SolarWorld has submitted arguments to appeal U.S. Department of Commerce determinations that the company says weakened resulting trade remedies against China's alleged anti-competitive policies in the photovoltaic industry.
In appeals filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, SolarWorld argues that dozens of Chinese solar manufacturers failed to show they were free of Chinese government ownership and control. In addition, the company's brief argues that the Commerce Department erroneously set aside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruling that determined the classification of aluminum frames used by one of the biggest Chinese producers in its solar panels. By failing to use the proper classification, SolarWorld argues, the Commerce Department substantially undervalued the aluminum frames and, therefore, understated anti-dumping margins against all Chinese companies.
‘We are exhausting all avenues to engage well-established international trade law in countering China's illegal trade aggression, which continues to siphon clean-energy business and jobs from the U.S. economy,’ says SolarWorld Industries America President Gordon Brinser. ‘It is not enough to adjudicate cases without attention to the underlying industry and market realities of resulting remedies. We are still asking for these thoroughly investigated illegal trade practices to be actually stopped.’
SolarWorld has led efforts to bring trade cases against China's alleged anticompetitive trade policies in the PV sector. China has consistently insisted that its trade practices are fair, although it has reached an agreement in a PV anti-dumping case brought by the European Union, also largely instigated by SolarWorld.
