Solar manufacturers called on European Union regulators Tuesday to expand an investigation into China because of concerns that it unfairly subsidizes its clean energy industry.
The complaint is the second by EU ProSun,a group of European solar equipment manufacturers.Because of an earlier allegation by the group,the European Commission is already investigating whether Chinese manufacturers sold solar equipment for less than the cost of making it.
That so-called antidumping investigation is the biggest case of its kind in terms of value,covering imports from China worth$27 billion.
In the new complaint,EU ProSun asked the commission to look into whether Chinese state banks and the central government offered support that was illegal under World Trade Organization rules.
''For example,Chinese banks implement government policy by giving very low interest rates to solar manufacturers,and if the borrower cannot pay back the loan,it may be written off,extended indefinitely,or paid off by other government-controlled entities,''Milan Nitzschke,president of EU ProSun and a vice president of SolarWorld,a German company,said in a statement.''This makes it easier,cheaper,and a lot less risky for Chinese solar companies to obtain financing.''
EU ProSun also said that Chinese regions and localities granted subsidies by paying interest,electricity costs,transaction costs for land and value-added taxes,and by offering credit guarantees.
The growth of the Chinese solar equipment industry is a result largely of the billions of euros in government subsidies that the European Union and national governments have put in place to promote installation of solar panels for homes and businesses.
Because the complaint was publicized after business hours in Beijing,the Chinese government will probably not have a reaction until Wednesday or later in the week.
This month,Shen Danyang,a spokesman for the Chinese Commerce Ministry,said the commission's decision to investigate the dumping allegations would hurt not only Chinese and European industry,but also the global development of clean energy.
The commission has 45 days to decide whether to start an investigation.It would then have nine months in which to impose preliminary duties lasting a maximum of four months.After 13 months,the commission would need to decide whether to impose duties lasting up to five years.
John Clancy,a spokesman for the European trade commissioner,Karel De Gucht,said he could not confirm the existence of the complaint,citing legal reasons.
The European case is already four or five times larger by value than a similar investigation underway in the United States,because the European Union is the biggest export market for Chinese solar panels.
But the US case is more advanced.In May,the Commerce Department imposed preliminary antidumping tariffs of at least 31 percent on Chinese solar panels,in addition to preliminary antisubsidy tariffs of 2.9 percent to 4.73 percent that were imposed in March.
Ben Hill,president of Trina Solar Europe,which is part of one of China's largest solar equipment manufacturers,said state support for the solar industry is not exclusive to China.
''The entire solar industry worldwide,in China as well as in the EU,has been benefiting from some sort of public support driven by the policy goal of promoting renewable energy,''Hill said in a statement.''As a publicly listed company,our funding and cost structures are fully transparent,and we have been financing our activities at market rates from a range of sources,both Asian and Western,private and public.''
He added that the industry was going through a''consolidation phase,''and that a large number of Chinese solar companies had gone bankrupt over the last 18 months.
