Union industry had no choice but to follow the low prices set by the Chinese producers in order to preserve its market share in a period of dropping consumption and increasing production costs, as explained in section 4.4.3.1. of the provisional Regulation. This in turn resulted in a significant profitability drop for all sampled Union producers from profits (of + 12 % in 2018) to heavy losses (– 9 % in 2021), and the consequent deterioration of other financial indicators such as return on investment and cash flow. This price suppression, as explained in section 4.3.3 of the provisional Regulation was clearly due to the behaviour of the Chinese exporting producers offering kegs at dumped prices on the EU market.

• (136) As established in recitals (190), (194) and from (196) to (209) of the provisional Regulation, the exporting producers’ price pressure started in 2019, when their export price dropped by 13%. During the same period Union industry’s prices increased by just 2%, while their cost of production increased by 7%. This had an immediate effect on the profitability that dropped from 12% to 5%. In 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic hit the Union and, in consequence of the various lockdowns across Europe, Union consumption dropped dramatically. As a result of the reduced production and capacity utilisation, Union industry’s cost of production increased significantly, as explained in recital (174) of the provisional Regulation. Despite the rise in costs the Union industry could not raise its prices to a sustainable level for concerns of losing further sales volume against the low-priced and dumped imports of kegs from China.

• (137) The Union industry’s sales of kegs decreased from 2 875 573 pieces in 2018 to 822 777 pieces in the investigation period. While the Union industry managed not to lose its market share during the period considered, in the context of a temporarily shrinking market, it only managed to do so by lowering its prices to unsustainable, below cost levels. Further loss of market share coupled with the collapse in the consumption would most likely mean a closure for the entire industry following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the post IP data demonstrates, that closure coupled with the sharp increase of import volume from China in 2022 would most likely be a death blow to the Union industry. Therefore, the Commission confirmed that in a context of shrinking market and increasing cost of production, the Chinese prices consistently undercut the Union industry prices and suppressed EU market price levels.

• (138) The situation of the Union export performance, as detailed in section 5.2.2. of the provisional Regulation, showed what a normal situation would be in terms of price levels and resulting profits in export markets not affected by dumped imports or where measures have been imposed to restore fair trade, i.e. the USA that constitute its main export market. Over the period considered, the prices these markets were able to offer were significantly higher than the sales prices of the Union industry on the Union market and constantly above its cost of production, except for 2020, the year most significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, had it not been for the significant price suppression and price undercutting exercised by Chinese imports, due to the exceptional measures that were taken as described in recital (190) of the provisional Regulation, the Union industry could have weathered most of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in a profitable state.

5.1.1.   Analysis of the 2022 situation

Table 5

Comparison of the major injury indicators for the period 2018 - 2022

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Total Union consumption (pcs)	3 493 180	2 481 922	1 703 848	941 237	2 092 723
Sales volume of the Union industry (pcs)	2 875 573	2 124 518	1 479 302	822 777	1 533 024
Market share	82 %	86 %	87 %	87 %	73 %
Import quantities from China (pcs)	617 607	357 404	224 546	118 460	559 699
Market share	18 %	14 %	13 %	13 %	27 %
Average unit sales price of the Union Industry (EUR/piece)	56	55	51	51	76
Average unit import price from China (EUR/piece)	43	37	38	43	51
Union industry’s unit cost of production (EUR/piece)	55	59	63	64	75
Union industry’s profitability	12 %	5 %	-18 %	-9 %	1 %
Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.	Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.	Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.	Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.	Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.	Source: Data provided by the complainant. Data provided by the sampled Union producers. Data provided by the cooperating exporting producers. Surveillance database.

• (139) To gain a better understanding of the market situation taking into account that the market in 2020-2021 was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission analysed also the post-IP period that is the entire 2022. In 2022 the effects of the lockdowns due to Covid-19 pandemic were over and the market started to rebound. Consumption increased from 941 000 pieces in 2021 to 2.1 million in 2022 i.e., by 122%. The Union industry’s sales went up by 86% reaching 1.5 million pieces and its prices went up by 49% reaching 76 EUR/keg (from 51 EUR/keg in 2021).

