EC Launches Antidumping Probe on Chinese Solar Glass
The European Commission opened an antidumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China, it said Feb. 28. The move comes after the association EU ProSun Glass complained that the product is being dumped in Europe at prices below market value, hurting Europe's solar glass industry. EU ProSun Glass's output represents considerably more than the 25 percent of Union production needed by law to seek an investigation, the EC said.
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Solar glass is an essential component of solar panels and many solar energy products, the EC said. This investigation, however, isn't directly linked to a probe of imports of solar panels the EC began last September, but a stand-alone investigation over a clearly distinct product.
The EC will now send questionnaires to interested parties such as exporting producers, EU producers, importers and associations seeking information relating to the exports, production, sales and imports of solar glass. It will verify whatever data it receives and decide if dumping has occurred. In addition, it will carry out the “Union interest test,” which asks whether imposing measures would be more costly to the EU economy as a whole than any benefits complainants would receive. The EC will consider the level of duty needed to counteract the effects of dumping, and measures, if any, will be set at the level of dumping or injury, whichever is lower. This goes beyond WTO obligations, the EC said.
The case must be decided by May 28.