By Regulation (EU) No 513/2013, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports into the European Union (‘the Union’) of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules (‘modules’) and key components (i.e. cells and wafers) originating in or consigned from the People's Republic of China (‘the PRC’).

A group of exporting producers gave a mandate to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (‘CCCME’) to submit a price undertaking on their behalf to the Commission, which they did. It is clear from the terms of that price undertaking that it constitutes a bundle of individual price undertakings for each exporting producer, which is, for reasons of practicality of administration, coordinated by the CCCME.

By Decision 2013/423/EU, the Commission accepted that price undertaking with regard to the provisional anti-dumping duty. By Regulation (EU) No 748/2013, the Commission amended Regulation (EU) No 513/2013 to introduce the technical changes necessary due to the acceptance of the undertaking with regard to the provisional anti-dumping duty.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013, the Council imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports into the Union of modules and cells originating in or consigned from the PRC (‘the products concerned’). By Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2013, the Council also imposed a definitive countervailing duty on imports into the Union of the products concerned.

Following the notification of an amended version of the price undertaking by a group of exporting producers (‘the exporting producers’) together with the CCCME, the Commission confirmed by Implementing Decision 2013/707/EU the acceptance of the price undertaking as amended (‘the undertaking’) for the period of application of definitive measures. The Annex to this Decision lists the exporting producers for whom the undertaking was accepted, including Zhejiang Xiongtai Photovoltaic Technology Co. Ltd (‘Shinetime China’) together with its related company in the Union (SHINETIME SOLAR GMBH, ‘Shinetime Europe’), jointly covered by the TARIC additional code: B919.

By Implementing Decision 2014/657/EU the Commission accepted a proposal by the group of the exporting producers together with the CCCME for clarifications concerning the implementation of the undertaking for the products concerned covered by the undertaking, that is modules and cells originating in or consigned from the PRC, currently falling within CN codes ex 8541 40 90 (TARIC codes 8541 40 90 21, 8541 40 90 29, 8541 40 90 31 and 8541 40 90 39) produced by the exporting producers (‘product covered’). The anti-dumping and countervailing duties referred to in recital (4) above, together with the undertaking, are jointly referred to as ‘measures’.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/866 the Commission withdrew the acceptance of the undertaking for three exporting producers.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1403 the Commission withdrew the acceptance of the undertaking for another exporting producer.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2018 the Commission withdrew the acceptance of the undertaking for two exporting producers.

The Commission initiated an expiry review investigation under Article 11(2) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation by a Notice of Initiation published in the in the Official Journal of the European Union on 5 December 2015.

The Commission initiated an expiry review investigation under Article 18 of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation by a Notice of Initiation published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 5 December 2015.

The Commission also initiated a partial interim review under Article 11(3) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation and Article 19 of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation by a Notice of Initiation published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 5 December 2015.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/115 the Commission withdrew the acceptance of the undertaking for another exporting producer.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/185, the Commission extended the definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013 on imports of the products concerned originating in or consigned from the People's Republic of China to imports of the product concerned consigned from Malaysia and Taiwan, whether declared as originating in Malaysia and in Taiwan or not.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/184, the Commission extended the definitive countervailing duty imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2013 on imports of the products concerned originating in or consigned from the People's Republic of China to imports of the product concerned consigned from Malaysia and Taiwan, whether declared as originating in Malaysia and in Taiwan or not.

The exporting producers agreed, inter alia, not to sell the product covered to the first independent customer in the Union below a certain minimum import price (‘the MIP’) within the associated annual level of imports to the Union (‘annual level’) laid down in the undertaking.

The exporting producer is liable for the breach of any of its related parties which are defined in the undertaking.

The undertaking also obliges the exporting producers to provide the Commission on a quarterly basis with detailed information on all their export sales to and re-sales in the Union (‘the quarterly reports’). This implies that the data submitted in these quarterly reports must be complete and correct and the reported transactions fully comply with the terms of the undertaking.

For the purpose of ensuring compliance with the undertaking, the exporting producers also undertook to provide all information considered necessary by the Commission.

While monitoring compliance with the undertaking, the Commission verified information submitted by Shinetime China and its related company in the Union that was relevant to the undertaking. The Commission also received evidence from customs authorities of one Member State on the basis of Article 8(9) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation and Article 13(9) and of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation.

The findings set out in recitals (22) to (25) address the problems identified for Shinetime China and its related company in the Union which oblige the Commission to withdraw the acceptance of the undertaking for this exporting producer.

Number of Commercial invoice accompanying goods subject to an undertaking	Date	Issued by	Issued to
XTSSG1501-004-CI	16 January 2015	Zhejiang Xiongtai Photovoltaic Technology Co. Ltd	SHINETIME SOLAR GMBH

Therefore, in accordance with Article 3(2)(b) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013, Article 2(2)(b) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2013, this invoice is declared invalid. The customs debt incurred at the time of acceptance of the declaration for release into free circulation should be recovered by the national customs authorities under Article 105(3)-(6) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council when the withdrawal of the undertaking in relation to Shinetime China together with its related company in the Union enters into force. The national customs authorities responsible for the collection of duties will be informed accordingly.

In this context, the Commission recalls that pursuant to Article 3(1)(b) read in conjunction with Annex III, Nr. 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013 and to Article 2(1)(b) read in conjunction with Annex 2, Nr. 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2013, imports are only exempted from duties if the invoice indicates the price and possible rebates. Where those conditions are not complied with, duties are due, even where the commercial invoice accompanying the goods has not been invalidated by the Commission.

The undertaking stipulates that a breach by an individual exporting producer does not automatically lead to the withdrawal of the acceptance of the undertaking for all exporting producers. In such a case, the Commission shall assess the impact of that particular breach on the practicability of the undertaking with the effect for all exporting producers and the CCCME.

The Commission has accordingly assessed the impact of the breaches by Shinetime China and its related company in the Union on the practicability of the undertaking with the effect for all exporting producers and the CCCME.

The responsibility for the breaches lies alone with the exporting producer in question; the monitoring has so far not revealed any systematic breaches by a major number of exporting producers or the CCCME.

The Commission therefore concludes that the overall functioning of the undertaking is not affected and that there are at present no grounds for withdrawal of the acceptance of the undertaking for all exporting producers and the CCCME.

Interested parties were granted the opportunity to be heard and to comment pursuant to Article 8(9) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation and Article 13(9) of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation. Shinetime China submitted comments on behalf of Shinetime China and Shinetime Europe and has been heard.

Therefore, in accordance with Article 8(9) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation, Article 13(9) of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation and also in accordance with the terms of the undertaking, the Commission has concluded that the acceptance of the undertaking for Shinetime China together with its related company in the Union shall be withdrawn.

Accordingly, pursuant to Article 8(9) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation and Article 13(9) of the basic anti-subsidy Regulation, the definitive anti-dumping duty imposed by Article 1 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1238/2013 and the definitive countervailing duty imposed by Article 1 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2013 automatically apply to imports originating in or consigned from the PRC of the product concerned and produced by Shinetime China (TARIC additional code: B919) as of the day of entry into force of this Regulation.

For information purposes the table in the Annex to this Regulation lists the exporting producers for whom the acceptance of the undertaking by Implementing Decision 2013/707/EU is not affected,