• (140) At the same time imports from China grew at an impressive rate of 372 %, from 118 000 pieces in 2021 to 560 000 in 2022. As a result, the market share of the Chinese exporters more than doubled from 13 % in 2021 to 27 % in 2022, while the market share of the Union industry dropped from 87 % to 73 % over the same period.

• (141) Import prices from China increased as well in 2022, from 43 EUR/keg to 51 EUR/keg, but to a far lesser extent than the Union industry prices, and the average undercutting margin increased up to 49% in 2022.

• (142) Furthermore, year 2022 was characterised by the significant increase in inflation, driven by the energy costs, and the increase in price of stainless steel in the first half of 2022 compared to 2021. In this situation, the cost of production of the Union industry grew by 17 %, up to 75 EUR/keg (just 1 euro below the average price). Therefore, in spite of the increase in sales volume and selling prices, the profitability of the Union industry barely reached 1 %.

• (143) The Chinese export prices were significantly lower than Union industry’s prices and costs since the beginning of the period considered in 2018. This market presence at very low prices was to the detriment of the Union industry that was obliged to decrease sales prices during the period considered to maintain their position in the market. These effects were possibly less evident in 2020-2021 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the shipping container crisis that allowed the Union industry to slightly increase its market share, although at the cost of significant losses.

• (144) The data in 2022, when the market was back to pre-Covid-19 conditions, show the true magnitude of the injurious effects of Chinese unfair price competition. In 2022, despite the growing demand, the Union industry was able to sell its product at prices just barely in line with it cost of production and, despite this, in just one year lost 14 percentage points of market share to the Chinese imports. Therefore, the data from 2022 demonstrates the outcome of the trend that started in 2019 and was concealed by a different type of injury caused by Chinese imports throughout the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. Union industry’s sharp decrease of prices in 2019 managed to preserve its market position but at a significant cost to its profitability. When the market rebounded in 2022 and the Union industry, unable to compete effectively on prices with the heavily dumped Chinese imports, remained at just slightly above break-even, that lead to a massive market loss to the benefit of the imports from China.

• (145) In light of the above considerations, the Commission established that the post-IP developments confirmed its findings in the provisional Regulation and in recital (137) above that the dumped imports caused the injury suffered by the Union industry during the period considered. Indeed, even in the post-IP period where the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were no longer observed, due to the significant price pressure caused by the low-priced imports from Chinese exporting producers, the Union industry was unable to raise its prices in line with the development of costs of production and as a result, continued to suffer while losing market share.

• (146) In the absence of any other comments with respect to this section, the Commission confirmed the rest of its conclusions, as set out in recitals (194) to (209) of the provisional Regulation.

5.2.   Effects of other factors

5.2.1.   The Covid-19 pandemic and the decrease in consumption

• (147) In recitals (210) and (211) of the provisional Regulation the Commission concluded that the decrease in consumption that was further aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic did not attenuate the causal link between the dumped imports and the injury of the Union industry.

• (148) The Commission also assessed whether these conclusions reached in the provisional Regulation on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic remained valid based on the more conservative determination of import volumes.

• (149) Imports of kegs from China at very low prices were recorded from 2018 onwards. Over the period considered, the average price of imports from China was on average 24 % lower than the average sales price of the Union industry. This coincided with a constant decrease of the Union industry’s prices despite the increasing production costs. The fact that the decrease in consumption was further aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic did not attenuate the causal link between the dumped imports and the injury of the Union industry. Over the period considered consumption decreased by 73 % and sales volume of the Union industry by 71 % while the imports from China, limited by the shipping container crisis, decreased by 80 %. However, as discussed in recital (196) of the provisional Regulation and in section 5.1 above, as demonstrated by the prices the Union industry achieved on the US market which is protected by anti-dumping duties on imports of kegs from China, without the Chinese dumped imports and the price pressure exerted, the Union industry would have been able to increase its prices to a more sustainable level and to cover for the increased cost of production while maintaining its market share.

• (150) Furthermore, the post-IP developments assessed in recitals (139) to (143), show that even in the period when the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were no longer present on the market, Union industry continued to suffer from material injury caused by the low priced imports from China.

• (151) The GOC put forward several arguments concerning the causation analysis as presented in the provisional Regulation, arguing, in essence, that the EU industry’s deteriorating situation is wrongly attributed to the Chinese dumped imports.

