Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/704 of 23 March 2026 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/558 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (1), and in particular Article 14(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China are subject to definitive anti-dumping duties imposed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/558 (2) (‘the original Regulation’).

(2) Under the original Regulation, imports from Liaoning Dantan Technology Group Co., Ltd. are subject to an anti-dumping duty rate of 23,0 % under its TARIC additional code C 732.

(3) On 27 January 2025, the Liaoning Dantan Group (‘the applicant’) lodged a request for a name change which concerned the exporting producer ‘Liaoning Dantan Technology Group Co., Ltd.’.

(4) The applicant requested to rename Liaoning Dantan Technology Group Co., Ltd., into Liaoning Dantan New Materials Co., Ltd. in the original Regulation as the latter had taken over the operations of the former.

(6) As of that date, Liaoning Dantan New Materials Co., Ltd. became the producer within the group, while Liaoning Dantan Technology Co. Ltd. acted as a trader/exporter.

(7) The applicant requested the Commission to confirm that the change of name does not affect the right of the company to benefit from the individual anti-dumping duty rate applied to it under its previous name.

(8) The Commission verified the companies continuity in structure and operations.

(9) After carrying out the verification of the request, on 7 January 2026, the Commission informed Liaoning Dantan Technology Group Co., Ltd. by letter of its intention to reject the request on the ground that the request did not constitute a case for a change of company name (‘the disclosure’).

(10) Following the disclosure, the Liaoning Dantan Group claimed that the request for a name change stemmed from an internal restructuring within the Liaoning Dantan Group whereby the production and sales activities previously performed by Dantan New Materials were now carried out by Dantan Technology, within the same company group. It further claimed that, should the Commission have doubts about the continuity in structure and operations between these two companies, it should investigate them before rejecting the request.

(11) The Liaoning Dantan Group also claimed that its situation was similar to that of the GITI Group which requested a name change following an internal restructuring, which resulted in the merger of three entities into one. In that investigation (3), the Commission had initially advised that an interim review request be filed upon completion of the restructuring. Following the initiation of the interim review, the Commission had eventually declined to recalculate the dumping margin and granted the original name change (4).

(12) The Commission considered that the circumstances applicable to the GITI Group name change request were factually and legally different from those of the applicant. Whereas the GITI Group merged three group companies into one, the name change request submitted by the Liaoning Dantan Group did not result from a simple internal restructuring but followed several transfers of assets within the group – including from companies not benefitting from the group specific rate – and the establishment of a new company Therefore, in that case, there was no indication that the internal restructuring and the other reported corporate changes of the GITI Group within China were of any relevance. There was also no indication that the sales channels significantly changed (5). Furthermore, in the case of the GITI Group, in the original investigation, the normal value was calculated on the basis of price and cost information from the selected analogue country and did not depend on domestic Chinese prices or costs. Following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036, such methodology no longer applies when the existence of significant distortions in the exporting country within the meaning of point (b) of Article 2(6a) has been established.

(13) Considering these factual and legal differences and the extent of changes in terms of internal transfers of assets and the lack of information concerning the companies involved that would be subject to the name change, the Commission rejected these comments and confirmed its conclusions.

(14) Given the considerations in the recitals above, the Commission considered it appropriate to amend Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/558 to reflect the changed role of the company previously attributed to additional TARIC code C 732.

(15) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

is removed.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 23 March 2026.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 176, 30.6.2016, p. 21.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/558 of 6 April 2022 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain graphite electrode systems originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ L 108, 7.4.2022, p. 20, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2022/558/oj).

(3) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2219 of 6 September 2024 terminating the partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of certain pneumatic tyres, new or retreated, of rubber, of a kind used for buses or lorries and with a load index exceeding 121 originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ L, 2024/2219, 9.9.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2024/2219/oj), recitals (5) and (6).

(4) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2219, recitals (7), (22), (25) and Article 1.

(5) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2219, recital (19).