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Consultations on anti-circumvention investigation
Hong Kong will be holding informal bilateral consultations with the European Commission (EC) of the European Union (EU) on February 6 and 7 in Brussels concerning the initiation of anti-circumvention investigation by the EC on imports of 3.5-inch microdisks originating in Hong Kong and eight other suppliers, the Trade Department announced today (Monday).
"Hong Kong Government considers the EU's anti-circumvention action inconsistent with the principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)," the department's Assistant Director-General, Miss Emma Lau, said.
"We hope to take the opportunity of the informal bilateral consultations to express our principled objections to the EU's anti-circumvention action and to seek clarification on the commission's legal and factual bases for initiating the anti- circumvention proceedings against Hong Kong."
She said in exchanges with the EC, Hong Kong noted that there were divergent views between Hong Kong and the EC on the question of whether the Commission's anti-circumvention investigation pursuant to Article 13 of the EU's Anti-Dumping Regulation on imports of 3.5-inch microdisks originating, inter alia, in Hong Kong was consistent with the EU's international obligation.
"The Hong Kong therefore sees the need to hold informal bilateral consultations with the EC with a view to reaching a mutually satisfactory solution to the matter," Miss Lau added.
The Hong Kong delegation attending the informal bilateral consultations will be led by Miss Lau and members will comprise officials from the Trade Department and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels.
Acting upon a complaint lodged by the Committee of European Diskette Manufacturers (DISKMA), the EC formally announced on October 20, last year the initiation of an anti-circumvention investigation on the alleged circumvention of the EC's anti-dumping duties imposed on 3.5-inch microdisks originating in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) by imports of 3.5-inch microdisks originating in Hong Kong and eight other countries.