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1. Following the publication of the notice referred to in Article 4(6),the Commission shall conduct an investigation.

2. The Commission may request Member States to supply information and Member States shall take whatever steps are necessary in order to give effect to any such request. If that information is of general interest and is not confidential in accordance with Article 11, it shall be added to the non-confidential file as provided for in paragraph 8 of this Article.

3. The investigation shall, where possible, be concluded within 6 months of its initiation. That time limit may be extended by a further period of 3 months in exceptional circumstances such as the involvement of an unusually high number of interested parties or complex market situations. The Commission shall notify all interested parties of any such extension and explain the reasons therefor.

4. The Commission shall seek all information it considers necessary to make a determination with regard to the conditions set out in Article 3(1), and shall, where appropriate, endeavour to verify that information.

5. In the investigation to determine whether increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to the Union industry, the Commission shall evaluate all relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing on the situation of the Union industry, in particular, the rate and amount of the increase in imports of the product concerned in absolute and relative terms, the share of the domestic market taken by increased imports and changes in the level of sales, production, productivity, capacity utilisation, profits and losses, and employment. This list is not exhaustive and other relevant factors, such as stocks, prices, return on capital employed and cash flow, may also be taken into consideration by the Commission in its determination of the existence of serious injury or threat of serious injury.

6. Interested parties who have submitted information pursuant to point (b) of Article 4(7) and representatives of the Republic of Moldova may, upon written request, inspect all information made available to the Commission in connection with the investigation, other than internal documents prepared by the Union authorities or those of the Member States, provided that that information is relevant to the presentation of their case and not confidential in accordance with Article 11 and that it is used by the Commission in the investigation. Interested parties may communicate to the Commission their views on the information made available. Where there is sufficient prima facie evidence in support of those views, the Commission shall take them into consideration.

7. The Commission shall ensure that all data and statistics which are used for the investigation are representative, available, comprehensible, transparent and verifiable.

8. The Commission shall, as soon as the necessary technical framework is in place, ensure password-protected online access to the non-confidential file (the online platform), which it shall manage and through which all information which is relevant and is not confidential in accordance with Article 11 shall be disseminated. The European Parliament, Member States and interested parties shall be granted access to that platform.

9. The Commission shall hear interested parties, in particular where they have made a written application within the period laid down in the notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union, showing that they are likely to be affected by the outcome of the investigation and that there are special reasons for them to be heard orally. The Commission shall hear interested parties on further occasions if there are special reasons therefor.

10. Where information is not supplied within the time limits set by the Commission, or where the investigation is significantly impeded, the Commission may make findings on the basis of the facts available. Where the Commission finds that any interested party or any third party has supplied it with false or misleading information, it shall disregard that information and may make use of the facts available.

11. The Commission shall notify the Republic of Moldova in writing of the initiation of an investigation.