On Tuesday 28 February, the European Parliament's international trade committee voted (with 34 votes in favour, none against and one abstention) for the opening of trialogue negotiations – with the Council of the EU and the European Commission – on the draft to update the EU's trade defence instruments (TDI), after the qualified majority vote at the Council in late 2016 regarding these talks.
After a three-year blockage at the Council, the member states reached a qualified majority agreement (at Coreper level, under the Slovak Presidency of the Council in December 2016) on the Council's position (see EUROPE 11688) regarding negotiations with the European Parliament on the draft update of the EU's TDI – which was proposed by the Commission in April 2013 (see EUROPE 10824).
On Tuesday, MEPs also confirmed the mandate adopted and granted by the European Parliament to its rapporteur Christofer Fjellner (EPP, Sweden) in February 2014 to negotiate with the Council (see EUROPE 11012).
The proposed regulation amends current anti-dumping and anti-subsidy regulations to better respond to the unfair trade practices of third countries. The purpose is to shield EU producers from damage caused by unfair competition, ensuring free and fair trade.
The future regulation seeks to increase transparency and predictability with regard to the imposition of provisional anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures. It will also shorten the investigation period.
Furthermore, the text allows Commission investigations to be initiated without an official request from industry, when a threat of retaliation by third countries exists (ex officio investigations).
The major change in the proposed text is enabling higher duties to be imposed in exceptional cases where there are distortions in the cost of raw materials. This would allow for limited deviations from the EU “lesser duty rule”.
In addition, the proposed text enables importers to be reimbursed for duties collected during an expiry review in the event of trade defence measures not being maintained. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)