On Friday 24 July, a WTO panel in Geneva found that the cost adjustment methodologies applied by the European Union in a number of anti-dumping investigations into Russian products are contrary to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
At the end of 2016, a panel was set up at Moscow’s request, as Russia was challenging the legality of European anti-dumping duties applied to a number of its exports, including ammonium nitrate and welded tubes and pipes (DS494) (see EUROPE 10991/17).
These duties had been imposed by the EU on the grounds that Russian manufacturers were benefiting from abnormally low energy prices. However, the EU failed to convince the panel that the records kept by the Russian companies under investigation did not provide a reasonable reflection of the costs associated with producing the products.
A source in Geneva reported that the panel found that the “cost adjustment” methodologies used by the EU to revise the price of inputs (electricity and raw materials) is applied systematically and in a manner inconsistent with the 1994 Anti-dumping Agreement.
This is a further setback for the EU at the WTO in its attempts to adjust costs to restore competitive conditions in its anti-dumping investigations. The EU had already lost two previous cases, relating to Argentinian (DS473) and Indonesian biodiesel (DS480) (see EUROPE 11949/18).
One small piece of good news, however, is that the panel found that the EU's anti-dumping regulation regarding the determination of ‘normal value’ in its investigations is not inconsistent with the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
“The report confirms the legality of specific EU anti-dumping rules under the WTO law, while raising certain issues as regards their practical application”, said the spokesperson for the European Commission. “We will analyse the detailed reasoning presented in the report and reserve our rights in view of potential further steps in the dispute”, he told EUROPE. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)