In a report published on Thursday, 23 July, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) states that the European Commission has successfully implemented the Union’s trade defence policy but that it should give itself the means to monitor more closely.
The Commission is “able to defend the interests of EU producers against unfair competition”, declared Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz, the member of the ECA responsible for the report, in a statement. According to the report, the Commission’s investigations have led to the “timely” adoption of trade defence measures, following investigation procedures that do not impose a disproportionate administrative burden on the parties.
Six recommendations
In a statement, the ECA emphasised that, in an international context of growing trade tensions, its effectiveness could, nevertheless, still be improved. To this end, the auditors identified several recommendations.
For example, the auditors lament the fact that only a few industries currently use these instruments and are encouraging the European Commission to further increase its efforts to raise better awareness of its trade defence instruments among small and medium-sized enterprises.
“Moreover, there is scope for improvements in monitoring and prioritising activities to tackle future challenges in international trade,” indicated Mrs Gáll-Pelcz. In order to better monitor the implementation of its measures, the Commission should, starting in 2021, specify criteria for identifying those most likely to be circumvented and apply—based on those criteria—measures for in-depth monitoring. Furthermore, it should implement a regular evaluation of the overall effectiveness of trade defence measures by 2023 at the latest.
Lamenting the Commission’s limited use of the option to launch ex officio investigations, the ECA strongly encourages it to “use its powers [...] more fully” in this area.
Another recommendation is that the institution should “improve guidance on competition aspects” in the context of the criterion related to the Union interest test. Here the auditors note that there are “resource constraints” that do not permit the Commission to go beyond general monitoring of measures and ad hoc market monitoring.
The auditors also think that the institution could better document the assessment of the confidentiality of its files.
Lastly, the Commission should prioritise its response to third-country measures more effectively during its investigations and at the WTO.
See the ECA report: https://bit.ly/3eXAS7n (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)