Suspension of Anti-dumping Measures in the EU: A New Trend or Not?

Suspension of anti-dumping ('AD') measures is an exceptional tool available to the European Commission to be used under exceptional circumstances. In accordance with Article 14(4) of the basic AD Regulation, the Commission may suspend AD measures, if market conditions have temporarily changed to an extent that injury would be unlikely to resume as a result of the suspension. Although the suspension is not common, the Commission decided to suspend AD measures concerning imports of certain aluminium fiat-rolled products ('AFRP') from China in October 2021. However, the Commission decided not to suspend AD measures concerning imports of birch plywood originating in Russia in December 2021. Better economic performance of Union producers in the post-investigation period (IP), or the absence thereof was the main difference between the AFRP and birch plywood cases that led the Commission to reach the opposite conclusion. Given that the Commission recently suspended AD measures in the AFRP case, we may see more suspension requests from Union users and importers, and non-EU exporting producers. As a result, the Commission may initiate a few review investigations on suspension. However, the suspension will remain an exceptional tool and we will see a limited of cases of suspension.