Resolution of the ECSC Consultative Committee for the evaluation by the European Commission of the measures taken by the Member States in favour of their coal mining industries
Date: 1999-10-15
Institutions: Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community
Subjects: ECSC, EU Member State, State aid, coal industry, competitiveness

C 321/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

9.11.1999

(cid:151) CONSIDERS that the necessary conditions for the imposition
of provisional duties (cid:151) dumping margins, causality and the
presence of
injury in the investigation period (cid:151) were
clearly established by the Commission services and that
provisional duties were entirely appropriate in this case.
Failure to propose such measures ignored well-founded
evidence of injury and could therefore be considered to
be based more on political reasoning than on technical
criteria,

(cid:151) NOTES that imports of hot rolled coil from the six countries
subject to the complaint represented less than 50 % of coil
imports in 1998. The complaint therefore was not designed
to close the European market to third country imports but
rather to request action against predatory imports traded
under conditions which do not conform to WTO rules,

(cid:151) URGES therefore the European Commission to conclude
rapidly the investigation on the hot rolled coil complaint
with a decision imposing definitive duties.

RESOLUTION OF THE ECSC CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE EVALUATION BY THE EUROPEAN
COMMISSION OF THE MEASURES TAKEN BY THE MEMBER STATES IN FAVOUR OF THEIR COAL MINING
INDUSTRIES

(adopted less five abstentions during the 347th Session of 15 October 1999)

(1999/C 321/08)

THE ECSC CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE,

(cid:151) referring to the position taken in the past regarding the
situation of the coal industry in the European Union, and
particularly to the Declaration adopted on 25 June 1999 on
the role of coal in the 21st century,

(cid:151) referring to the report

from the Commission on the
application of the Community Rules for State aid to the
coal industry in 1996 and 1997,

AFTER THE FOLLOWING CONSIDERATIONS:

(cid:151) the conclusions of the Commission report provide a biased
evaluation of the situation of the European coal industry,
namely by declaring (cid:145)that the indigenous coal is sometimes
of lower quality than imported coal(cid:146), whereas the contrary
could also be true,

(cid:151) the biased conclusions of the report may lead into the
wrong direction: the Commission should rather recognise
efforts made by the European coal industry to supply high-
quality coal and to promote efficient use of coal,

(cid:151) the conclusions are in contradiction with the principle of a
balanced energy policy based on sustainable development,
such as has been explained in the above Declaration of the
consultative committee,

the

and

historical

disregards

(cid:151) declaring that the aid programmes have promoted a type of
(cid:145)life of its own(cid:146) and (cid:145)habits become standard practise(cid:146)
is
incorrect
evolution,
the seventies and
particularly during the oil crises of
eighties, and the fact
the Commission itself has
continuously taken an active part in implementing State
through Commission Decision No
aid
the coal
the framework for
3632/93/ECSC, which is
policies of all Member States until July 2002, as well as
the enormous efforts made by the industry in terms of
capacity and workforce reduction which are a clear indi-
cation that such bad habits do not exist,

rules,

that

last

(cid:151) the conclusions do not

take account of an objective
evaluation of
the
whole production chain both of EU and imported coal
compared to other energy sources.

the environmental consequences of

Therefore the ECSC consultative committee,

(cid:151) cannot accept the conclusions of the report in their present

form,

(cid:151) requests the Commission to recognise the importance of
solid fuels for a future energy policy in Europe and to
take these remarks into account for the next report.