On August 24, 2005, a petition was filed with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) by Yunlin Towel Industrial Technology and Development Association alleging that certain towelling products from Mainland China are being imported into Taiwan in such increased quantities or under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic producers of the like or directly competitive products. The petition also alleges that critical circumstances exist with respect to the subject products and therefore requests that provisional relief be provided.
On September 26, 2005, the MOEA determined to institute the investigation and directed International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate whether the subject products are being imported into Taiwan so as to cause or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic industry. If there is clear evidence revealing the existence of market disruption in the preliminary investigation, and the situation is critical such that delay in taking action would cause damage to the domestic industry which would be difficult to repair, the ITC may make a proposal for a provisional increase of the tariffs before its definitive determination.
The ITC organized an investigation team to proceed with the investigation. In addition to the ITC staff, the team consists of experts from various governmental agencies and institutes, such as the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan, the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training of Council of Labor Affairs of the Executive Yuan, the Department of Customs of Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Directorate General of Customs of the MOF, the Industrial Development Bureau of the MOEA, the Bureau of Foreign Trade of the MOEA, the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration of the MOEA, the Department of Industrial Technology of the MOEA. The ITC Commissioner J. D. Huang is in charge of this investigation and he convened and chaired the staff meeting on October 6, 2005, to discuss some of the material issues and the detail scheduling of this investigation.