This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document 62016TJ0753
Judgment of the General Court (Tenth Chamber) of 22 September 2021.
PAO Severstal v European Commission.
Dumping – Imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in China and Russia – Definitive anti-dumping duty – Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (now Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036) – Use of facts available – Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Calculation of the normal value, the export price and the dumping margin – Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Determination of the existence of injury – Article 3(7) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(7) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Causal link – Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Injury elimination – Rights of the defence – Principle of good administration – Proportionality – Manifest errors of assessment.
Case T-753/16.
Judgment of the General Court (Tenth Chamber) of 22 September 2021.
PAO Severstal v European Commission.
Dumping – Imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in China and Russia – Definitive anti-dumping duty – Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (now Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036) – Use of facts available – Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Calculation of the normal value, the export price and the dumping margin – Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Determination of the existence of injury – Article 3(7) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(7) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Causal link – Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Injury elimination – Rights of the defence – Principle of good administration – Proportionality – Manifest errors of assessment.
Case T-753/16.
Court reports – general
ECLI identifier: ECLI:EU:T:2021:612
Judgment of the General Court (Tenth Chamber) of 22 September 2021 –
Severstal v Commission
(Case T‑753/16)
(Dumping – Imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in China and Russia – Definitive anti-dumping duty – Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (now Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036) – Use of facts available – Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(3), (4), (9), (10) and (12) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Calculation of the normal value, the export price and the dumping margin – Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(2) and (5) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Determination of the existence of injury – Article 3(7) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 3(7) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Causal link – Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation No 1225/2009 (now Article 2(9) and Article 9(4) of Regulation 2016/1036) – Injury elimination – Rights of the defence – Principle of good administration – Proportionality – Manifest errors of assessment)
1. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Course of the investigation – Obligation for the interested parties to provide the necessary information – Scope – Verification by the Commission (Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement), Arts 6.6 and 6.7; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 6(2) and (8), 16(1) and (3) and 18(3) and (6); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Arts 6(2) and (8), 16(1) and (3) and 18(6)) (see paras 46-50, 53, 55, 122) |
2. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Course of the investigation – Use of the information available where the undertaking refuses cooperation – Conditions – Refusal of access to the necessary information – Concept of necessary information – Information on raw material costs – Included – Need for intentional refusal – None (Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement), Art. 6.8; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 18(1) to (3)) (see paras 51, 54, 65, 66, 78, 79, 95) |
3. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Discretion of the institutions – Judicial review – Limits (see paras 56, 57) |
4. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Course of the investigation – Account taken of information not the best in all respects – Conditions (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 18(3)) (see para. 80) |
5. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Course of the investigation – Use of the information available where the undertaking refuses cooperation – Unreliability of the information provided by the undertaking – Burden of proof (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 18) (see para. 100) |
6. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Anti-dumping proceeding – Rights of the defence – Right to be heard – Scope (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2)(a)) (see paras 111-113) |
7. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Dumping margin – Determination of the normal value – Recourse to the constructed value – Taking into account of selling, general and administrative costs – Losses relating to value differences arising from the revaluation of loans denominated in foreign currencies – Included – Conditions (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(3) and (5); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Art. 2(5)) (see paras 136, 139, 142) |
8. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Dumping margin – Determination of the export price – Recourse to a constructed export price – Conditions – Association between exporter and importer – Rebuttable presumption that the export price actually paid is not reliable – Burden of proof on the undertakings involved (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(8) and (9); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Art. 2(9)) (see paras 150, 151) |
9. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Dumping margin – Determination of the export price – Recourse to a constructed export price – Adjustments – Automatic application – Challenge to the level of adjustments – Burden of proof (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(9); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Art. 2(9)) (see paras 152-156, 165) |
10. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Factors to be taken into consideration – Impact of the dumping on EU production – Existence of factors and indicators showing a positive tendency – Fact not excluding the conclusion that significant injury caused to the EU industry – Commission’s obligation to make a convincing analysis of the positive and negative factors – Judicial review – Manifest error of assessment – Burden of proof (Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement), Art. 3.4; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 3(2), (3) and (5); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Art. 3(3)) (see paras 171-176, 205) |
11. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping – Relevance of such factors for establishing the causal link – Burden of proof on the parties invoking the illegality of the regulation imposing an anti-dumping duty (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 3(5), 6 and 7) (see paras 203, 204, 206, 207) |
12. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping – Measures which facilitate and promote imports – Precluded (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 3(7)) (see para. 231) |
13. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping – No general obligation on the Commission to examine the effects of other causal factors collectively (Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement), Art. 3.5; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 3(7)) (see paras 236, 237) |
14. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Reexamination after an earlier order acknowledging admissibility – Margin reasonably to be counted on in the absence of dumping (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 9(4); European Parliament and Council Regulation 2016/1036, Art. 9(4)) (see paras 249, 252) |
15. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Calculation of the price undercutting of the imports at issue – Recourse to a constructed export price – Whether permissible (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 2(9), 3(2) and (3) and 9(4)) (see paras 260-267) |
16. |
Common commercial policy – Protection against dumping – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Calculation of the price undercutting of the imports at issue – Obligation to make a fair comparison between the price of the product concerned and the price of the like product of the EU industry – Comparison to be made between prices obtained at the same level of trade (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 3) (see para. 268) |
Re:
Application pursuant to Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1328 of 29 July 2016 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation (OJ 2016 L 210, p. 1).
Operative part
The Court:
1. |
Dismisses the action; |
2. |
Orders PAO Severstal to bear, in addition to its own costs, those incurred by the European Commission; |
3. |
Orders Eurofer, European Steel Association, ASBL, to bear its own costs. |