Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 29 April 2015 —

Changshu City Standard Parts Factory and Ningbo Jinding Fastener v Council

(Joined Cases T‑558/12 and T‑559/12)

‛Dumping — Imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in China — Amendment of the regulation imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty — Article 2(10) and (11) of Regulation No 1225/2009 — Calculation of the dumping margin — Adjustments — Obligation to state reasons’

1. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Interpretation of the basic anti-dumping regulation in the light of the 1994 GATT Anti-Dumping Agreement — Obligation to take all comparable exports into account and not merely those towards the EU — Obligation to ensure price comparability by the adjustment method (Agreement on the implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, ‘1994 Anti-dumping Agreement’, Art. 2.4.2; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(10) and (11)) (see paras 32-40)

2. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Fairness of the comparison — Discretion of the institutions — Judicial review — Limits (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(10) and (11)) (see paras 46-48, 71)

3. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Exclusion of the comparison of certain types of products and subsequent generalisation of the dumping amount to all types of the product concerned — Case-law and decision-making practice concerning the reduction to zero mechanism inapplicable — Admissibility having regard to the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(11)) (see paras 60, 85-88, 94)

4. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Determination of the normal value — Imports from non-market economy countries — Reference to the price of a third country with a market economy — Possibility of waiving the requirement to choose a similar country and use any other reasonable basis — Conditions — Impossibility of applying the priority method based on the choice of a similar country (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(7)(a)) (see paras 68, 69)

5. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Adjustments — Conditions — Burden of proof — Differences in the physical characteristics of the products — Consequences — Differentiation of the products by type and exclusion of the comparison of certain types — Approach enabling a fair comparison (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(10)) (see paras 73-80, 101, 102)

6. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — No obligation to take account of the price actually paid or to be paid (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(8), (9) and (11)) (see paras 91, 92)

7. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Adjustments — Differences in efficiency of consumption and productivity — Facts not necessarily affecting the comparability between the price or normal value in a similar country with a market economy and the export price in a country not having such an economy (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(7)(a), (10) and (11)) (see para. 110)

8. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Dumping margin — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Adjustments — Factors to be taken into consideration — Differences in costs — Need to demonstrate that prices and their comparability affected (Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 2(10)) (see paras 113, 114, 118)

9. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Implementing regulation amending a regulation imposing anti-dumping duties (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 924/2012) (see paras 121-123)

Re:

ACTIONS for annulment of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 924/2012 of 4 October 2012, amending Regulation (EC) No 91/2009 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ 2009 L 275, p. 1).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the actions;

2. Orders Changshu City Standard Parts Factory and Ningbo Jinding Fastener Co. Ltd to bear their own costs and to pay those of the Council of the European Union and the European Industrial Fasteners Institute AISBL (EIFI);