On 24 September, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that, as a general policy measure, it would start automatically registering imports of products subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, including in ongoing investigations. Until now, complainants had to request the Commission to register imports based on evidence of stockpiling (i.e., of increased imports during the investigation). On 24 October, the Commission published a several regulations in fact registering imports in all ongoing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.
While registration is a purely administrative step undertaken by EU customs authorities, it is a necessary first step for the potential retroactive imposition of anti-dumping or anti-subsidy duties. Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties can be imposed retroactively for a period of maximum 90 days counting back from the moment at which the Commission imposes provisional duties. To impose retroactive duties, the Commission will have to show that EU imports of the products at issue significantly increased during the investigation in a way that risks undermining the remedial effects of the anti-dumping and/or anti-subsidy duties.
A timeline for a potential anti-dumping investigation initiated on 1 January 2025 may be as follows:
To date, the Commission very rarely imposed duties retroactively. However, the decision to automatically register imports is likely to preface more retroactive duties that seek to dissuade stockpiling while anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations are ongoing. Companies caught up in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations are thus well advised to take into account the risk that duties are imposed retroactively for imports made prior to the entry into force of provisional duties.
Notably, the decision whether to retroactively impose duties is taken only at the time the Commission imposes definitive duties. This means that companies will not know whether retroactive duties will be imposed on past imports for several months. This makes contingency budgeting all the more important.
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