• (152) The first argument GOC presented was that the Union industry performance deteriorated instead due to decreasing demand brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation in consumer goods. The Commission already addressed these comments in recitals (132) to (143).

• (153) The second factor which the GOC claimed to be the cause of Union industry’s deteriorating performance is the increase in prices in stainless steel as the main raw material, allegedly further exacerbated by Union’s steel safeguard measures. The GOC claimed the fact that Union industry’s export prices during the period considered were lower than their cost of production reinforces that conclusion.

• (154) However, according to the information available to the Commission, the average price of stainless-steel cold-rolled sheet (grade 304) in the North Europe market decreased from 2018 to 2020 (by 15%) and only in 2021 started increasing again. ²⁷ Therefore, the decreasing profitability of the Union industry (that reached its bottom level in 2020) cannot be attributed to the steel prices. In addition, the data of the sampled Union producers do not show a significant increase of the incidence of steel cost in total cost of production over the period considered. As concerns Union industry’s export prices, the Commission noted that the Union industry’s landed export prices were higher than their cost of production in all years of the period considered, with the exception of 2020, the year most significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and related plunge in demand (see recitals (172) and (212) of the provisional Regulation). Therefore, these arguments were rejected as unfounded.

5.2.2.   Export performance of the Union industry

• (155) In recitals (212) to (214) of the provisional Regulation the Commission concluded that the temporary decrease in export performance did not contribute to the injury suffered by the Union industry.

• (156) In the absence of comments regarding this section, the Commission confirmed its findings set out in recitals (212) to (214) of the provisional Regulation

5.2.3.   Conclusion

• (157) Considering the above, and in absence of other comments pertaining to causation analysis, the Commission confirmed its conclusions set out in recitals (211) to (217) of the provisional Regulation, reaffirming that dumped imports from the country concerned caused material injury to the Union industry and that the other factors, considered individually or collectively, did not attenuate the causal link between the dumped imports and the material injury.

6. LEVEL OF MEASURES

6.1.   Injury margin

• (158) As provided by Article 9(4), third subparagraph of the basic Regulation, and given that the Commission did not register imports during the period of pre-disclosure, it analysed the development of import volumes to establish if there had been a further substantial rise in imports subject to the investigation during the period of pre-disclosure described in recital (3) and therefore reflected the additional injury resulting from such increase in the determination of the injury margin.

• (159) Based on data from the Surveillance database, import volumes from the country concerned during the four weeks period of pre-disclosure ²⁸ were 260 % higher than the average import volumes in the investigation period on a four-week basis. On that basis, the Commission concluded that there had been a substantial rise in imports subject to the investigation during the period of pre-disclosure.

• (160) To reflect the additional injury caused by the increase of imports, the Commission decided to adjust the injury elimination level based on the rise in import volume, which is considered the relevant weighting factor based on the provisions of Article 9(4) of the basic Regulation. It therefore calculated a multiplying factor established by dividing the sum of the volume of imports during the four weeks of the pre-disclosure period (32 685 kegs) and the 52 weeks of the IP (118 460 kegs) by the import volume in the IP extrapolated to 56 weeks. The resulting figure of 1,1850 reflects the additional injury caused by the further increase of imports. The provisional injury margins were thus multiplied by this factor.

• (161) In addition, as already explained in recital (78) above, the Commission concluded at definitive stage that the level of cooperation from exporting producers in this case was high (above 90 %) and thus considered it appropriate to establish the injury margin for non-cooperating exporting producers at the level of the highest injury margin found for a sampled exporting producer.

• (162) Therefore, the final injury elimination level for the cooperating exporting producers and all other companies is as follows:

Country	Company	Definitive injury margin
People’s Republic of China	Penglai Jinfu Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd	69,6 %
People’s Republic of China	Ningbo Major Draft Beer Equipment Co., Ltd	62,6 %
People’s Republic of China	Other cooperating companies	66,7 %
People’s Republic of China	All other companies	69,6 %

• (163) In the absence of comments on the underselling margins, recitals (219) to (226) of the provisional Regulation are confirmed as modified by the table above.

