Van Bael & Bellis wins Russian Ammonium Nitrate decision

A recent case T348/05 in the Court of First Instance upheld an application for annulment filed by Benoît Servais, partner at  law firm Van Bael & Bellis, on behalf of JSC Kirovo-Chepetsky Khimichesky Kombinat a Russian producer of ammonium nitrate.

The application sought the annulment Regulation (EC) No 945/2005, adopted by the Commission on 21 June 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 658/2002, imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of ammonium nitrate originating in Russia. JSC Kirovo-Chepetsky Khimichesky Kombinat pleaded an infringement of Article 1(1) and (2), Article 3(2), Article 4(1) and Article 5(4) of the basic regulation and Community customs law.

The Court of First Instance has recognised that the contested regulation indeed extended the definition of the product concerned by measures introduced by the original regulation and therefore applied existing measures to products which were not the product under investigation, namely to new product types.

As such this constitutes an infringement of Article 1(1) and (2), Article 3(2), Article 4(1) and Article 5(4) of the basic regulation and Community customs law.

Lawyer Benoît Servais commented: "The Court’s judgment is important as it makes it clear that the Council cannot through an interim review amend the original definition of the product concerned in order to extend the application of the existing measures to new product types, even in proportion to the presence of the product concerned."