EU: Solar firms accuse China of dodging import duties

European firms on Wednesday accused Chinese solar panel makers of dodging hundreds of millions of euros in import duties and called on the European Union to launch an investigation.

The complaint threatens to spark a new flare-up in a long-running row on the issue that Brussels and Beijing only recently managed to damp down.

“Up to 30 per cent of Chinese solar imports bypass EU import measures through fraudulent circumvention,” industry group EU ProSun said.

“European industry has already been devastated by illegal Chinese practices and the EU and European governments have lost substantial tax revenues at a time of great need,” group spokesman Milan Nitzschke said in a statement.

EU ProSun said China was exporting solar modules and cells via Taiwan and Malaysia, passing them off as locally made to avoid EU levies, and it had lodged an official request with the European Commission for an investigation.

The filing threatens to reopen a rift between the EU and China after a deal late 2013 set a minimum price and a cap on European imports of solar panels from China until the end of 2015.

Full content: Bloomberg

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