Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2008:126
Date: 2008-02-28
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: External relations;Free movement of goods;Commercial policy
Concepts: Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment Common commercial policy – Protection against subsidisation practices of non-Member States – Injury – Establishing a causal link – Obligations of the institutions – Taking into account of matters extraneous to the subsidy (Council Regulation No 2026/97, Art. 8(7)) In determining, in an anti-subsidy proceeding, injury to the Community industry, the Council and the Commission are under an obligation to consider whether the injury on which they intend to base their conclusions actually derives from the subsidised imports and must disregard any injury deriving from other factors, particularly from the conduct of Community producers. Where the institutions have complied with that obligation and concluded that a factor arising from anti-competitive conduct of the Community producers constituted but a small percentage of the final price of the product in question, so that such price could be regarded as a reliable indicator for the purposes of establishing what injury was suffered by the Community industry, it is for the parties pleading the invalidity of the regulation imposing the countervailing duty to adduce evidence to show that that factor could have had an effect of such magnitude that the final prices of the product could no longer be used to establish the existence of that injury and that there was a causal link between it and the subsidised imports. (see paras 35, 51, 54)