(1)

Council Regulation (EC) No 926/2009 (2) imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or steel (‘SPT’) originating in the People's Republic of China (‘PRC’).

(2)

In December 2009, Hubei Xinyegang Steel Co., Ltd (‘Hubei’), one of the exporting producers of SPT in the PRC, brought an action for annulment of Regulation (EC) No 926/2009, before the General Court. By judgment of 29 January 2014 in Case T-528/09 (3), the General Court annulled Regulation (EC) No 926/2009 to the extent that it imposes anti-dumping duties on exports of SPT produced by Hubei and collects provisional duties imposed on those exports.

(3)

In April 2014, a number of Union producers of SPT appealed that judgment before the Court of Justice of the European Union in cases C-186/14 P and C-193/14 P (4).

(4)

Meanwhile, on 7 December 2015, following a request for an expiry review pursuant to Article 11(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (5), the Commission, by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272 (6), extended the duties on imports of SPT from the PRC, including those applicable to SPT produced by Hubei.

(5)

On 7 April 2016, in its judgment in Joined Cases C-186/14 P and C-193/14 P, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeals brought against the judgment of General Court in Case T-528/09, thereby confirming the ruling of the General Court.

(6)

On 3 June 2016, in order to give effect to the abovementioned judgments, the Commission's services removed Hubei's name from the group of companies listed under TARIC additional code A 950 and listed Hubei separately under TARIC additional code C 129 (the so-called ‘Commission decision of 3 June 2016’). That modification of the TARIC code reflected the Court's annulment of anti-dumping duties on imports of SPT produced by Hubei.

(7)

On 7 June 2016, a number of Union producers of SPT lodged an application at the General Court for the annulment of the changes made to the TARIC database. By judgment of 18 October 2018, in Case T-364/16 (7) the General Court annulled the so-called Commission decision of 3 June 2016 to take Hubei out of the list of companies listed under TARIC additional code A 950 and to list it under TARIC additional code C 129.

(8)

By its judgment in Case T-364/16, the General Court confirmed that the Commission was correct to take the view that compliance with the earlier judgments of 7 April 2016, and of 29 January 2014, in accordance with Article 266 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, implied that the anti-dumping duties laid down by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272 were no longer to be collected on the goods produced by Hubei (8).

(9)

Nevertheless, the General Court considered that the annulment of Regulation (EC) No 926/2009, to the extent that it concerns Hubei, cannot automatically entail the elimination from the EU legal order of the provisions of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272, which were not annulled by the Courts of the European Union (9). Therefore, since Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272 must be presumed to be lawful, the Commission should have amended or repealed it by means of a regulation (10).

(10)

In view of the General Court's findings in Case T-364/16, and in accordance with the rule of equivalence of form, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272 should be amended so as to remove Hubei from the scope of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of SPT from the PRC with retroactive effect to the date of entry into force of the said regulation.

(11)

Repayment or remission should be requested from national customs authorities in accordance with applicable customs legislation.

(12)

In view of the recent case-law of the Court of Justice (11), it is appropriate to provide for the rate of default interest to be paid in case of reimbursement of definitive duties. That is because the relevant provisions in force concerning customs duties do not provide for such an interest rate and the application of national rules would lead to undue distortions between economic operators depending on which Member State is chosen for customs clearance.

(13)

On 13 December 2018, the Commission disclosed its intention to amend Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2272 to remove Hubei from the list of companies on whose products anti-dumping duties are imposed and the reasoning underlying that amendment to the interested parties. No comments were received.

(14)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036,