7. UNION INTEREST

7.1.   Interest of the Union industry

• (164) In the absence of comments regarding this section, the Commission confirmed its findings set out in recitals (230) to (233) of the provisional Regulation.

7.2.   Interest of unrelated importers

• (165) Following the provisional Regulation, one importer, IMEXA, argued that the imposition of the duties would cause significant losses that would bring the company into bankruptcy.

• (166) No other importers spoke out against the imposition of measures and overall the cooperation from importers was very low. Therefore, even if IMEXA would incur significant losses because of it, the interests of this importer (representing around [1,1 - 2,4]% of total imports in the Union in the investigation period) do not in balance outweigh the interest of the Union industry as a whole.

7.3.   Interest of users

• (167) The GOC argued that imposition of duties is against the Union interests since it would harm the interests of consumers and would stop the imports of kegs into the Union, allowing the Union industry to take over the market.

• (168) As explained in recital (241) of the provisional Regulation, the Commission already found that any impact of the increased cost of kegs on the profitability of the HORECA sector would be limited, while, in recital (243) of the provisional Regulation it was concluded that the cost impact of kegs on the beverage industry overall was minimal. As regards the second point raised by the GOC, the Commission noted that the aim and function of anti-dumping measures is not to stop imports of any product into the Union, but rather to restore a level playing field, allowing domestic and foreign competitors to compete in the Union market at non-dumped prices. These claims were therefore rejected as unfounded.

• (169) In light of the above, the Commission confirmed its findings set out in recitals (238) to (244) of the provisional Regulation.

7.4.   Conclusion on Union interest

• (170) On the basis of the above, the Commission maintained its conclusion from recital (245) of the provisional Regulation that there were no compelling reasons to suggest that it was not in the Union interest to impose measures on imports of stainless steel refillable kegs originating in the People’s Republic of China.

8. DEFINITIVE ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES

8.1.   Definitive measures

• (171) In view of the conclusions reached with regard to dumping, injury, causation, level of measures and Union interest, and in accordance with Article 9(4) of the basic Regulation, definitive anti-dumping measures should be imposed in order to prevent further injury being caused to the Union industry by the dumped imports of the product concerned.

• (172) On the basis of the above, the definitive anti-dumping duty rates, expressed on the CIF Union border price, customs duty unpaid, should be as follows:

Country	Company	Dumping margin	Injury margin	Definitive anti-dumping duty
People’s Republic of China	Penglai Jinfu Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd	85,5 %	69,6 %	69,6 %
People’s Republic of China	Ningbo Major Draft Beer Equipment Co., Ltd	67,3 %	62,6 %	62,6 %
People’s Republic of China	Other cooperating companies listed in Annex	77,9 %	66,7 %	66,7 %
People’s Republic of China	All other companies	85,5 %	69,6 %	69,6 %

• (173) The individual company anti-dumping duty rates specified in this Regulation were established on the basis of the findings of this investigation. Therefore, they reflect the situation found during this investigation in respect to these companies. These duty rates are thus exclusively applicable to imports of the product under investigation originating in the country concerned and produced by the named legal entities. Imports of the product concerned manufactured by any other company not specifically mentioned in the operative part of this Regulation, including entities related to those specifically mentioned, cannot benefit from these rates and should be subject to the duty rate applicable to ‘all other companies’.

• (174) A company may request the application of these individual anti-dumping duty rates if it changes subsequently the name of its entity. The request must be addressed to the Commission ²⁹. The request must contain all the relevant information enabling to demonstrate that the change does not affect the right of the company to benefit from the duty rate which applies to it. If the change of name of the company does not affect its right to benefit from the duty rate which applies to it, a regulation about the change of name will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

• (175) To minimise the risks of circumvention due to the difference in duty rates, special measures are needed to ensure the proper application of the individual anti-dumping duties. The companies with individual anti-dumping duties must present a valid commercial invoice to the customs authorities of the Member States. The invoice must conform to the requirements set out in Article 1(3) of this Regulation. Imports not accompanied by that invoice should be subject to the anti-dumping duty applicable to ‘all other companies’.

