BRUSSELS - The European Union will on Friday begin imposing anti-dumping measures on some Chinese solar panels whose manufacturers rejected an amicable settlement.
The two-year measures will enter into force Friday Dec. 6, said the EU Commission, and will apply to those panels produced by Chinese manufacturers who rejected a deal to diffuse a brewing trade war.
The commission said in a statement that "the final anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty rates will apply only to those exports from China which do not meet the conditions set out in the undertaking."
China and the EU reached in July an amicable settlement under which Chinese exporters agreed to a minimum price to provide a floor to the market up to a certain threshold of imports, after which anti-dumping tariffs apply.
Inexpensive Chinese-made solar panels have flooded the European market in recent years, sparking complaints from European manufacturers.
This triggered the EU's biggest-ever trade probe covering a market worth some 21 billion euros (US $28.5 billion) initially, although this has since fallen dramatically due to overcapacity and tumbling demand.
During these investigations the commission found that Chinese companies were selling solar panels in Europe at far below their normal market prices and were receiving illegal subsidies, causing significant harm to EU solar panel producers.
The commission said the duties and agreement with Chinese exporters "are expected to stop the downward spiral of prices on solar panels."
It said stable prices are important not only for current production, but future investment decisions, too, and should "contribute to creating a level playing field for Europe's renewable energy industry."
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
