Legal firm confirms Spanish solar components import misdeclaration

Spanish steel association Unesid has received legal support in its complaint against unfair import practices and domestic economy impact from Chinese-origin solar components imports that are being misdeclared as steel welded tube and profiles.

Some suppliers declare these components as having perforations to circumvent EU regulations for steel imports. Duty paid on tubes and profiles amounts to 25% when import quotas are exceeded, Kallanish notes.

“The legal report carried out by the firm Andersen Tax & Legal confirms this breach of current customs regulations, which Unesid has been denouncing for months, as well as the fact that companies engaged in this practice evade the payment of safeguard duties that have been established by the European Commission since 2018,” the association says.

Unesid has already submitted a formal complaint with the results of the report to the Customs Department of the Spanish Tax Agency, as well as informed the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and competent authorities in the European Commission, including the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

Chinese-origin entries of the products for the photovoltaic energy sector reached 27,000 tonnes in January-April, Spanish Tax Agency trade data show. These entered the country at an average price of €952/tonne, a value more similar to that of steel tubes than to solar power system components, Unesid observes.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria

kallanish.com