End of solar antidumping measures severely damages EU manufacturing

Milan Nitzschke, President of EU ProSun: “The European Commission is planning to reject a request by the European solar manufacturing industry to extend antidumping measures and to open an expiry review. As a result, antidumping measures will end as of September 3rd. This comes at the same time as China is releasing the biggest wave of dumped exports ever in the global solar market: A volume four times as big as the annual demand of all EU member states put together. While other big markets such as the U.S., India, Canada or Turkey are implementing strict measures against being flooded by dumped Chinese produced solar modules, the EU is going to terminate its existing antidumping measures and throwing open the doors to its market.
 
To reject the legitimate request of the EU industry for an expiry review violates basic EU trade defense law. But, most of all, it jeopardises a heritage of 30 years of technological development undertaken by the EU’s solar manufacturing industry and severely damages 40 manufacturing companies operating in 17 European member states. 
 
Obviously, the European Commission is giving in to a combination of longstanding Chinese pressure and importers' associations’ endlessly repeated fairy tales that anti-dumping measures would hamper the growth of solar energy installations in Europe. This claim has been proven wrong in reality. Today, solar energy is already the cheapest source of electricity in Europe. It will not get cheaper if the current anti-dumping measures expire. It will only be that importers' margins will increase a little. But, the damage to the manufacturing industry - and indeed the whole value chain - will be devastating.

Literally, all significant markets for solar products have already or are currently implementing efficient measures against the expected flood of additional subsidised exports of solar PV products from China. Only the EU is irresponsibly dropping all measures and inviting Chinese producers to eliminate European and third country competition in the EU market.

Solar manufacturers in Europe, which are aligned in the fight for fair competition and trade, will continue efforts to convince European member states and the Commission that the EU must not give up a key renewable energy technology to illegal subsidies coming from the Chinese government - and resulting dumping by Chinese producers. Several European companies are already assessing the option of challenging the Commission's decision before the Court of Justice of the Union in Luxemburg for an invalid refusal to conduct a fair assessment in an expiry review of the continued need for measures.

To keep the solar industry and also other key technology industries for the EU energy transition, it is necessary as a matter of urgency to make use of existing tools or devise new ones to re-establish a level playing field and support the sustainable and high-end EU manufacturing industry in competition with the expected flood of subsidised and dumped imports."