European General Court dismisses Indonesian attempt to annul biodiesel import duties

In Belgium, the European Biodiesel Board welcomed the European General Court decision to dismiss the actions for annulment initiated by three Indonesian biodiesel producers in March 2020, following the EU imposition of definitive countervailing duties on biodiesel imports from Indonesia.  

After a 2-year litigation, earlier this week the EU General Court rejected all arguments brought forward by Indonesian exporters to justify their request to annul the countervailing duties imposed by the EU on biodiesel imports from Indonesia. Regarding the claim that the European Commission (EC) failed to consider all relevant data to establish undercutting, the Court confirmed that the Indonesian exporters had information that enabled them to understand the EC’s calculation, and that the EC did not commit a manifest error of assessment. Moreover, since there was no error in the calculation of price undercutting, the Court ruled that the EC could not be criticized for taking undercutting into account for the purpose of assessing its effects on the Union industry.

Rejecting all Indonesians’ arguments, the General Court confirmed that the export tax is indeed subsidy within the meaning of the EU Basic Anti-Subsidy Regulation. Moreover, in addition to the fact that there was lack of cooperation by Indonesian parties in this case, the Court ruled that the Indonesian Government entrusted or directed the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) suppliers to provide their goods for less than adequate remuneration. The Court also dismissed the arguments that the EC committed a manifest error of assessment in calculating the amount of the benefit conferred by the Oil Palm Plantation Fund scheme, by not deducting the transport costs.