The new EU rules on trade defence – the fruit of a long process of inter-institutional talks that started in 2013 and that were for a long time delayed by a blockage in discussions between the member states – will finally enter into force on Friday 8 June.
After the EU Council's adoption, on 16 April, of the definitive version of the regulation proposed by the Commission in April 2013 and re-shaped by the Council and European Parliament via an inter-institutional agreement on 5 December 2017 (see EUROPE 11931), the Parliament's final green light on 30 May has paved the way for the regulation's entry into force (see EUROPE 12030).
With these new rules, the EU will be able to protect itself better against unfairly low-priced imports and to fight social and environmental dumping more effectively.
In certain cases, the EU will notably have the possibility to waive the lesser duty rule in order to impose higher customs duties. This will be valid for all anti-subsidy cases and for all anti-dumping cases focusing on imports produced from raw materials and energy supplied at artificially low prices.
The new rules will shorten the current nine month anti-dumping investigation period to seven months. Definitive duties will have to be set up within 14 months.
As part of its investigations, the Commission will also take into account the costs of compliance with EU social and environmental legislation when calculating the levels of duties it can impose based on economic damage caused to companies.
It will also not accept price undertakings from countries that have a bad record on implementing core International Labour Organisation standards and environmental agreements. For the first time, trade unions will also be able to participate in trade defence investigations.
The Commission will support small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) via its specific SME helpdesk to make it easier for them to participate in trade defence proceedings, and unions will be involved during the investigations and in the evaluation of the future customs duties.
"European companies have been looking for a modern set of rules. I am very confident that this provides us with the necessary tools to efficiently defend our industries from unfair trade practices", European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström stated.
Alongside this, the EU is equipped with a new methodology for calculating anti-dumping taxes (see EUROPE 11918). This methodology entered into force on 20 December 2017. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)