Article 5 — Initiation of an investigation

1. An investigation shall be initiated by the Commission at the request of a Member State, of any natural or legal person that is acting on behalf of the Union industry, or of any association not having legal personality that is acting on behalf of the Union industry, where there is sufficient prima facie evidence of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, as determined on the basis of factors referred to in Article 7(5). 2. Requests for the initiation of an investigation shall contain the following information: (a) the name and description of the imported product concerned, its tariff heading and the tariff treatment in force, as well as the name and description of the like or directly competitive product; (b) the names and addresses of the producers or association submitting the request, if applicable; (c) if reasonably available, a list of all known producers of the like or directly competitive product; (d) the production volume of producers submitting or represented in the request and an estimation of the production of other known producers of the like or directly competitive product; (e) the rate and amount of the increase in imports of the product concerned, in absolute and relative terms, for at least the 36 months prior to the date of the presentation of a request to initiate an investigation, for which information is available; (f) the level of import prices during the same period as well as the price of like or directly competitive products; and (g) the share of the domestic market taken by the increased imports, and the changes regarding the Union industry with respect to the level of sales in the domestic market, production, inventories, prices for the Union market, productivity, capacity utilisation, profits and losses, and employment, for at least the 36 months prior to the date of presentation of the request, for which information is available. 3. The scope of the product that is subject to the investigation may cover one or several tariff lines or one or several subsegments of one or several tariff lines, depending on the specific market circumstances, or may follow any product segmentation commonly applied in the Union industry. 4. An investigation may also be initiated where there is a surge of imports concentrated in one or several Member States, provided that there is sufficient prima facie evidence of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, as determined on the basis of factors referred to in Article 7(5). 5. The Commission shall provide a copy of the request to initiate an investigation to the Member States before it initiates the investigation. 6. Where it is apparent to the Commission that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to justify the initiation of an investigation, the Commission shall initiate the investigation and shall publish a notice on initiation of investigation (the notice of initiation) in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Commission shall initiate the investigation within one month from the date on which the Commission receives the request pursuant to paragraph 1. 7. In line with the Agreement, the notice of initiation shall include the following information: (a) the name of the applicant; (b) the complete description of the imported product under investigation and its classification under the Harmonized System; (c) the deadline for the request for hearings; (d) the deadlines to register as an interested party and for the submission of information, statements and other documents; (e) the address where the request and other documents related to the investigation can be examined; (f) the name, address and email address or telephone or fax number of the institution which can provide further information; and (g) a summary of the facts on which the initiation of the investigation was based, including data on imports that have allegedly increased in absolute or relative terms to total production and an analysis of the Union industry situation based on all the elements conveyed in the request.