China’s commerce ministry said this week that the European Commission sought an “unprecedented” amount of detailed information on Chinese automakers’ supply chains during its anti-subsidy probe, Reuters reports.
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He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson told a news conference that: “The type, scope and quantity of information collected by the European side was unprecedented and far more than what is required for a countervailing duties investigation.”
His statement was in response to a question from Chinese state radio about whether Brussels had been trying to “spy” on the China’s EV industry.
He went on to add that the EU Commission “mandatorily required” Chinese automakers submit information on sourcing raw materials for batteries, manufacturing components, and pricing and developing sales channels, according to Reuters.
It comes as the Commission confirmed new ‘provisional’ tariffs applying to Chinese EVs shipped to the EU from 4 July, after provisionally concluding that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation.
Individual duties will affect BYD (17.4%), Geely (20%) and SAIC (38.1%) which ships MG branded cars, among other Chinese BEV makers. Those that did not cooperate with the EU’s probe are subject to a residual duty tariff of 38.1%.
