The General Court of the European Union has annulled a European Commission regulation extending antidumping duties on imports of certain hot rolled stainless steel sheets and coils consigned from Turkey. The judgment followed a legal challenge brought by Turkish steel producer Çolakoğlu Metalurji.
The contested regulation had extended the 17.3 percent antidumping duty originally imposed on stainless steel products originating in Indonesia to imports of similar products shipped from Turkey after the European Commission concluded that the measures were being circumvented.
Court finds legal error in Commission’s interpretation
The General Court ruled that the Commission made an error of law in its interpretation of the EU antidumping regulation when classifying the processing operations carried out by the Turkish producer as an “assembly operation”.
According to the Court, the Commission had incorrectly applied the criteria used to determine circumvention under EU trade defense legislation. As a result, the regulation extending the duties was annulled insofar as it concerned the applicant company.
