Brussels, 04/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled partially invalid the 2006 regulation (EC 1472/2006) instituting anti-dumping duty on certain leather shoes from China and Vietnam. In its judgment (case C-659/13 and C-34/14), which was returned on Thursday 4 February, it states that when the regulation was adopted, the Council of the EU and the European Commission failed to comply with certain procedural rules.
The regulation in question brought in anti-dumping duty of 16.5% and 10% on shoes produced by companies in China (with the exception of Golden Step, for which the duty has been set at 9.7%) and Vietnam respectively, both of which are member countries of the World Trade Organisation, but which do not have a market economy. The companies Clark (UK) and Puma (Germany), which import shoes from both countries, challenged the validity of the regulation before their respective national jurisdictions and called for the anti-dumping duty they have had to pay on their imports to be reimbursed.
The Court took their part, and ruled the regulation partially invalid. In order to determine the existence of dumping, the Council and the Commission investigated, to the extent that they were able, a statistically significant sample of producer-exporters. However, the two institutions omitted to take position on the request of certain producer-exporters which were not included in the sample to be recognised as companies operating in a market economy and, as such, for their offers to be treated individually for the calculation of individual anti-dumping duty. This examination would have allowed these producer-exporters to come under market economy conditions, rather than the overall situation of the country in which they were established, and therefore to be subject to an individual anti-dumping duty, rather than a uniform duty imposed upon all producers of the country. (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)