Brussels, 02/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 2 August, the European Commission adopted the amicable solution that the EU and China reached on solar panels, to take effect on 6 August. Last weekend, the European trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, announced that an amicable agreement had been found between the EU and the Chinese government on a price undertaking that will allow Chinese exporters to avoid paying heavy antidumping duties (see EUROPE 10898).
During the process resulting in the formal adoption of the amicable agreement between the EU and China on the trade in solar panels, the Commission received almost unanimous support from EU member states. “No member state voted against”, a Commission spokesman said on Friday.
In detail, the Commission adopted two legislative acts: 1) a decision aimed at accepting the price undertaking offered by the Chinese companies that export solar panels to the European Union; and 2) a regulation exempting Chinese companies that take part in the undertaking from payment of provisional anti-dumping duties.
The two legislative acts are published in the Official Journal dated Saturday 3 August and will take effect on Tuesday 6 August. Consequently, the Chinese companies that participate in the price commitment will be exempted from antidumping duties from 6 August on, while companies not taking part should pay increased antidumping duties as announced on 5 June 2013. Duties are imposed in two stages, beginning with 11.8% from 6 June and 47.6% on average as of 6 August.
The price undertakings are a form of amicable solution in trade defence procedures authorised by WTO and EU rules.
The agreement found on Saturday by De Gucht and the Chinese authorities provides for provisional duties imposed early June on Chinese solar panel producers to be reduced next Tuesday. Instead, 70% of the Chinese exporters undertake to respect a floor price. The figures of the agreement are confidential but according to reliable sources, the floor price is likely to be fixed at 56 cents per watt produced by the solar panel, and a ceiling of 7 gigawatts (one gigawatt = one billion watts) would also be applied to Chinese producers.
One third of the Chinese producers did not accept the agreement and should therefore have to pay antidumping duties of 47.6% from Tuesday on and be placed in competition with European producers, as well as Japanese, South Korean and Malaysian producers. (LC/transl.jl)