European companies have accused the Chinese solar industry of tax evasion.

This could mean there are hundreds of millions of euros in lost EU import duties, according to European solar industry initiative EU ProSun.

The company has accused China of shipping solar modules and cells to third countries and importing them into the EU to avoid tariffs.

China has previously been legally threatened by EU ProSun and it has now made another official request to the European Commission to launch an investigation into solar imports from Taiwan and Malaysia.

This could result in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on all solar imports from the two countries where the exporters cannot show they were produced locally.

Milan Nitzschke, President of EU ProSun said: “Up to 30% of Chinese solar imports bypass EU import measures through fraudulent circumvention.

“European industry has already been devastated by illegal Chinese practices and the EU and European governments have lost substantial tax revenues at a time of great need.”