SAIC said in the hearing that the European Commission's anti-subsidy investigation involves commercially sensitive information and that there were errors in the determination of subsidies.
The European Union held a hearing at the request of SAIC Motor Corp, and the Chinese automaker submitted its defense against additional tariffs.
On July 19, the European Commission held a hearing on the anti-subsidy investigation at the EU headquarters in Brussels at the request of SAIC, according to a statement from the Chinese automaker today.
SAIC submitted its defense to the European Commission's preliminary countervailing ruling to defend its legitimate rights and interests, it said.
The European Commission is expected to make a final ruling on November 2, SAIC said, adding that the company will reserve the right to take further legal measures in response to the unfair, unreasonable and unlawful preliminary ruling findings.
The European Commission on June 12 pre-disclosed the level of provisional countervailing duties to be imposed on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China, with SAIC facing the highest at 38.1 percent. The duty is in addition to the original 10 percent.
In the preliminary ruling announced by the European Commission on July 4, the additional duty rate SAIC faced was slightly reduced to 37.6 percent.
On July 5, SAIC said it had asked the EU to hold a hearing on the additional duties.
At the July 19 hearing, SAIC said the European Commission's investigation involves commercially sensitive information, such as requests for chemical formulations related to batteries, and is beyond the scope of a normal investigation, according to its statement today.
The European Commission made errors in its determination of subsidies, such as confusing auto finance companies wholly owned by foreign joint venture partners as affiliates of SAIC, which was included in the calculation of the subsidy rate, SAIC said.
SAIC had submitted thousands of written materials in the course of the investigation, but the European Commission ignored some key information and defenses, and inflated the subsidy rates for several items, it said.
The day before the hearing, SAIC attended another hearing held by the European Commission on July 18 on the preliminary ruling, according to the statement.
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