Based on EuCIA sources, representatives of the EU27 Member States provisionally voted last week on the European Commission proposal for definitive anti-dumping duties on glass fibre originating in China.The Commission proposes definitive import duties of 13.8 % and excludes yarns from the proceedings. The definitive import duties are to be imposed from the 17th of March 2011for a period of 5 years if finally agreed by the Council of the European Union later next month.
The Commission proposal provisionally voted last week by the EU27 Member States was initially released for consultation in December 2010. The proposal followed the Commission Regulation 812/2010 imposing provisional import duties of 43.6% for a period of 6 months since the 17th of September 2010.
EuCIA and industry representatives welcomed a reduction of duties by 68 % (from 43.6%) but continued to highlight that even at 13,8% import duties remain harmful for the European users and will trigger negative impacts on the employment and innovation within the sector. A high number of major European users of glass fibre and Associations across Europe jointly expressed their concerns with regard to the investigation and questioned the provisional tariffs and the whole investigation as unfounded and whether it should have been initiated in the first place in December 2009.
The outcome of the provisional vote last week confirmed the opinions and concerns of the European industry. A high number of Member States representatives abstained while only 4 Member States out of 27 voted in favour of imposing definitive import duties of 13.8% with detrimental effects for the European composites industry. Unfortunately, under the EU rules, that may ultimately be enough to impose the duties and make the European composites industry cope with increasing raw materials and energy prices and market demands, thus pushing the actors in the chain at the extremes.
Commenting on the vote, Alexandre Dangis, Managing Director EuPC noted “It is surprising to see how the EU Executive body can pass its proposal through the Member States when only 4 countries support the duties in a Europe of 27 member States.
The impact of this case on many SMEs has clearly been underestimated and not understood properly by the large number of EU Member States that abstained. I call on these Member State, the EU Commission and the Council of Ministers to review the proposal once again and terminate the investigation without any anti-dumping measures. Time is also ripe to review the Anti-dumping legal proceedings and the efficiency of the Trade Defence Instruments (TDI) to ensure that sectors with large SMEs are properly heard and defended when cases are affecting them.
Volker Fritz, EuCIA president added: “So far, we are satisfied with the results and everything possible was done to achieve the best outcome. The high reduction of duties from the initial phase and the low number of countries who supported this case showed that EuCIA was listened to during our meetings and is becoming more and more influential with the EU legislators.
From the beginning, the objective was to protect the interests of the composites sector and to show the impacts of additional costs on SMEs. While the result in terms of duties was not fully accomplished – we are now clear about the overall situation of duties on our industry”.
Following the provisional consultation that took place last week, the European Commission will now formally communicate the proposal for definitive measures for consultation and voting in the Council of the European Union. A final vote is expected next month. If voted in favour, the definitive measures are expected to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the 16th of March 2011.EuCIA will continue advocating in this case the interests of the European composites industry.
EuCIA is the leading Brussels based Association of the European Composites Industry. Its main mission is representation of National Composites Associations and industry specific sectors targeting end-segments sectors or potential product groups or processes. More than 10.000 companies and an estimated 150.000 employees are actively involved in composites production across Europe.
