On March 12, 1999, a petition was filed with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) by Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, alleging that an industry in Taiwan is materially injury and threatened with material injury by reason of dumping of DRAMs of one megabit and above from the U.S.. Accordingly, effective April 16, 1999, the MOF initiated antidumping investigation and requested the International Trade Commission (ITC) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to proceed with the preliminary injury investigation.
In response to the MOF request, effective April 20, 1999, the ITC instituted the preliminary injury investigation.
The ITC has organized an investigation team to investigate this case. In addition to the ITC staff, the investigation team consists of experts from various government departments and institutes, such as the Directorate General of Customs of the MOF, the Industrial Development Bureau of the MOEA, the Board of Foreign Trade of the MOEA, Institute for Information Industry, and National Taiwan University. The ITC Commissioner Chen, Tain-Jy is in charge of this investigation and on April 16, 1999, he convened and chaired the first staff meeting to discuss some of the material issues and the detail scheduling of this investigation.
It is decided during the staff meeting that an on-site investigation is scheduled on May 7, 1999, and a preliminary conference is scheduled on May 10, 1999. The ITC hopes that the preliminary injury investigation will be completed by the end of May 1999, and the determination of the investigation results will be forwarded to the MOF before June 5, 1999.