EU imposes biodiesel duty

Investigation found that US biodiesel was being shipped through Canada to avoid duty.

The EU has decided to impose duties on imports of biodiesel from Canada that originated in the United States.

On Thursday (5 May), the Council of Ministers agreed to impose an anti-dumping duty of €409.2 per tonne on imports from Canada. It also imposed the same penalty on imports of US diesel blends containing less than 20% biodiesel. The duties will be backdated to 13 August 2010.

The decision followed an investigation by the European Commission into whether US biodiesel was being shipped through Canada in order to avoid duties imposed on US biofuel in March 2009. The investigation followed a complaint by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) that there was an increase in imports from Canada after duties were imposed on US biodiesel export. In 2007, the EBB complained that European biodiesel producers were losing out because of subsidised imports from the US.

The Commission investigation found that there was no justification for the increase in exports other than to avoid paying duty.

The Council also ended an investigation into whether US biodiesel was being rerouted through Singapore to avoid duties. The Commission found that the majority of biodiesel exports to the EU did originate in Singapore.

The Council decision has been welcomed by European biodiesel companies. Raffaello Garofalo, the EBB’s secretary-general, said that the measure taken by the Council would “ensure the remedial effect of the EU duties on US biodiesel is fully maintained over time”. He said that any new attempts to circumvent the duties would be “investigated and remedied in the same way”.