Bloomberg reported that the European Union plans to ...
Bloomberg reported that the European Union plans to impose tariffs as high as 87% on Chinese screws and bolts in a case that may prompt China to complain to the World Trade Organization.
The report cited the Jiaxing Association of Fastener Import and Export Companies including Gem-Year Industrial Co Fasteners as saying that the 5 year duties would apply to EU imports of iron or steel fasteners worth EUR 575 million euros last year. As per report, the European Commission will recommend that EU governments impose the levies no later than February 9th 2009.
Mr Robert MacLean of Crowell & Moring LLP who represents the Jiaxing Association said that the anti dumping duties would threaten up to 800,000 jobs in China and are unjustified because EU producers haven’t suffered sufficient harm from the imports. Mr MacLean said “The trade protection would lead to a huge dent in Chinese exports of fasteners. I am pretty sure a WTO challenge will come.”
Mr Zhang Feng deputy secretary general of the Jiaxing Association said the commission should have distinguished between Chinese fasteners and EU fasteners because they have different uses. He said that “The Chinese products are largely for the general industrial and do-it-yourself markets, while EU fasteners are destined for more specialized uses such as automotive and aircraft. We are complementing each other, not competing directly with each other. We consider this decision fundamentally flawed.”
China accounts for about 60% of EU imports of the product, which also come from Taiwan, Japan and the US. Chinese fastener manufacturers increased their share of the EU market to 26% in the 12 months through September 2007 from 17% in 2004. EU producers suffered a fall in their combined home market share to 17% from 22% in the same period, when consumption expanded by almost a third.
The case stems from a September 2007 dumping complaint by the European Industrial Fasteners Institute on behalf of companies that account for more than 25% of EU output of the product. Based on that step, the commission opened a dumping inquiry on November 9th 2007.
Under EU rules, the commission has nine months to decide whether to impose provisional anti-dumping duties for half a year and EU governments have 15 months to choose whether to apply “definitive” levies for five years. In the fastener case, the commission refrained from imposing provisional measures.