By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers BYD, Geely and SAIC have challenged the EU’s import tariffs on the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), filings on the court’s website showed on Thursday.
The European Union imposed tariffs on China-made EVs at the tip of October after an anti-subsidy investigation, including 17.0% for BYD, 18.8% for Geely and 35.3% for SAIC, on top of the EU’s standard automotive import duty of 10%.
Court filings show all three have lodged their complaints on the General Court, the lower of two CJEU chambers, on Tuesday, a day before the deadline for filing challenges. Proceedings on the General Court last on average 18 months and might be appealed.
No further details of the cases got.
The European Commission said it was aware of the cases and had two months and 10 days to organize its defence.
It isn’t clear if there have been also challenges from other EV makers, including European firms producing in China, or the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME), which has represented Chinese EV producers.
The challenges are more likely to include arguments over the assessment of subsidies, the establishment of injury to EU industry and the Commission’s unusual decision to launch a case by itself, somewhat than following an industry grievance.
SAIC is anticipated to take issue with its far higher tariff. This followed a determination that it didn’t cooperate with the investigation, allowing the Commission to fill in missing sections with chosen available facts.
China-based EV makers have also complained that Tesla, the biggest exporter of EVs from China into the EU, was not included within the official sample, from which the speed for other corporations is calculated. The sampled corporations were BYD, Geely and SAIC.
Tesla secured the bottom extra tariff of seven.8%. If it had been a part of the sample, cooperating corporations would have benefited from a lower tariff than the 20.7% they now face.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)