ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Ostrava a.s. and Others v Hubei Xinyegang Steel Co. Ltd and Conucil of the European Union v Hubei Xinyegang Steel Co. Ltd.
Date: 2016-04-07
34


It should be observed, in that respect, that, according to settled case-law, in the sphere of the common commercial policy and, most particularly, in the realm of measures to protect trade, the EU institutions enjoy a broad discretion by reason of the complexity of the economic, political and legal situations which they have to examine. The judicial review of such an appraisal must therefore be limited to verifying whether the procedural rules have been complied with, whether the facts on which the contested choice is based have been accurately stated, and whether there has been a manifest error in the appraisal of those facts or a misuse of powers (see, inter alia, judgments in Simon, Evers & Co., C‑21/13, EU:C:2014:2154, paragraph 29, and Fliesen-Zentrum Deutschland, C‑687/13, EU:C:2015:573, paragraph 44).
35


The Court has also held that the General Court’s review of the evidence on which the EU institutions based their findings does not constitute a new assessment of the facts replacing that made by the institutions. That review does not encroach on the broad discretion of the institutions in the field of commercial policy, but is restricted to showing whether that evidence was able to support the conclusions reached by the institutions (see, to that effect, judgment in Council and Commission v Interpipe Niko Tube and Interpipe NTRP, C‑191/09 P and C‑200/09 P, EU:C:2012:78, paragraph 68).
36


It follows that, in paragraph 53 of the judgment under appeal, the General Court could consider, without committing an error of law, that it had not only to establish whether the evidence relied on was factually accurate, reliable and consistent, but also to ascertain whether that evidence contained all the relevant information which had to be taken into account in order to assess a complex situation and whether it was capable of substantiating the conclusion in recital 89 of the provisional regulation and recital 49 of the regulation at issue, according to which the EU industry was in a vulnerable situation at the end of the investigation period.
38


It should be noted in that regard that a distortion must be obvious from the documents in the Court’s file, without there being any need to carry out a new assessment of the facts and the evidence (judgment in Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank v Council, C‑585/13 P, EU:C:2015:145, paragraph 49 and the case-law cited). Such an assessment falls outwith the scope of the Court’s powers of review in an appeal.
40


In that regard, it must be recalled that the General Court is not required to provide reasons for each of its choices where it relies on one item of evidence as opposed to another in support of its decision (see, to that effect, judgment in Council and Commission v Interpipe Niko Tube and Interpipe NTRP, C‑191/09 P and C‑200/09 P, EU:C:2012:78, paragraph 161).
55


The EU institutions are thus under an obligation to consider whether the injury on which they intend to base their conclusions does in fact derive from the dumped imports and must disregard any injury deriving from other factors, particularly from the contraction in demand (see judgment in Transnational Company Kazchrome and ENRC Marketing v Council, C‑10/12 P, EU:C:2013:865, paragraph 23, and TMK Europe, C‑143/14, EU:C:2015:236, paragraph 35).
56


Unless the effectiveness of Article 3(7) of the basic regulation is to be compromised, the application of the Court’s case-law resulting from the judgment in Commission v NTN and Koyo Seiko (C‑245/95 P, EU:C:1998:46, paragraph 43), cited in point 63 of the judgment under appeal cannot be excluded solely because, unlike in the present case, the case which gave rise to the judgment in Commission v NTN and Koyo Seiko (C‑245/95 P, EU:C:1998:46) arose in the context of a recession of the EU industry.