The EU has opted out of provisional anti-subsidy measures against Chinese PV manufacturers, according to a statement released by the trade commission today.
It is nine months since the investigation began and a deadline for the European Commission to put a provisional set of punitive measures in place is about to pass.
The commission has instead confirmed that it will not take any action until the investigation proceeds further. The EU has until 5 December 2013 to impose final duties in response to perceived unfair state aid for Chinese PV firms.
“The investigation will continue without provisional measures and the commission will continue working actively on the case in order to arrive to definitive findings that are due at the end of this year,” read the statement.
The commission also said it would look to tie-in the ongoing anti-subsidy measures with the price undertaking agreed as part of the anti-dumping investigation that came into force this week.
“The commission has expressed its readiness to follow the necessary procedures to include the anti-subsidy investigation into the undertaking at the definitive stage, should such action be warranted,” it said.
Reacting to the news, the Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy (AFASE) said that it welcomes the EC's decision not to impose provisional duties “that would have led to further job losses and uncertainty in the European PV market”. However, AFASE warned that it will “remain vigilant regarding conclusion of the ongoing investigations as well as keeping a close watch on market developments. The current undertaking agreement of a price floor of €0.56/W for 7GW/year will substantially jeopardise commercial rooftop installations in some Member State markets and prevent large ground-mounted installations in many markets, particularly for those with a decreasing feed-in tariff in 2013-2015.”
