On October 31, 1998, a petition was filed with the Ministry of Finance(MOF) by Taiwan Paper Industry Association, alleging that an industry in Taiwan is materially injured and threatened with material injury by reason of dumping of Art Paper from Japan and Indonesia. Accordingly, effective December 30, 1998, the MOF initiated antidumping investigation and requested the International Trade Commission(ITC) of Ministry of Economic Affairs(MOEA) to proceed with the preliminary injury investigation.
In response to the MOF request, effective January 5, 1999, the ITC instituted the preliminary injury investigation.
The ITC organized an investigation team to investigate this case as soon as it instituted the investigation. In addition to the ITC staff, the investigation team consists of experts from various government departments such as the Directorate General of Customs of MOF, the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, the Industrial Development Bureau of MOEA, and the Board of Foreign Trade of MOEA. The ITC Commissioner Chu-Wei Tseng is in charge of this investigation and on January 8, 1999, he convened and chaired the first staff meeting to discuss some of the material issues and the detail scheduling of this investigation.
The investigation team conducted an on-site investigation on January 20, 1999. In addition, the ITC held the preliminary conference on January 25, 1999, at the Taipei International Convention Center, in order that the interested parties may present their views on this case. The preliminary injury investigation will be completed by mid February 1999, if the investigation period is not extended.