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.

Delsolar (Wujiang) Ltd together with its related company in the Union, jointly covered by the TARIC additional code: B792 (‘Delsolar’); CNPV Dongying Solar Power Co. Ltd covered by the TARIC additional code: B813 (‘CNPV’); MOTECH (Suzhou) RENEWABLE ENERGY CO. LTD covered by the TARIC additional code: B852 (‘MOTECH’); Xi'an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp. and Wuxi LONGi Silicon Materials Co. Ltd, jointly covered by the TARIC additional code: B897 (‘Xi'an LONGi’); and LERRI Solar Technology (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd together with its related company in the Union, jointly covered by the TARIC additional code: B898 (‘LERRI Solar’).

By Implementing Decision 2014/657/EU the Commission accepted a proposal by 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 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 Implementing 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.

By Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1045 the Commission withdrew the acceptance of the undertaking for another exporting producer.

The undertaking stipulates that the Commission may withdraw the acceptance of the undertaking during its period of application, if monitoring and enforcement prove to be impracticable, including any change in circumstances.

In addition, any exporting producer may also voluntarily withdraw its undertaking at any time during its application.

Both Delsolar and MOTECH have a related party in Taiwan that were granted exemption in the anti-circumvention investigations referred to in recitals 14 and 15.

The Commission analysed the implication of these exemptions on the practicability of the undertaking. The exemptions represent a change in circumstances compared to those at the time of accepting the undertaking. Their objective is to exempt imports into the Union of the products concerned which were manufactured by the related parties of Delsolar and MOTECH in Taiwan. Such imports fall outside the scope of the undertaking.

The Commission considers that this exemption for imports into the Union creates a high risk of cross-compensation. In fact, the related parties exempted in the anti-circumvention investigation may sell the product concerned to the same Union customers to whom the product covered is sold and the prices for such transactions could be set in a way to compensate for the Minimum Import Price under the undertaking. The Commission is not in a position to monitor the sales to the same Union customers under the undertaking and from Taiwan.

Therefore, the Commission concluded that the above exemptions render the monitoring of Delsolar's and MOTECH's undertaking impracticable.

LERRI Solar notified the Commission in March 2016 that it wished to withdraw from the undertaking.

Xi'an LONGi and CNPV notified the Commission in May 2016 that they wished to withdraw from the undertaking as well.

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. Delsolar and MOTECH submitted comments.

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 Delsolar, CNPV, MOTECH, Xi'an LONGi and LERRI Solar together with their related companies 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 Delsolar (TARIC additional code: B792), CNPV (TARIC additional code: B813), MOTECH (TARIC additional code: B852), Xi'an LONGi (TARIC additional code: B897) and LERRI Solar (TARIC additional code: B898) 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,