DS: European Union — Definitive Countervailing Duties on New Battery Electric Vehicles from China

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Current status

 

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Key facts

 

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Latest document

  

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Summary of the dispute to date

The summary below was up-to-date at

Consultations

Complaint by China

On 4 November 2024, China requested consultations with the European Union with respect to the definitive countervailing duties imposed by the European Union on new battery electric vehicles from China, as well as the underlying investigation that led to the imposition of these duties.

China claimed that the challenged measures appear to be inconsistent with:

• Articles 1.1(a)(1), 1.1(a)(1)(i), 1.1(a)(1)(ii), 1.1(a)(1)(iii), 1.1(a)(1)(iv), 1.1(b), 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 3.1(a), 10, 11.1, 11.2, 11.2(ii), 11.3, 11.6, 12, 12.1, 12.1.1, 12.1.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.4.1, 12.5, 12.7, 12.8, 12.11, 13.1, 13.4, 14, 15.1 (including footnote 46), 15.2, 15.4, 15.5, 15.7, 15.8, 16.1, 19, 19.1, 19.3, 19.4, 21.1, 22.3, 22.5 and 32.1 of the SCM Agreement; and
   
• Article VI:3 of the GATT 1994. 

 

Panel and Appellate Body proceedings

On 13 March 2025, China requested the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on 24 March 2025, the DSB deferred the establishment of the panel.

At its meeting on 25 April 2025, the DSB established a panel. Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States reserved their third-party rights.

On 31 July 2025, China and the European Union informed the DSB that they had agreed to Procedures for Arbitration under Article 25 of the DSU. The procedures were entered into by the parties "to give effect to communication JOB/DSB/1/Add.12" (that is, the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement Pursuant to Article 25 of the DSU (MPIA)) and "to decide any appeal from any final panel report as issued to the parties in dispute DS 630" in the event that "the Appellate Body is not able to hear an appeal … under Article 16.4 and 17 of the DSU."

Following the agreement of the parties, the panel was composed on 13 October 2025.

On 1 April 2026, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that both parties had requested significantly more time to file their submissions than the time originally proposed by the panel, and that in view of the parties' arguments, the panel had granted the requests. The Chair indicated that this had significantly delayed the beginning of the panel's substantive work and had resulted in significant extensions to the panel's originally proposed timetable. The Chair informed the DSB that the panel did not expect to issue its final report to the parties before the second quarter of 2027. The Chair also apprised the DSB that the report would be available to the public once it was circulated to the Members in all three official languages, and that the date of circulation depends on completion of translation.