“The European Union imposed tariffs as high as 67.9 percent on solar panels from China in the largest EU commercial dispute of its kind, seeking to help revive a withering industry in Europe.
The duties punish Chinese manufacturers of solar panels for allegedly selling them in the 27-nation EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., Wuxi Suntech Power Co. and Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. are among the more than 100 companies targeted.
EU producers such as Solarworld AG (SWV), Germany’s No. 1 maker of the renewable-energy technology, have suffered “material injury” as a result of dumped imports from China, the European Commission, the bloc’s trade authority in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The commission said 25,000 jobs in EU solar production would likely be lost without theimport taxes.
The EU’s action “is an emergency measure to give life-saving oxygen to a business sector in Europe that is suffering badly from this dumping,” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told reporters. The levies, due to take effect tomorrow at an initial lower rate of 11.8 percent, will be for six months and may be prolonged for five years.
The trade protection covers EU imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules or panels, and cells and wafers used in them — shipments valued at 21 billion euros ($27.4 billion) in 2011. European companies including Solarworld have demanded punitive levies to counter growing competition fromChina following similar U.S. trade protection.
