Yingli Energy (China) Co. Ltd and Others v Council of the European Union.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Court: General Court (European Union)
• Writing for the Court: Schwarcz
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:T:2017:125
• Date: 28 February 2017
• Docket Number: T-160/14
• Procedure Type: Recurso de anulación - infundado

Provisional text

JUDGMENT OF THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber)

28 February 2017 (*)

(Dumping — Imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (cells) originating in or consigned from China — Definitive anti-dumping duty — Undertakings — Action for annulment — Interest in bringing proceedings — Admissibility — Exporting country — Scope of the investigation — Sampling — Normal value — Definition of the product concerned — Time limit for the adoption of a decision on a market economy treatment claim — Temporal application of new provisions — Injury — Causal link — Rights of the defence — Calculation of the injury margin)

In Case T‑160/14,

Yingli Energy (China) Co. Ltd, established in Baoding (China), and the other applicants whose names appear in the annex, represented initially by A. Willems, S. De Knop and J. Charles, and subsequently by A. Willems and S. De Knop, lawyers,

applicants,

v

Council of the European Union, represented by B. Driessen, acting as Agent, B. O’Connor, Solicitor, and S. Gubel, lawyer,

defendant,

supported by

European Commission, represented initially by J.-F. Brakeland, T. Maxian Rusche, and A. Stobiecka-Kuik, and subsequently by J.-F. Brakeland, T. Maxian Rusche, and A. Demeneix, acting as Agents,

intervener,

APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU for the annulment of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013 of 2 December 2013 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China (OJ 2013 L 325, p. 1), in so far as it applies to the applicants,

THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed of A. Dittrich, President, J. Schwarcz (Rapporteur) and V. Tomljenović, Judges,

Registrar: C. Heeren, Administrator,

having regard to the written part of the procedure and further to the hearing on 9 June 2016,

gives the following

Judgment

Background to the dispute

1 The applicants, Yingli Energy (China) Co. Ltd and the other parties whose names appear in the annex, are all companies in the Yingli Green Energy Holding Ltd group. Yingli Energy (China), Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources Co. Ltd, Hainan Yingli New Energy Resources Co. Ltd, Hengshui Yingli New Energy Resources Co. Ltd, Tianjin Yingli New Energy Resources Co. Ltd, Lixian Yingli New Energy Resources Co. Ltd, Baoding Jiasheng Photovoltaic Technology Co. Ltd, Beijing Tianneng Yingli New Energy Resources Technology Co. Ltd and Yingli Energy (Beijing) Co. Ltd are exporting producers of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules (‘cells’ and ‘modules’ respectively). Yingli Green Energy Europe, Yingli Green Energy South East Europe GmbH, Yingli Green Energy France SAS, Yingli Green Energy Spain, SL, Yingli Green Energy Italia Srl, and Yingli Green Energy International AG are presented as their associated importers established in the European Union.

2 On 6 September 2012, the European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union a notice of initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ 2012 C 269, p. 5).

3 The Yingli Green Energy Holding group cooperated in that proceeding.

4 On 21 September 2012, the applicants asked to be included in the sample under Article 17 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 of 30 November 2009 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ 2009 L 343, p. 51, ‘the basic regulation’).

5 The sample selected by the Commission consisted of seven groups of companies, including the three cooperating exporters with the largest volume of exports of modules, the two cooperating exporters with the largest volume of exports of cells and the two cooperating exporters with the largest volume of exports of wafers. The applicants were selected as one of the three groups of exporting producers that had registered with the largest volume of exports of modules.

6 Alongside this, on 8 November 2012, the Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union a notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding concerning imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ 2012 C 340, p. 13).

7 On 13 November 2012, the applicants, which are exporting producers, submitted market economy treatment (MET) claims pursuant to Article 2(7)(b) of the basic regulation.

8 On 5 December 2012, the applicants submitted their replies to the anti-dumping questionnaire.

9 On 12 December 2012, Regulation (EU) No 1168/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the basic regulation (OJ 2012 L 344, p. 1) was adopted.

10 Under Article 1 of Regulation No 1168/2012:

‘[The basic regulation] is hereby amended as follows:

(1) Article 2(7) is amended as follows:

(a) in the penultimate sentence of subparagraph (c) the words “shall be made within three months of the initiation of the investigation” are replaced by the words “shall normally be made within seven months of, but in any event not later than eight months after, the initiation of the investigation”;

(b) the following subparagraph is added:

“(d) When the Commission has limited its examination in accordance with Article 17, a determination pursuant to subparagraphs (b) and (c) of this paragraph shall be limited to the parties included in the examination and any producer that receives individual treatment pursuant to Article 17(3).”

(2) in Article 9(6), the first sentence is replaced by the following:

“When the Commission has limited its examination in accordance with Article 17, any anti-dumping duty applied to imports from exporters or producers which have made themselves known in accordance with Article 17 but were not included in the examination shall not exceed the weighted average margin of dumping established with respect to the parties in the sample, irrespective of whether the normal value for such parties is determined on the basis of Article 2(1) to (6) or subparagraph (a) of Article 2(7).”’

11 Under Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation No 1168/2012, the regulation applies to all new and to all pending investigations as from 15 December 2012 and it enters into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Publication took place on 14 December 2012.

12 On 1 March 2013, the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No 182/2013 making imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China subject to registration (OJ 2013 L 61, p. 2).

13 On 15 March 2013, the Commission informed the applicants that their MET claim had been rejected.

14 On 4 June 2013, the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No 513/2013 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China and amending Regulation (EU) No 182/2013 (OJ 2013 L 152, p. 5, ‘the provisional regulation’).

15 On 2 August 2013, the Commission adopted Decision 2013/423/EU accepting an undertaking offered in connection with the anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China (OJ 2013 L 209, p. 26). That undertaking was offered by a group of Chinese cooperating exporting producers listed in annex to that decision, together with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME).

16 On the same day, the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No 748/2013 amending the provisional regulation (OJ 2013 L 209, p. 1) in order to take account of Decision 2013/423. In essence, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, Article 6 of that regulation, as amended, provides, inter alia, that imports declared for release into free circulation for products currently falling within CN code ex 3818 00 10 (TARIC codes 3818 00 10 11 and 3818 00 10 19) and CN code ex 8541 40 90 (TARIC codes 8541 40 90 21, 8541 40 90 29, 8541 40 90 31 and 8541 40 90 39) which are invoiced by companies from which undertakings have been accepted by the Commission and whose names are listed in the annex to Decision 2013/423, are to be exempt from the provisional anti-dumping duty imposed by Article 1 of the regulation.

17 On 27 August 2013, the Commission disclosed the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it intended to propose the imposition of anti-dumping duties on imports of modules and key components (cells) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China.

18 According to recital 4 of Commission Implementing Decision 2013/707/EU of 4 December 2013 confirming the acceptance of an undertaking offered in connection with the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy proceedings concerning imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components (i.e. cells) originating in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China for the period of application of definitive measures (OJ 2013 L 325, p. 214), following the adoption of the provisional anti-dumping measures, the Commission continued the investigation of dumping, injury and EU interest, as well as the parallel anti-subsidy proceeding. Wafers were excluded from the scope of both investigations and hence from the scope of the definitive measures.

19 According to recitals 7 to 10 and Article 1 of that decision, following the definitive disclosure of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy findings, the exporting producers together with...