European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht has agreed with the Chinese government on a price which will enable Chinese exporters to avoid heavy anti-dumping duties. After six weeks of negotiations, European and Chinese negotiators agreed on a price commitment which will enable exporting Chinese businesses to avoid anti-dumping duties on their solar panels. Anti-dumping duties have been applied provisionally since June. Following an anti-dumping investigation initiated in September 2012, the EU has been applying provisional duties on Chinese solar panels since 6 June, but the duties have only been 11.8% as the Commission decided on a two-stage response in order to encourage Beijing to negotiate. The Chinese suppliers have agreed to a voluntary price undertaking where they commit to stop dumping and keep prices above a certain floor. In return, those companies who participate in this engagement do not have to pay the anti-dumping duties. This undertaking will apply only for an annual volume that covers part of the overall European market. For the rest, so for any Chinese exports exceeding this annual volume, the average anti-dumping duty of 47.6% will have to be paid as of 6 August. On one segment of the market, which cannot be satisfied by European supply, a minimum import price will apply for Chinese imports. By setting a floor price, the downward pressure on prices should come to an end. In the other segment of the market, European suppliers will have to compete with competitors from the rest of the world, but will be protected from Chinese imports by the 47% anti-dumping duty. When the undertaking enters into force, European suppliers will see the shield against Chinese dumping go up from 11.8% in force today to 47.6% for those exporters who are not participating in the undertaking. These exporters make up to 30 % of the current Chinese exports. The other 70 % of Chinese suppliers participating in the undertaking will save the anti-dumping duties for a significant volume of sale. During the process resulting in the formal adoption of the amicable agreement between the EU and China on the trade in solar panels, the Commission received almost unanimous support from EU member states. “No member state voted against”, a Commission spokesman said. In detail, the Commission adopted two legislative acts, which can be downloaded from here: eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:209:SOM:EN:HTML
