European Commission monitors increase in bioethanol imports
The agency maintains monitoring of the purchase of the product during the Covid-19 pandemic
The European Commission has announced that it will monitor from this Wednesday the evolution of bioethanol imports to the EU, which have increased “significantly” and at “low prices” during the crisis derived from the coronavirus pandemic and could cause economic damages to the community sector.
In a statement, Brussels has specified that this measure does not introduce restrictions on imports of bioethanol to the block, but rather initiates a “rapid monitoring” of developments in the sector with the aim of helping European industry better understand the latest data and explore “new actions” in response.
The decision to initiate a specific surveillance on the bioethanol sector follows a proposal from France on behalf of the bioethanol industry. The Community Executive has explained that European companies in the sector have transferred “sufficient evidence” to show that “recent and significant increases in imports could cause economic damage.”
Brussels has taken this step after receiving the approval of all Member States and involves establishing a supervisory regime over all countries of origin of these imports for one year. The Community authorities will update the relevant data every month on the Commission’s website.
“The consequences of the pandemic still affect our economies and the recovery process should not be stopped by unfair commercial practices in third countries. That is why we will closely monitor any event that may arise from unfair competition“, said the vice president of the Community Executive Head of Commerce, Valdis Dombrovskis.
Brussels has also indicated that it is “open” to examine any other requests in the same direction by European industry if they are able to demonstrate a “significant adverse impact and injury caused by a recent increase in imports” from third countries.
Source: dpa
