Judgment_paragraph 6 · Blackspur DIY Ltd, Steven Kellar, J.M.A. Glancy and Ronald Cohen v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities (C-362/95 P)

6On 22 October 1991 the Court of Justice, to which a question had been referred by the Finanzgericht (Finance Court) Bremen for a preliminary ruling under Article 1 77 of the EEC Treaty, declared Regulation No 725/89 to be invalid on the ground that the normal value of the products concerned had not been determined in an appropriate and not unreasonable manner within the meaning of Article 2(5)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88 of 11 July 1988 on protection against dumped or subsidized imports from countries not members of the European Economic Community (OJ 1988 L 209, p. 1). In its judgment, the Court found that the German undertaking Nolle, an independent importer of brushes, had pointed to a sufficient number of factors during the antidumping proceeding to cast doubt on the appropriateness and reasonableness of choosing Sri Lanka as a reference country for determining the normal value, and that the Commission and Council had not made a serious or sufficient attempt to determine whether, as Nolle had argued, Taiwan could be considered as an appropriate reference country. Following that judgment, the Commission resumed the investigation and, by Decision 93/325/EEC of 18 May 1993 terminating the antidumping proceeding concerning imports of paint, distemper, varnish and similar brushes originating in the People's Republic of China (OJ 1993 L 127, p. 15), finally terminated the proceeding without imposing an antidumping duty (paragraph 3).