On 10 April 2013 the European Commission presented a proposal to modernise its trade defence instruments (TDI). TDI are often the only remedy that companies have in order to eliminate the economic damage caused by an unfair trade practices. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) law recognizes three types of trade defence instruments:

• Anti-dumping (AD);
• Anti-subsidy (AS);
• Safeguard instruments.

In the EU, the European Commission monitors the application of these instruments and follows up the enforcement of measures. The proposed reform, once adopted, will impact the ongoing and future anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases in the EU.

In the absence of internationally agreed competition rules, efficient anti-dumping and anti-subsidies procedures are indispensable to ensure fair competition for the EU.

Therefore, TDI instruments need to be applied in an accurate, objective, and transparent manner. Despite having one of the most technical and far-reaching TDI systems in the world, the EU TDI system can be further improved in terms of transparency and legal certainty of its applications.

CECED members may be affected by the TDI reform with respect to the following elements:

• Calculation of the economic damage margins (the so-called injury margin) and their effect on the company’s operations;

• Sanctions in case of non-collaboration with the European Commission;
• Additional AD/AS margins during the investigation revision period.

In general, as the EU TDI system is already the most liberal among WTO members, any unilateral implementation of another “WTO plus” measures may lead to a competitive disadvantage for EU industry as opposed to its trading partners’ respective practices.

For further information, please contact Sanne Goossens.