USA starts antidumping duties on Asian solar modules

23/01/2015 12:00 - 501 Views

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) approved the antidumping duties on solar products from China and Taiwan. Customs duties of more than 50 % will be imposed on solar modules made in China and approximately 20 % duties on solar modules from Taiwan.

The U.S. Department of Commerce had already decided to impose the antidumping duties in December 2014 – now the ITC approved this decision. The new customs duties will come into effect on February 1st 2015 and complement the already existing duties of 30 % for Chinese solar modules and cells. In addition to modules produced in China or Taiwan, the new duties will also be applied on modules imported into the U.S., which use solar cells from one of these countries. The idea behind the new regulation is to prevent people bypassing the duties.

Frank Asbeck, CEO at SolarWorld AG, welcomes the decision of the ITC: “The U.S. government is serious in taking action against illegal dumping from China. Thus, fair competition can return to the U.S. market.”

Creation of the new antidumping regulations was initiated three years ago by SolarWorld Industries America(link is external), a subsidiary of the German module producer SolarWorld AG. To improve antidumping regulations in Europe, SolarWorld also wants to promote a tighter regulation of solar imports into the EU. To achieve this goal, the company teams up with the manufacturer organisation EU ProSun.

Source: Sim&Wind Energy