Notice

Trade remedies notice 2023/02: countervailing duty on certain continuous filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China

Updated 13 February 2023

This public notice was published on 31 January 2023 with effect from the day after the date of publication.

This public notice is published by the Secretary of State under regulation 101C(2)(a) of the Trade Remedies (Dumping and Subsidisation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the Regulation”).

The public notice:

• relates to certain continuous filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China (the “goods” it relates to, are described under the heading “goods description” below).
• gives effect to the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) recommendation to:
  • vary the countervailing duty on continuous filament glass fibre rovings and chopped strands so that it applies for 5 years from 30 January 2021 until 30 January 2026, and maintain the duty rate set out in Taxation notice 2020/08: countervailing duty on certain filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China (“Taxation Notice 2020/08”) for those goods
  • revoke the countervailing duty on continuous filament glass fibre mats from 30 January 2021
• supersedes Taxation Notice 2020/08

Variation of countervailing duty on the product

The import duty (the countervailing duty) on the products given effect to by Taxation Notice 2020/08 is varied in accordance with this public notice from 30 January 2021.

Amount of countervailing duty

The countervailing duty applicable to the net, free-at-the-frontier price, before other amounts of import duty, of the goods imported into the UK from the People’s Republic of China is maintained at the rates described below in table 1:

Table 1: duty amounts and additional codes

Foreign country	Overseas exporter	Duty rate	Additional codes
People’s Republic of China	Jushi Group Co. Ltd; Jushi Group Chengdu Co. Ltd; Jushi Group Jiujiang Co. Ltd	10.3%	B990
People’s Republic of China	Changzhou New Changhai Fiberglass Co. Ltd; Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials Holding Ltd.; Changzhou Tianma Group Co. Ltd	4.9%	A983
People’s Republic of China	Chongqing Polycomp International Corporation	9.7%	B991
People’s Republic of China	Taishan Fiberglass Inc.; PPG Sinoma Jinjing Fiber Glass Company Ltd;	10.2%	B992
People’s Republic of China	Xingtai Jinniu Fiberglass Co., Ltd;	10.2%	B993
People’s Republic of China	Weiyuan Huayuan Composite Material Co., Ltd;	10.2%	B994
People’s Republic of China	Changshu Dongyu Insulated Compound Materials Co., Ltd;	10.2%	B995
People’s Republic of China	Glasstex Fiberglass Materials Corp.	10.2%	B996
People’s Republic of China	All other companies	10.3%	A999

Declaration required to qualify for duty amount

In order to qualify for the duty amount applicable to goods produced by an overseas exporter specified in Table 1, a valid commercial invoice with an accompanying declaration must be presented to HMRC on importation of the goods using document code D008.

The following declaration must be completed, drafted and signed by an official of the entity issuing the valid commercial invoice who is identifiable by name and function:

“I, the undersigned, certify that the [volume] of [goods] sold for export to the United Kingdom included in this invoice was produced by [company name and address] ([Additional code]) in [country]. I declare that the information provided in this invoice is complete and correct.

Date:

Signature:

Name (printed):”

If an invoice is not presented, or the declaration is not made, the residual (all other companies) amount is the duty amount applicable to the goods.

Goods description

Goods subject to countervailing duty

The countervailing duty applies to:

• chopped glass fibre strands, of a length of not more than 50 mm
• glass fibre rovings, excluding glass fibre rovings which are impregnated and coated and have a loss on ignition of more than 3 % (as determined by the ISO Standard 1887)

Categories of the product subject to countervailing duty are imported into the UK under the following UK Global Tariff (UKGT) commodity codes:

• 7019 11 00 00
• 7019 12 00 22
• 7019 12 00 25
• 7019 12 00 26
• 7019 12 00 39

Expiry of countervailing duty

The countervailing duty on continuous filament glass fibre products given effect to by this public notice ceases to apply on 30 January 2026.

The TRA will notify interested parties of the expiry of the countervailing duty in sufficient time to allow an interested party to make an application for an expiry review.

Revocation of countervailing duty on the product

The countervailing duty on continuous filament glass fibre mats is revoked from 30 January 2021.

The description of the goods to which revocation of the measure applies is “mats made of glass fibre filaments excluding mats of glass wool”. This product was classified under the following UK general tariff commodity code:

• 7019 31 00 00

Now listed as:

• 7019 15 00 10
• 7019 15 00 90
• 7019 14 00 10
• 7019 14 00 90

Transition review TS0009: Transition review of countervailing measures on imports of certain continuous filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China

On 29 January 2021 the Secretary of State for International Trade initiated a transition review of the countervailing duty on continuous filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China (notice of initiation TS0009).

Summary of the transition review

The TRA conducted the transition review in accordance with regulation 100 of the Regulations.

In accordance with regulation 99A(2)(a)(iii) and 70(6) of the Regulations, the TRA  considered whether the application of the countervailing duty was necessary or sufficient to offset the importation of subsidised goods, and whether the importation of the relevant subsidised goods would continue or recur if the measure were no longer applied (“the likelihood of subsidised imports assessment”). In accordance with regulation 99A(1)(b) the TRA  also considered whether injury to UK producers of glass fibre was likely to occur if the countervailing duty was no longer applied (the “likelihood of injury assessment”).

One domestic producer, one domestic trade body, 3 overseas exporters, one foreign government, one domestic importer and three other contributors registered an interest in the transition review.

TRA based its consideration of whether the countervailing duty was necessary or sufficient on a range of data provided by the domestic producers and exporters. TRA also considered information from other interested parties.

TRA assessed the scope of the transition review under regulations 99A(2)(a)(iii) and 74 of the Regulations. This assessment included a comparison of continuous filament glass fibre rovings, chopped strands and mats across a range of factors as part of an assessment of how alike these goods are. They concluded that glass fibre rovings, chopped strands and mats were sufficiently similar to remain in scope for the purposes of the transition review. On this basis, the scope of the transition review was not amended.

Following the likelihood of injury assessments, the TRA concluded that the countervailing duty on the products should be narrowed.

Further information on the investigation can be found on the TRA’s public file.

Recommendation of the TRA

The TRA recommended that, from 30 January 2021, the countervailing duty on the products given effect to by Taxation Notice 2020/08 should be maintained in part and revoked in part. In addition, the TRA recommended that the countervailing duty be maintained on the goods at the existing amount as it had not been possible for the TRA to recalculate that amount.

The TRA recommended that the countervailing duty:

• be maintained on continuous filament glass fibre rovings and chopped strands originating in the People’s Republic of China
• be revoked on continuous filament glass fibre mats originating in the People’s Republic of China

The TRA made the recommendation in accordance with regulations 100, 100A and 100B of the Regulations.