13 EU anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and
safeguard activities
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15356/12
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COM(12) 599
| Commission Report on the European Union's anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard activities 2011.
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Legal base |
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Document originated | 19 October 2012
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Deposited in Parliament | 25 October 2012
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Department | Business, Innovation and Skills
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Basis of consideration | EM of 1 November 2012
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Previous Committee Report | None
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Discussion in Council | No date set
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Committee's assessment | Politically important
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Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
13.1 Dumping takes place when a product is exported to another
country at less than its normal domestic price, and this causes
a material injury to an industry in the importing country. In
such circumstances, international law allows that country to take
anti-dumping measures, and, in particular, Article VI of the 1994
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) sets out detailed
rules relating to the calculation of dumping; the procedures for
initiating and pursuing an investigation (including the establishment
and treatment of facts); the imposition of provisional measures;
the imposition and collection of anti-dumping duties; and the
duration and review of such measures. Similar procedures apply
in the case of subsidised imports.
13.2 These provisions have been enshrined in EU law.
In particular, Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 allows the
Commission to take provisional measures, with substantive steps
being reserved to the Council. Because they are not inter-institutional
documents, Commission Regulations are not depositable: and, whilst
Commission proposals for Council Regulations are in principle
depositable, the extensive background analysis they provide usually
contains a great deal of commercially confidential information,
and they are therefore not published, and hence subjected to Parliamentary
scrutiny, until they have been agreed by the Council. Moreover,
they are invariably cleared as not being of sufficient legal or
political importance to warrant a substantive Report to the House.
13.3 In a normal Parliamentary session, about 30-35
such measures are considered, and typically involve extensions
of existing measures; the definitive imposition of measures provisionally
introduced by the Commission; steps to prevent measures applicable
to one country being circumvented by products being routed via
another country; and variations in the level of duty imposed to
reflect either changes in the general situation in an exporting
country or the circumstances of an individual exporter.
The current document
13.4 After noting that the EU had in force 117 anti-dumping
and 10 anti-subsidy measures at the end of 2011, affecting 0.25%
of total imports, the Commission says that, during the year, 21
new investigations were launched. In that same period, provisional
duties were imposed in 10 proceedings, 13 cases were concluded
with the imposition of definitive duties, 11 were concluded without
measures, and 21 measures expired automatically following their
five year duration.
13.5 The Commission says that review investigations
accounted for a major part of its services concerned with Trade
Defence Instruments, and involved a number of headings, as follows:
Expiry reviews
The Commission notes that measures expire after five
years, unless an expiry review demonstrates that they should be
maintained, and that eight expiry review investigations were initiated
in 2011, another eight were concluded by confirming that the duty
should be maintained for a further five years, and four were concluded
by the termination of measures.
Interim reviews
The Regulation provides for measures to be reviewed
during their period of validity, and the Commission says that,
in 2011, nine interim reviews were initiated, and seven concluded
with confirmation or amendment of the duty. Five interim reviews
were concluded with the termination of the measure.
"Other" interim reviews
The Commission says that two other reviews, arising
from actions following court judgements, World Trade Organization
dispute settlement proceedings, and the need to clarify the scope
of the measures, were initiated or concluded, in 2011.
New exporter reviews
The Regulation allows reviews to establish an individual
dumping margin or countervailing duty for those undertakings which
did not export during the investigation period, and, where an
exporter can establish than it started to export to the EU after
that period, it is generally entitled to a duty lower that the
country-wide duty. The Commission says that two new exporter reviews
were initiated in 2011.
Absorption investigations
Where it appears that, following an investigation
and prior to or following the imposition of measures, export prices
have decreased or there has been no or insufficient movement in
the resale prices or subsequent selling prices of the imported
product in the EU, an "absorption" review may be opened
to examine whether the measure has had effects on those prices,
and that dumping margins may be recalculated and the duty increased.
However, it says that there were no such reviews in 2011.
Circumvention investigations
The Commission says that the Regulation allows investigations
to be re-opened if there is evidence to show that measures are
being circumvented, and that three such investigations were initiated
in 2011, four were concluded with an extension of duty and two
were concluded without such an extension.
Safeguard investigations
The Commission says that no such investigation was
initiated in 2011, and that one initiated in 2010 was terminated
without the imposition of measures.
13.6 The Commission also mentions the review it has
been undertaking of the EU's current system of Trade Defence Instruments,
and says that any proposal will not be adopted before November-December
2012.
The Government's view
13.7 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 1 November
2012, the Minister of State for Trade and Investment at the Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint)
says that the document relates primarily to the decisions taken
by the EU or measures in place against third countries, and has
no policy or financial implications.
Conclusion
13.8 Although this is a purely factual report,
we regard the Commission's anti-dumping activities as being of
some importance. Consequently, although we are content to clear
the document, we are drawing it to the attention of the House.
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