Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 11 July 2017 — Viraj Profiles v Council

(Case T‑67/14)

(Dumping — Imports of certain stainless steel wires originating in India — Determination of the cost of production — Selling, General and Administrative costs — Obligation to state reasons — Injury — Causal link — Complaint — Opening of the investigation — Manifest error of assessment)

1.      Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Harm — Establishing a causal link — Obligations of the institutions — Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping — Relevance of such factors for establishing the causal link — Judicial review — Manifest error of assessment — Burden of proof

(Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 1(1) and 3(1), (2), (5) to (7))

(see paras 39-42, 61-81)

2.      Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Harm — Factors to be taken into consideration — Impact of the dumping on EU production — Existence of factors and indicators showing a positive tendency — Fact not excluding the conclusion that significant injury caused to the EU industry — Judicial review — Manifest error of assessment — Burden of proof

(Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Art. 3(6))

(see paras 51-56)

3.      Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Opening of the investigation — Conditions — Sufficient evidence of the existence of dumping and related injury — Whether information contained in the complaint sufficient — Obligations on the Commission in assessing that information — Scope — Interpretation in the light of the 1994 GATT Anti-Dumping Agreement — Judicial review — Scope

(Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (‘1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement’), Art. 5; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 5(2), 3 and 7)

(see paras 85-103)

4.      Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Regulation imposing anti-dumping duties — Determination of the normal value — Insufficient reasoning for the calculation of the cost of production — Regularisation during the proceedings — Not permissible — Annulment of the Regulation

(Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1225/2009, Arts 2(1) and 3 to 5)

(see paras 110-112, 125-144 and 187)

5.      Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Discretion of the institutions — Compliance with procedural guarantees

(Council Regulation No 1225/2009)

(see para 114)

Re:

ACTION pursuant to Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1106/2013 of 5 November 2013 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain stainless steel wires originating in India (OJ 2013 L 298, p. 1), in so far as it concerns the applicant.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1106/2013 of 5 November 2013 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain stainless steel wires originating in India, as far as it relates to Viraj Profiles Ltd;

2. Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by Viraj Profiles;

3. Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs.