EU body says mainland firms tried to evade duties
China's leading solar panel producer Yingli Green Energy Holding Co, known as Yingli Solar, denied on Monday an accusation of tax evasion leveled by the European solar industry initiative EU ProSun.
Fan Zhenhua, director of the legal affairs of Yingli, told the Global Times on Monday that the Hebei-based company did not ship any solar products from the mainland to a third region and then export them into the EU to avoid anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties.
On Wednesday, EU ProSun said in a statement that European companies have accused mainland solar panel manufacturers of exporting the products via the island of Taiwan and Malaysia to Europe in order to avoid EU import duties, which amounted to hundreds of millions of euros lost in tariffs.
Up to 30 percent of mainland solar imports bypass EU import measures through "fraudulent circumvention," Milan Nitzachke, president of the EU ProSun and German solar energy firm SolarWorld, said in the announcement.
But Fan said that he does not see any current investigations against mainland solar panel companies about the so-called circumvention.
Fan said it was not the first time that European solar association have made such complaints.
"We've heard about the same accusation in August, but we didn't see any clear evidence showing that mainland producers export their goods via third regions to avoid import duties," Fan noted.
Nanjing-based solar energy company ET Solar also told the Global Times via e-mail on Monday that there is no evidence showing that mainland solar product producers export via a third region to the EU to avoid the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties.
EU ProSun said it has lodged an official request to the European Commission for an anti-circumvention investigation of imports of solar products from the island of Taiwan and Malaysia, according to the announcement.
The new action taken against mainland solar energy manufacturers shows that European solar companies are becoming less competitive than their Chinese competitors and are afraid of losing market share, said Meng Xiang'an, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society.
"The anti-dumping investigation [on mainland solar firms] since 2012 have been showing that European companies lack confidence," said Meng, noting that instead of protecting local producers, European countries should encourage competition among domestic and international solar energy companies, which will push the solar industry forward.
Fan noted that European firms will probably launch another anti-dumping investigation against mainland exporters as the minimum import price agreement will end in 2015.
Under the agreement, mainland firms are able to export up to 7 gigawatts per year of solar products without having to pay anti-dumping duties as long as the price does not fall below 56 euro cents per watt, according to a document on the website of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva, Switzerland, in September 2013.
However, non-participating companies in the minimum import price agreement will be subject to an average anti-dumping duty of about 47.6 percent.
