The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into suspected circumvention of anti-dumping duties on hardwood plywood from China, after industry groups alleged that some exporters have been adding a thin softwood layer to their products simply to slip through a gap in the EU's customs rules. Alongside the investigation, the Commission has ordered customs authorities across all EU member states to register imports of the products concerned with immediate effect, opening the door to retroactive duties if the allegations are confirmed.<\/p>\n
The investigation was formally opened through Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026\/1840 of 23 July 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 24 July 2026. It follows a complaint lodged on 9 June 2026 by the Greenwood Consortium, an industry group that says it represents the large majority of hardwood plywood manufacturers operating in the EU.<\/p>\n
Background: the original duties<\/strong><\/p>\n The case traces back to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025\/2333 of 19 November 2025, which imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on hardwood plywood originating in China, following an earlier trade defence investigation. Those duties, which reportedly reach as high as 86.8% for some Chinese exporters, apply to plywood made up entirely of non-bamboo, non-okoum\u00e9 wood sheets, each layer no more than 6 mm thick, with at least one outer layer made of tropical or other non-coniferous wood species.<\/p>\n What the Commission suspects is happening<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the request that triggered the new investigation, a growing share of Chinese exporters have started shipping a modified version of that same product. In the modified version, both outer layers are made of coniferous wood or bamboo \u2014 or of engineered veneer combining at least 50% coniferous wood or bamboo \u2014 with each outer layer thinner than 2.5 mm, while the inner core still contains the tropical or non-coniferous wood originally targeted by the 2025 duties.<\/p>\n Because the outer layers determine how the product is classified for customs purposes, this modified plywood currently falls under different tariff codes that carry no anti-dumping duty at all, even though its core structure and functional properties are essentially unchanged. Industry sources have described the modification as involving softwood veneers as thin as 0.05 millimetres \u2014 a change with no real impact on how the plywood performs, but one that appears sufficient to shift its legal classification.<\/p>\n The Commission notes that this kind of practice falls squarely within the type of circumvention addressed by Article 13 of the EU's basic anti-dumping regulation, which allows measures to be extended to modified products when a change in trade patterns cannot be explained by anything other than avoiding the duty.<\/p>\n A dramatic shift in import volumes<\/strong><\/p>\n The evidence submitted alongside the complaint points to a sharp change in trade patterns since the 2025 duties took effect: imports of standard Chinese hardwood plywood, the kind directly subject to the existing duties, have dropped substantially, while imports of the modified, duty-free version have surged. Data cited by industry representatives put the increase in imports of the suspected circumvention product at nearly 3,800% over the period since the anti-dumping measures were introduced.<\/p>\n The Commission states that it has preliminary evidence the modified imports are entering the EU market in significant volumes and at dumped, injurious prices relative to the normal value already established for the original product, which would undermine the remedial effect the 2025 duties were designed to achieve.<\/p>\n Registration of imports and retroactive duties<\/strong><\/p>\n Under Article 14(5) of the basic anti-dumping regulation, customs authorities in every EU member state must now register imports of the plywood under investigation. This registration requirement will remain in force for up to nine months. Its purpose is to allow the Commission to apply anti-dumping duties retroactively, calculated from the date registration began, should the investigation ultimately confirm circumvention. Any duty applied this way could not exceed the residual duty rate already set for China under the 2025 regulation.<\/p>\n Chinese producers that can demonstrate they are not engaged in circumvention practices, as defined under the basic regulation, may apply for an exemption from any future duties. To do so, they must come forward and submit the relevant exemption claim questionnaire within the deadlines set by the Commission.<\/p>\n Procedural deadlines and how parties can respond<\/strong><\/p>\n The regulation sets out a strict timetable. Interested parties \u2014 including Chinese producers, EU importers and relevant trade associations \u2014 must make themselves known to the Commission within 15 days of the regulation entering into force. They then have 37 days from the date of publication to submit written comments, completed questionnaires, exemption requests or any other supporting information, and to request a hearing before the Commission.<\/p>\n All submissions must go through the Commission's TRON.tdi electronic platform, which requires an EU Login account. Parties requesting confidential treatment for sensitive business information must label it accordingly and provide a non-confidential summary detailed enough for other parties to understand the substance of what was submitted. If a party fails to justify a confidentiality request or does not provide an adequate summary, the Commission may disregard that information altogether.<\/p>\n Companies that refuse to cooperate, fail to respond within the deadlines, or significantly obstruct the investigation risk having findings made against them based on the facts otherwise available to the Commission \u2014 an outcome that tends to be less favourable than genuine cooperation would have been. Parties can also ask the Hearing Officer for Trade Proceedings to intervene in disputes over confidentiality, access to the file, or deadline extensions, provided such requests are made promptly and with clear reasons.<\/p>\n The investigation itself must be concluded within nine months of the regulation's entry into force, meaning a final decision is expected by around April 2027.<\/p>\n Industry reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n European producers have welcomed the move. PAGED Plywood S.A., a Polish-Estonian manufacturer with four production facilities and roughly 1,440 employees, is among the Greenwood Consortium members that pushed for the investigation. Company leadership described the alleged practice as an attempt to sidestep legally imposed trade rules through changes that carry no real functional purpose, arguing that anti-dumping measures only work if they cannot be defeated by superficial product tweaks, and that fair competition requires every market participant to play by the same rules.<\/p>\n The company also pointed to the scale of the shift in trade flows as evidence this is a deliberate strategy rather than a coincidence, given how closely the surge in modified plywood imports has tracked the decline in imports of the original, duty-liable product since late 2025.<\/p>\n What happens next<\/strong><\/p>\n If the Commission's investigation confirms that circumvention has taken place, the existing anti-dumping duties on Chinese hardwood plywood could be formally extended to cover the modified product as well, with duties collected retroactively from the registration date. If the investigation instead finds that the trade pattern has a legitimate explanation unrelated to the duties, no extension would follow and registration would lapse. Either way, the case is being closely watched as a test of how effectively the EU can close loopholes opened by minor product modifications in future trade defence cases.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into suspected circumvention of anti-dumping duties on hardwood plywood from China, after industry groups alleged that some exporters have been adding a thin softwood layer to their products simply to slip through … Continue reading