Anti-dumping – EC to investigate Chinese tyre imports to Europe

The European Commission has issued notice that it will initiate an anti-dumping proceeding focusing on imports of truck and bus tyres originating in the People’s Republic of China. The Commission is taking this course of action as a result of a complaint received on 30 June by the “coalition against unfair tyres imports,” a group representing the interests of manufacturers who account for more than 45 per cent of all new and retreaded truck and bus tyre production in the European Union.

The coalition’s complaint alleges that imports of new and retreaded tyres truck and bus tyres originating in the People’s Republic of China (the products to be investigated fall within CN codes 4011 20 90 and 4012 12 00) are being dumped in European markets and are causing material injury to the new and retreaded tyre industries within the European Union. To ascertain whether this is the case, the Commission will investigate the existence of dumping and injury between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017, and it will look at the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2017 to examine trends relevant for the assessment of injury.

Evidence provided by the coalition suggests that prices at which the Chinese tyres in question are sold and the volumes in which they are arriving in European Union markets have negatively impacted upon the market share held by manufacturers within the European Union, leading to declining job numbers within the EU tyre and retreading sectors.

The European Commission’s investigation aims to determine whether the applicable truck and bus tyres from China are being dumped in European markets and whether this has caused injury to industry within the EU. Should it be concluded that this is indeed the case, the Commission’s investigation will examine, pursuant to Article 21 of the basic Regulation, whether the imposition of measures would be in or against the interest of the European Union.

All manufacturers exporting the tyres in question from China into European Union markets, either directly or via a third party, are invited to participate in the investigation. Those wishing to do so must provide the Commission with the information it requests by 26 August 2017.

In view of the “potentially large number of exporting producers in the People’s Republic of China involved in this proceeding,” the Commission may limit its investigation to a sample group. It intends to contact the relevant authorities and associations in China in order to “obtain information it deems necessary” for selecting this sample; should the Commission decide a sample is necessary, it may choose participating producers based on export volumes to the European Union; all selected companies will need to submit a completed questionnaire by 17 September 2017, unless otherwise specified.

Companies agreeing to their inclusion in the sample but not selected will be considered “non-sampled co-operating exporting producers,” and any potential anti-dumping duty imposed upon these companies won’t exceed the weighted average margin of dumping established for the exporting producers in the sample. They may, however, request that the European Commission establishes an individual dumping margin for them.

Independent, third-party importers are also invited to participate in the investigation, and again a sample group may be selected. The given deadlines correspond with those for exporting producers.

The European Commission’s schedule calls for the investigation to be concluded within 15 months from publication of notice of the investigation (11 August 2017). Provisional measures may be imposed no later than nine months from that date.