The European Commission launced an anti-dumping probe Thursday targeting Chinese exports of solar glass following a complaint filed earlier this month by European manufacturers.

The probe, the latest move in a long-running dispute between the EU and China over solar panel technology, could last 15 months, the European Commission said in a statement.

Though solar glass is an essential component of solar panels, the investigation has no direct link with a probe on imports of solar panels launched by the European Commission in September.

"It is a stand-alone investigation concerning a clearly distinct product," statement added.

Solar glass is a special glass used mainly, but not exclusively, for the production of solar panels. The EU solar glass market is valued at less than 200 million euros.

The investigation is based on a complaint lodged by EU ProSun Glass, an association which groups EU players in the sector and which claims solar glass from China is being dumped in the European Union at prices below market value, thus causing material injury to the EU industry.

The European Commission said it was aware of media reports about a possible anti-subsidy complaint regarding solar glass from China, but stated that "at this stage, we can only state that we have not received such a complaint."

In the dispute with China over the solar panels, the European Commission opened an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese solar panel makers in November, two months after announcing the anti-dumping investigation.

That move came on the heels of a decision by China to launch a similar probe into European exports of solar-grade polysilicon, a key component.

The Commission is legally obliged to open an anti-dumping investigation when it receives a substantiated complaint that provides evidence that exporting producers from one or more countries outside the EU are dumping a product on to the EU market.

EU ProSun Glass, an ad hoc association representing European solar glass manufacturers, lodged such an anti-dumping complaint on 15 January 2013. EU ProSun Glass's collective output represents considerably more than the 25% of Union production required by law.

EU ProSun Glass is not formally affiliated with EU ProSun, a separate coalition of solar equipment manufacturers which launched the solar panel complaint last year.

The European Commission now will send out questionnaires to interested parties and may verify the data with on-site visits.

In addition, the Commission will carry out the so-called "Union interest test".

The EU is the only WTO Member to systematically carry out such tests to consider whether the potential imposition of measures would be more costly to the EU economy as a whole than the benefit of the measures would be to the complainants.

Within nine months of the start of the investigation, the Commission will issue its provisional findings. These can lead to the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties or a decision to continue the investigation without imposing duties, or a decision to terminate the investigation.