In its complaint to the Ombudsman, the complainant alleged that the Commission (i) failed to ensure the complainant’s rights of defence and breached the principle of sound administration, by failing to disclose its findings prior to the formal adoption of provisional measures and by failing to accept the complainant’s request of 13 March 2006 to present its comments; (ii) infringed the principle of proportionality (the complainant argued that the Commission did not respect the “fair balance” between the interests, on the one hand, of consumers and those companies to which the anti-dumping duties apply, and, on the other, of those companies to which the duties do not apply); (iii) based its decision on erroneous information (the complainant referred to the relevant publication on the Commission website) and wrongly selected Brazil as the reference country; and (iv) acted in a way that was not transparent, by failing to disclose the identity of the complaining EU producers and of the sampled EU producers.
Ina ghearán chuig an Ombudsman, líomhain an gearánach, maidir leis an gCoimisiún, (i) gur mhainnigh sé cearta cosantóra an ghearánaigh a chinntiú agus gur sháraigh sé prionsabal an deariaracháin trí mhainneachtain a dhéanamh maidir le nochtadh a chinntí roimh ghlacadh foirmiúil beart sealadach agus trí mhainneachtain a dhéanamh maidir le glacadh le hiarraidh an ghearánaí dar dáta an 13 Márta 2006 a chuid tuairimí a chur i láthair; (ii) gur sháraigh sé prionsabail na comhréire (dúirt an gearánach nár urramaigh an Coimisiún “an chóimheá chóir” idir leasanna tomhaltóirí agus leasanna na gcuideachtaí sin lena mbaineann na dleachtanna frithdhumpála, ar thaobh amháin, agus leasanna na gcuideachtaí sin nach mbaineann na dleachtanna leo, ar an taobh eile); (iii) gur bhunaigh sé a chinneadh ar fhaisnéis earráideach (thagair an gearánach don fhoilseachán iomchuí ar láithreán gréasáin an Choimisiúin) agus go ndearna sé an Bhrasaíl a roghnú go héagórach mar an tír thagartha; agus (iv) gur ghníomhaigh sé ar shlí nach raibh trédhearcach, trí mhainneachtain a dhéanamh maidir le céannacht na dtáirgeoirí AE a rinne gearán ná céannacht na dtáirgeoirí AE sampláilte a nochtadh.