• (176) While presentation of this invoice is necessary for the customs authorities of the Member States to apply the individual rates of anti-dumping duty to imports, it is not the only element to be taken into account by the customs authorities. Indeed, even if presented with an invoice meeting all the requirements set out in Article 1(3) of this Regulation, the customs authorities of Member States should carry out their usual checks and may, like in all other cases, require additional documents (shipping documents, etc.) for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of the particulars contained in the declaration and ensure that the subsequent application of the rate of duty is justified, in compliance with customs law.

• (177) Should the exports by one of the companies benefiting from lower individual duty rates increase significantly in volume, in particular after the imposition of the measures concerned, such an increase in volume could be considered as constituting in itself a change in the pattern of trade due to the imposition of measures within the meaning of Article 13(1) of the basic Regulation. In such circumstances, an anti-circumvention investigation may be initiated, provided that the conditions for doing so are met. This investigation may, inter alia, examine the need for the removal of individual duty rate(s) and the consequent imposition of a country-wide duty.

• (178) To ensure a proper enforcement of the anti-dumping duties, the anti-dumping duty for all other companies should apply not only to the non-cooperating exporting producers in this investigation, but also to the producers which did not have exports to the Union during the investigation period.

• (179) Exporting producers that did not export the product concerned to the Union during the investigation period should be able to request the Commission to be made subject to the anti-dumping duty rate for cooperating companies not included in the sample. The Commission should grant such request provided that three conditions are met. The new exporting producer would have to demonstrate that: (i) it did not export the product concerned to the Union during the IP; (ii) it is not related to an exporting producer that did so; and (iii) has exported the product concerned thereafter or has entered into an irrevocable contractual obligation to do so in substantial quantities.

• (180) Statistics of stainless steel refillable kegs are frequently expressed in number of pieces. However, there is no such supplementary unit for kegs specified in the Combined Nomenclature laid down in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 ³⁰. It is therefore necessary to provide that not only the weight in kg or tonnes but also the number of pieces for the imports of the product concerned must be entered in the declaration for release for free circulation. Pieces should be indicated for TARIC codes 7310100010 and 7310299010, provided this indication is compatible with Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87.

8.2.   Definitive collection of the provisional duties

• (181) In view of the dumping margins found and given the level of the injury caused to the Union industry, the amounts secured by way of provisional anti-dumping duties imposed by the provisional Regulation, should be definitively collected up to the levels established under the present Regulation.

9. FINAL PROVISION

• (182) In view of Article 109 of Regulation 2018/1046 ³¹, when an amount is to be reimbursed following a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the interest to be paid should be the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union on the first calendar day of each month.

• (183) The measures provided for in this regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Country	Company	Definitive anti-dumping duty	TARIC additional code
People’s Republic of China	Penglai Jinfu Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd	69,6 %	A024
People’s Republic of China	Ningbo Major Draft Beer Equipment Co., Ltd	62,6 %	A030
People’s Republic of China	Other cooperating companies listed in Annex	66,7 %
People’s Republic of China	All other companies	69,6 %	C999

Article 2

The amounts secured by way of the provisional anti-dumping duty under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/100 of 11 January 2023 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless steel refillable kegs originating in the People’s Republic of China shall be definitively collected. The amounts secured in excess of the definitive rates of the anti-dumping duty shall be released.

Article 3

Article 1 (2) may be amended to add new exporting producers from the People’s Republic of China and make them subject to the appropriate weighted average anti-dumping duty rate for cooperating companies not included in the sample. A new exporting producer shall provide evidence that:

• (a) it did not export the goods described in Article 1(1) during the period of investigation (01 January 2021 to 31 December 2021);

• (b) it is not related to an exporter or producer subject to the measures imposed by this Regulation, and which could have cooperated in the original investigation; and

• (c) it has either actually exported the product concerned or has entered into an irrevocable contractual obligation to export a significant quantity to the Union after the end of the period of investigation.

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 3 July 2023.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

ANNEX

Cooperating exporting producers not sampled

Country	Name	TARIC additional code
People’s Republic of China	Kingyip – Guangzhou JingYe Machinery Co., Ltd.	A031
	Ningbo Hefeng Container Manufacturer Co., Ltd.	A032
	Qingdao HenKeg Craft Beer Technology Co., Ltd.	A033
	Yantai Toptech Ltd.	A034