Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The European Commission adopted on 8 November 2012 a notice of initiation of an anti-subsidy proceeding related to solar panel and related key components imports from China (published in  OJ C 340 of 8.11.2012, p.13 ). China is the world's leader manufacturer of solar panels (around 65%), 80% of the Chinese production being allegedly exported to the EU market (approx. 21 billion Euros). The notice of initiation opens officially the phase of investigation of the case by the European Commission. The latter has assessed that there was enough convincing elements in the complaint brought on 26 September 2012 by the EU industry association ProSun to initiative an investigation pursuant to Article 10 of Council Regulation (EC) No 597/2009 of 11 June 2009 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Commission (so-called "basic Regulation"). An anti-dumping investigation has been launched on 6 September 2012 in the same case base...

The U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, has adopted on 17 May 2012 a preliminary ruling, so-called affirmative preliminary determination, in the antidumping duty (AD) investigation related to the imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells from China. The United States opposes  the anti-dumping tariffs applied by China on Chinese silicon PV manufacturers, which it finds contrary to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules . The final decision ("determination") from the Department of Commerce is scheduled for September/October 2012. The text of the preliminary ruling is accessible her (PDF).

Le 4 novembre 2010, les gouvernements francais et chinois signaient un accord de coopération entre les deux pays dans le domaine de la lutte contre les changements climatiques. Cet accord fait suite aux engagements pris dans une déclaration conjointe adoptée le 26 novembre 2007 sur le même sujet, dans le cadre du renforcement du partenariat stratégique global sino-francais (V. déclaration ). Un accord diplomatique dans la ligne des négociations internationales climatiques et commerciales Commen souligné par la réponse apportée le 11 janvier dernier par le ministère de l'écologie à une question parlementaire, les domaines de coopération couverts par l'accord de 2010 concernent ' l'atténuation des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, l'adaptation aux changements climatiques, le renforcement des capacités administratives à lutter efficacement contre les changements climatiques et les mécanismes de marché ' (càd mécanisme de développement propre, MDP). En France, l...

Along December 2010 and a few weeks before the official visit of President Hu Jintao to the United States on 19 January , clean energy technologies have been raised several times as a core trade issue between the two countries . The most dramatic event was the complaint made by the U.S. government against China's subsidies to wind energy technologies. The most positive aspects of the bilateral trade negotiations relates to smart grid technologies. Wind Power Equipments: The United States contests the legality of China's subsidies to wind energy technologies under WTO rules On 22 December, the United States came with a new claim against China's subidy policy in favour of its national wind energy industry . The U.S. government accuses China of subsidising manufacturers of wind turbines equipments and related components in a manner that goes against WTO rules . Chinese manufaturers would have benefited from government grants since 2008 under the national Special Fund for Wind ...