Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 15 December 2016 —
Gul Ahmed Textile Mills v Council
(Case T‑199/04 RENV)
(Dumping — Imports of cotton-type bed linen originating in Pakistan — Interest in bringing proceedings — Initiation of the investigation — Constructed normal value — Manifest error of assessment — Rights of the defence — Obligation to state reasons — Right to be heard at a hearing — Comparison between the normal value and the export price — Drawback of import duties — Adjustment — Injury — Causal link — WTO law)
1. Actions for annulment — Interest in bringing proceedings — Concept — Need for an actual and current interest — Action capable of securing a benefit for the applicant — Interest having to subsist until the delivery of the court decision — Burden of proof on the applicant — Action brought against a regulation imposing anti-dumping duties — Expiry of anti-dumping duties during the proceedings
(Arts 263 TFEU and 266, first para., TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court (2015), Art. 131(1); Council Regulation No 397/2004)
(see paras 45-60)
2. International agreements — Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation — GATT 1994 — Not possible to invoke WTO agreements to challenge the legality of an EU measure — Exceptions — EU measure intended to ensure its implementation or referring thereto expressly and precisely
(see paras 71, 72)
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, ‘1994Anti-DumpingAgreement’, Arts 5.1 to 5.9; Council Regulation No 384/96, as amended by Regulation No 972/2002, Art. 5)
(see paras 88-107, 115-117)
4. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Injury — Establishing a causal link — Obligations of the institutions — Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping — Abolition of previous anti-dumping duties and ordinary customs duties under the system of generalised tariff preferences — Exclusion
(Council Regulation No 384/96, as amended by Regulation No 1972/2002, Art. 3(7))
(see paras 107, 173)
5. Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Similar requirements for submissions made in support of a plea — Similar requirements for replies — Reference to the whole of the annexes — Inadmissibility
(Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 21 and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Arts 44(1)(c), and 47(1))
(see paras 108, 110, 111)
6. Judicial proceedings — Production of evidence — Time-limit — Evidence lodged out of time — Conditions
(Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 48(1))
(see paras 109, 168)
7. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Injury — Factors to be taken into consideration — Obligation on the Commission to carry out a convincing analysis of positive and negative factors — Judicial review — Limits
(Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, ‘1994Anti-DumpingAgreement’, Art. 3.4; Council Regulation No 384/96, as amended by Regulation No 1972/2002, Art. 3(2), (3) and (5))
(see paras 135-140, 142-149)
8. Actions for annulment — Jurisdiction of the EU judicature — Substitution of an institution’s grounds for a decision — Not permissible
(Arts 263 TFEU and 264 TFEU)
(see paras 141, 161)
9. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Injury — Establishing a causal link — Obligations of the institutions — Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping — Discretion — Judicial review — Limits
(Council Regulation No 384/96, as amended by Regulation No 1972/2002, Art. 3(7))
(see paras 156-160, 162-164, 169, 170)
10. Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Injury — Establishing a causal link — Obligations of the institutions — Taking into account of matters extraneous to the dumping — No general obligation on the Commission to examine the effects of other causal factors collectively
(Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, ‘1994 Anti-Dumping Agreement’, Art. 3.5; Council Regulation No 384/96, as amended by Regulation No 1972/2002, Art. 3(7))
(see paras 178, 179)
Re:
| ACTION pursuant to Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Council Regulation (EC) No 397/2004 of 2 March 2004 imposing a definitive antidumping duty on imports of cotton-type bed linen originating in Pakistan (OJ 2004 L 66, p. 1), in so far as it concerns the applicant. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Ltd to pay the costs of the Council of the European Union; |
3. | | Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs. |