relative file path for layout
Skip to main content  Skip to search  Skip to main menu
Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Brand Hong Kong - Asia world city
MY COLOUR

Anti-dumping

Anti-dumping Actions by the EU

Brief Outline of the Anti-dumping Proceedings1

Initiation of Proceedings

Complaint of Dumping

The EU2 anti-dumping (AD) law is laid down in the Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02016R1036-20200811&from=EN) and its amendments (collectively, the "Basic AD Regulation") and is administered by the European Commission (the "Commission").

An AD proceeding usually starts with a complaint by the EU industry (commonly known as "Union industry") to the Commission.

The complaint must contain prima facie evidence that dumped imports are causing or are threatening to cause material injury to the Union industry. The Union producers supporting the complaint must represent at least 25 per cent of the total production of the product by the Union industry and more than 50 per cent of the total production by those Union producers who express a view on the complaint.

All complaints are treated as confidential by the Commission.

Rejection or Acceptance of the Complaint

The Commission will reject a complaint when there is insufficient evidence of dumping or injury, or the complainants do not represent a major proportion of the Union industry concerned.

If the Commission decides to initiate a formal investigation, it will make an official announcement by way of a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do?ihmlang=en).

Time Limit for Decision

According to the Basic AD Regulation, the Commission has to complete its examination of the complaint and decide whether there is evidence to carry out a formal investigation within 45 days.

Investigation

Notice of Initiation

The Notice of Initiation contains a description of the allegedly dumped product and a list of the economies subject to the investigation. It serves as a notice to all parties concerned.

The Commission will send questionnaires to all known foreign exporters/producers of the allegedly dumped products and to the Union producers, importers and users, except that where there are numerous exporters/producers, the Commission may decide to "sample" only some of them (please refer to the section on "Sampling" in "The EU's Anti-dumping Proceedings - Important Points to Note"). Normally only those exporters and producers whose names and addresses have been identified in the complaint will receive a questionnaire (see section on "Questionnaire" below). However, exporters/producers not listed in the Notice may still make themselves known to the Commission and request questionnaires. Normally, they must do so within 15 days after the Notice of Initiation.

Exporters/producers who fail to co-operate (and also producers who are unknown to the Commission) will be subject to the "facts available". This usually means the information provided by the complainant for determination of the level of the AD duties applicable to them. All exporters/producers should take note that this would typically be equivalent to the highest AD duty rate resulted in the investigation.

It is therefore in the interests of exporters/producers of the allegedly dumped product who are not identified in a complaint to

  • make themselves known to the Commission (procedures are set out in the Notice of Initiation),
  • request the questionnaires, and
  • submit questionnaire replies within the time specified in the Notice of Initiation.

Questionnaires

The questionnaires for foreign exporters/producers are designed to obtain the information necessary to determine whether dumping has taken place, whether such dumping has caused injury to the Union industry and the appropriate amount of AD duty to be levied, if applicable.

Parties receiving a questionnaire are normally given approximately 37 days to reply. The Commission sometimes will give short extensions of the deadline if good cause is shown by the exporter/producer.

Information supplied in a questionnaire reply will normally be verified by the Commission. It is vital to ensure that all questionnaire replies are accurate and complete. If the Commission finds that the questionnaire responses are inaccurate or incomplete or if the exporter/producer or its Government refuses to allow verification, the Commission usually resorts to "facts available" which generally results in a higher dumping margin.

Verification

On-site visits are usually carried out by the Commission officials to verify the information submitted by foreign exporters/producers in the questionnaires. It is therefore extremely important that all the information entered in a questionnaire can be traced back to the original source documents (particularly to the company's normal accounting records and audited financial statements) and that proper records of the paper trail are maintained.

On-site verifications are only carried out if the foreign exporters/producers concerned give their consent to the Commission, and the Government of the economy concerned has been notified by the Commission and it does not raise any objection.

It is in their own interests that foreign exporters/producers concerned should co-operate with an on-site verification request. Objection to such a request would result in the Commission using the "facts available".

Time Limit for Investigation

Within 14 months from the date of its initiation, an investigation must be concluded.

Determination

Termination without Measures

The proceedings may be terminated without the imposition of AD measures if

  • the Commission concludes that such measures are unnecessary,
  • the complaint is withdrawn (unless such termination would not be in the Union interest), or
  • the margin of dumping is less than 2% of the export price (i.e. de minimis dumping margin).

Provisional Measures

If preliminary investigation shows that injurious dumping has taken place, and that provisional duties are in the Union interest, then provisional duties may be imposed. The Commission may begin imposition of provisional duties as early as 60 days but not later than 8 months after the initiation of the investigation. Except where there is evidence of significant distortions in the exporting market for relevant raw materials used in the manufacture of the product concerned and provided it is in the interest of the EU as a whole to do so, provisional duties cannot exceed the provisionally established dumping margin, but they can be set at a lower level if a lesser duty is enough to remove the injury.

Should the Commission decide to impose provisional duties, release of the allegedly dumped products for free circulation in the Union will be conditional upon the provision of a security (usually a bank guarantee) for the amount of the duties.

The amount of AD duties eventually collected would depend on the final outcome of the investigation.

Provisional duties may be imposed for 6 months and extended for a further 3 months.

Undertakings

Upon a provisional affirmative determination of dumping and injury, exporters may offer to place an undertaking with the Commission to increase prices to a level which would remove injury or dumping. The Commission has the discretion whether to accept the undertaking offer. If an undertaking is accepted, the investigation would normally continue and be completed.

If a negative determination of dumping or injury is made eventually, the undertaking would automatically lapse.

If both the dumping and injury determinations are affirmative, the undertaking would continue.

In case of breach or withdrawal of undertakings, the provisional or definitive AD duty would automatically be imposed.

(Please refer to Question 6 in "The EU's Anti-dumping Proceedings - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)")

Definitive Measures

A definitive AD duty is imposed when the investigation is completed and results in a final determination that the levy of a duty is necessary to alleviate the effects of the injurious dumping, and that the measures are in the Union interest.

Union Interest

Both provisional and definitive duties can be imposed only if the measures are in the Union interest. Evaluation of the Union interest takes into consideration the concerns of all interested parties - the Union industry, importers and users and consumers. The Commission has to give all interested parties an opportunity to express their opinions regarding the imposition of anti-dumping measures.

AD Duties

AD duties are imposed on a non-discriminatory basis on all imports of a product from the economy (or economies) subject to the AD investigation which are found to be dumped and causing injury. An exception is made to imports from those sources from which undertakings (see section on "Undertaking" above) have been accepted.

AD duties can take one of the following forms:

  • Ad valorem duties (expressed as a percentage of the CIF value of the imported product)
  • Specific duties (fixed duty amounts per unit, weight, measure, etc.)
  • Variable duties (equivalent to the difference between the price of the imported product and a minimum price determined by the Commission during the investigation)

Time Limit for Definitive AD Measures

AD duties and undertakings should expire 5 years from the date on which they entered into force, were last modified, or confirmed (see section on "Expiry of Measures" below).

Review

Interim Review

Regulations imposing AD duties and decisions to accept undertakings are subject to review where warranted. A review may be initiated:

  • by the Commission on its own initiative,
  • at the request of a Member State, or
  • after the lapse of at least 1 year from the conclusion of the investigation, at the request of an interested party who submits evidence of changed circumstances sufficient to justify need of a review.

If the Commission decides to initiate a review, it will generally employ a more up-to-date investigation period and conduct a new investigation on the basis of which the existing measures may be amended or annulled. The new investigation follows the procedure of the original initiation proceeding, including the sending of questionnaires and the verification of information received.

Newcomer Review

Newcomers (i.e., foreign exporters/producers who have not exported the product to the EU during the investigation period) can request a review without having to wait until at least 1 year has passed since the conclusion of the investigation. AD duties are not imposed on imports of the newcomer's concerned products while the review is ongoing. However, the imports are subject to "registration". Registration enables the Customs authorities to later go back and levy AD duties retroactively on all imports during the review, if the review results in a determination of dumping regarding the newcomer.

Expiry of Measures

Absent action by the Union industry (see section on "Expiry Review" below), AD measures will expire 5 years from the date on which they entered into force, were last modified, or confirmed.

In the final year of the 5-year application period of the AD measures, the Commission would publish a notice of impending expiry of the AD measure concerned in the Official Journal.

Expiry Review (or Sunset Review)

If the Union industry should lodge a review request at least 3 months before the end of the 5-year period and submit sufficient evidence to show that expiry of the AD measures would likely result in a continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury, the Commission would initiate an expiry review (also known as sunset review). The AD measures concerned will remain in force pending the outcome of the review.

An anti-dumping measure will remain in force as long as it is necessary to counteract the dumping which is causing injury.

Note:

1. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same. Please refer to the EU's Basic Anti-dumping Regulation: Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02016R1036-20200811&from=EN) or seek legal advice for clarification of the EU's anti-dumping proceedings whenever necessary.

2. The EU comprises 27 member countries, namely, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.