Case T-246/22: Judgment of the General Court of 4 December 2024 – PGTEX Morocco v Commission (Subsidies – Extension of the definitive countervailing duty imposed on imports of certain woven or stitched glass fibre fabrics originating in China to imports of those products consigned from Morocco – Anti-circumvention investigation – Circumvention – Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement EC-Morocco – Article 33(a) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 – Misuse of powers – Conditions which must be met in order to establish circumvention – Article 23(3) of Regulation 2016/1037 – Change stemming from a practice, process or work for which there is insufficient due cause or economic justification other than the imposition of the duty – Assembly operations – Completion operations – Concept of value added – Like imported product or parts of that product continuing to benefit from the subsidy – Error of law – Manifest error of assessment – Principle of non-discrimination – Equal treatment – Principle of good administration – Article 28(1) and (3) of Regulation 2016/1037 – Use of the facts available)
Date: 2024-12-04
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: China, Egypt, Morocco, countervailing charge, equal treatment, glass fibre, import (EU), originating product, rights of the defence, textile product








C_202500714EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/714


10.2.2025






Judgment of the General Court of 4 December 2024 – PGTEX Morocco v Commission


(Case T-246/22)
                (1)

(Subsidies - Extension of the definitive countervailing duty imposed on imports of certain woven or stitched glass fibre fabrics originating in China to imports of those products consigned from Morocco - Anti-circumvention investigation - Circumvention - Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement EC-Morocco - Article 33(a) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 - Misuse of powers - Conditions which must be met in order to establish circumvention - Article 23(3) of Regulation 2016/1037 - Change stemming from a practice, process or work for which there is insufficient due cause or economic justification other than the imposition of the duty - Assembly operations - Completion operations - Concept of ‘value added’ - Like imported product or parts of that product continuing to benefit from the subsidy - Error of law - Manifest error of assessment - Principle of non-discrimination - Equal treatment - Principle of good administration - Article 28(1) and (3) of Regulation 2016/1037 - Use of the facts available)
(C/2025/714)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: PGTEX Morocco (Tangier, Morocco) (represented by: P. Vander Schueren, E. Gergondet and A. Nosowicz, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: G. Luengo and J. Zieliński, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: LM Wind Power A/S (Kolding, Denmark) (represented by: B. Servais and V. Crochet, lawyers)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Tech-Fab Europe eV (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) (represented by: L. Ruessmann and J. Beck, lawyers)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/301 of 24 February 2022 extending the definitive countervailing duty imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/776 on imports of certain woven and/or stitched glass fibre fabrics (‘GFF’) originating in the People’s Republic of China to imports of GFF consigned from Morocco, whether declared as originating in Morocco or not, and terminating the investigation concerning possible circumvention of the countervailing measures imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/776 on imports of GFF originating in Egypt by imports of GFF consigned from Morocco, whether declared as originating in Morocco or not (OJ 2022 L 46, p. 31).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders PGTEX Morocco to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;










3.


Orders LM Wind Power A/S and Tech-Fab Europe eV to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C 237, 20.6.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/714/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)