Embedding diplomacy in formal procedures: How the European commission navigated the solar panel dispute with China

This chapter describes the development of the solar panel case, with particular emphasis on the actions of European Commission (EC) and the various reactions to them. In solar panel case, one should expect such informal consultations to have taken place already before the trade defence complaint was filed, in an effort of what might be termed preemptive diplomacy. The minimum import price (MIP) undertaking of July 2013 allowed the two sides to ease most of the specific disputes that had built up around the solar panel case. By allowing for the negotiation of MIP undertakings, the regulation introduces the option of shifting away from the legally defined formal procedure towards a diplomatic mode of interaction, an exercise that could be called “legally embedded diplomacy”. In the years 2012 and 2013, China and European Union went through a tense commercial dispute, triggered by trade defence procedures that the EC launched against imports of solar panels and related products originating from China.