EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht made the following statement on 29 July:
"After weeks of intensive talks, I can announce today that I am satisfied with the offer of a price undertaking submitted by China's solar panel exporters, as foreseen by the EU's trade defence legislation. This is the amicable solution that both the EU and China were looking for.
We are confident that this price undertaking will stabilise the European solar panel market and will remove the injury that the dumping practices have caused to the European industry. We have found an amicable solution that will result in a new equilibrium on the European solar panel market at a sustainable price level.
Upon consultation of the advisory committee composed of Member States, I intend to table this offer for approval by the European Commission."
On 2 August the European Commission endorsed the compromise, stating that it had received almost unanimous support from the Member States. The Commission adopted a decision to accept the undertaking offered by Chinese exporting producers of solar panels, as well as a regulation exempting these participating companies from the payment of provisional anti-dumping duties. Both legal acts will enter into force on 6 August. As a consequence, those Chinese companies participating in the price undertaking will be exempted from paying any anti-dumping duties as of 6 August, whereas those companies not participating will pay the increased anti-dumping duties that have been announced on 5 June.
The presentation of the offer by the Chinese exporters results from weeks of intensive talks following the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on EU imports of solar panels from China, to be imposed in two steps, starting with 11.8% on 6 June and 47.6% on average on 6 August.
Price undertakings are a form of an amicable solution in trade defence proceedings permitted by the WTO and EU laws. It is an alternative form of a measure: a duty is replaced by a price undertaking based on a minimum import price.
The terms of the undertaking take account of the particular and unique circumstances of the solar panel market, including its evolution over the last years. The settlement is intended to strike a balance between two key elements: it intends to remove the injurious dumping, and allows at the same time for a stable solar panel supply to the EU market.
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