Robert MacLean

Landmark EU Litigation

• Obtaining four successful separate appeal judgments requiring the European Commission to repay anti-dumping duties to EU importers. The judgments break new ground and resolve the so-called “duty as a cost” issue, which previously limited EU anti-dumping refund payments for the last two decades.
• Successful appeal before the General Court for the annulment of EU anti-dumping duties imposed on a non-EU exporter on the grounds of breach of its procedural rights of defence in the administrative investigation.
• Successful appeal on behalf of a German manufacturer for the recovery of anti-dumping duties unlawfully assessed on imports of its merchandise under an outward processing arrangement.
• Acting on behalf of an EU industry in bringing an appeal before the European Court challenging a decision by the European Commission to terminate an anti-dumping investigation without the imposition of effective measures.
• Representing an EU industry in challenging a determination by the European Commission to impose insufficient levels of dumping duties on Chinese exports in apparent breach of the rules for the calculation of dumping margins.
• Pursuing an appeal before the European Court against a decision on the part of the European Commission to terminate duty suspension entitlements granted to a US corporation.

EU Customs Duties Reduction and Recovery Projects

• Successfully developing and deploying a duty reduction programme involving multiple duty suspensions applications for chemical substances for a US-based corporation to reduce its raw material costs by obtaining relief from the EU customs duties on imported raw materials resulting in substantial cost savings for its European operations.
• Successfully obtaining definitive country of origin EU customs rulings for a biotechnology company, allowing them to continue to export its products duty free despite a significant change in their raw material sourcing.
• Advising a multinational company making sophisticated IT products in Europe on the reduction of its EU customs duty liabilities for its manufacturing operations in Italy and the Slovak Republic.

Complex Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Investigations

• Acting for an EU industry in a rare EU anti-absorption investigation that led to the doubling of the anti-dumping duties on imports from China.
• Successfully representing an association of Italian and Spanish distilleries in extending the EU anti-dumping measures on imports of Chinese tartaric acid and having them increased.
• Advising a US-based multinational corporation on the application of WTO law in an anti-dumping investigation started by one of its manufacturing subsidiaries in a Far East Asian country.
• Successfully representing one of the largest Chinese state-owned steel producers and the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) in the recent EU anti-dumping investigation concerning grain-oriented electrical steel by obtaining the lowest anti-dumping duty rate for the client and convincing the European Commission to accept minimum price undertakings instead of definitive duties.
• Defending the largest Taiwanese producer of welded pipes and tubes against allegations of dumping and obtaining the lowest duty rate while anti-dumping measures of up to 65% were applied to other exporting producers thereby giving our client a significant competitive advantage.
• Advising a major Taiwanese bicycle and e-bike manufacturer on its investment in a new EU production site and successfully navigating the legal requirements for obtaining a licence for importation of parts and components free from EU anti-dumping duties.
• Successfully securing a retroactive amendment to the product scope of an EU anti-dumping regulation thereby saving the client from having to pay several million euros in unlawful duty assessments made by the German and Dutch customs authorities.

International Trade Law Compliance

• Advising multiple clients on the practical implications of Brexit as it affects their long-term strategic planning to ensure the future provision of services and the continuation of manufacturing activities as well as the optimisation of logistical and supply-chain management post-Brexit.
• Advising a US technology company on the EU regulations on the modification of machinery equipment to allow it to supply added-value IT control systems to complex production equipment.

EU Customs Duty Reduction and Recovery Programmes

• Developing and deploying a duty reduction programme involving multiple successful duty suspensions applications for chemical substances for a US-based corporation using the imports as raw materials for further processing in the EU resulting in large cost savings.
• Implementing a duty reduction programme for a US multinational company with manufacturing operations in the EU making IT products.
• Significant retroactive recovery of past EU customs duty payments for a French-based petroleum refinery through reclassification of its imports.
• Securing an annual tariff-free quota for a chemical commodity product, which has been successfully rolled over for the last five years.

Selected Illustrations of Litigation Before the European General Court and Court of Justice

• Cases T-73-76/12, Nu Air Compressors and Tools SpA and Others v. European Commission, successful actions for annulment of multiple Commission decisions refusing full refunds of EU anti-dumping duties.
• Case T-274/07, Zhejiang Harmonic Hardware Co. Ltd v. Council of the European Union, successful action for annulment of EU antidumping regulation.
• Case T-07/99, Medici Grimm KG v. Council of the European Union, successful action for annulment of EU anti-dumping regulation.
• Case T-153/13, ET Solar Industry and Others v. European Commission, negotiated settlement and minimum price undertakings granted.
• Case T-211/16, Caviro Distillerie v. European Commission, pending case, action for annulment of Commission decision refusing to impose anti-dumping measures on Chinese exporters.
• Case C-223/17P, Lubrizol France SAS v. EU Council, pending case, appeal to the Court of Justice against a lower court judgment declining to annul an EU duty suspension regulation.
• Case T-431/12, Distillerie Bonollo and Others v. EU Council, pending case, action for annulment against an EU anti-dumping regulation failing to provide effective relief to an EU industry.
• Case T-299/05, Shanghai Excell Precision Limited v. EU Council, action for annulment of an EU anti-dumping regulation.

EU and International Trade Compliance and Enforcement

• Lodging and pursuing complaints to OLAF, the EU Anti-Fraud Office, to prevent circumvention of EU anti-dumping duties imposed on certain compressors from China.
• Successfully obtaining EBTI rulings for Russian fertiliser products to confirm certainty that these imports were not covered by the scope of EU anti-dumping measures.
• Advice on proper labelling of medical supplements under EU regulations and proper classification of these substances under the EU’s customs rules.
• Assessment of country of origin status for imports such as complex mechanical equipment, food additives made from materials sourced from a large number of different countries as well as solar panels and wafers.

EU Trade Remedy Investigations

• Tartaric acid from China (expiry review, 2017).
• Bicycle parts and components from China (anti-circumvention exemption, 2017).
• Tubes and pipe fittings of stainless steel from Taiwan and China (initial investigation, 2016-2017).
• Ceramic tableware from China (new shipper applications, 2017).
• Grain-oriented electrical steel from Korea, China, Japan, the US and Russia (initial investigation, 2015-2016).
• Bicycles from Cambodia (anti-circumvention investigation, 2015-2016).
• Solar glass from China (anti-absorption investigation, 2015-2016).
• Solar panels, wafers and parts from China (anti-dumping and anti-subsidy, 2013-2014).
• Tartaric acid from China (anti-dumping expiry and interim reviews, 2011-2012).
• Miniature air compressors from China (anti-dumping scope review, 2011).
• Air compressors from China (anti-dumping refunds, 2010-2011).
• Coated fine paper from China (anti-dumping and anti-subsidy, 2010-2011).
• Sodium metal from the US (anti-dumping and anti-subsidy, 2008-2009).
• Seamless pipes of iron and steel from China (anti-dumping, 2008-2009).
• Stainless steel rolled-cold flat products from China, Korea and Taiwan (anti-dumping, 2008-2009).
• Iron and steel fasteners from China (anti-dumping, 2008).
• Monosodium glutamate from China (anti-dumping, 2007).
• Citric acid from China (anti-dumping, 2007).

Export Controls, Economic Sanctions and Anti-corruption Compliance

• Advising on witness statements for potential prosecution of the customer of a UK-based company who attempted to export controlled devices without procuring a valid export licence.
• Advising on product qualification under the EU’s dual use regulations.
• Advising on the UK and EU blocking statutes forbidding compliance with US extraterritorial trade restrictions.