Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission states in a press release that in a verdict given on Friday 13 February, the WTO panel set up to decide on the dispute pitching the EU and Japan against China (DS 454 and 460) ruled that the anti-dumping duties imposed by Beijing on Japanese and European exports of stainless steel tubes breach WTO rules.
The WTO panel concluded that the Chinese measures do not fully respect the WTO-prescribed methods for calculating dumping margins. The European Commission states that the margins calculated for one of the EU producer-exporters were not deemed correct. Furthermore, China was not able to justify its conclusion that the stainless steel tubes imported from the EU had caused damage to China's market. The panel also concluded that the Chinese anti-dumping procedure was not in line with WTO requirements in terms of regular and transparent procedure.
Japan and the EU introduced their complaints in December 2012 and June 2013 respectively. “I hope to see China reacting to this ruling immediately and restoring fair trading condition for EU producers”, said European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström. China now has 60 days to appeal this decision.
The Commission also believes that “the panel's findings are also of systemic importance because they highlight recurrent shortcomings in trade defence investigations carried out in China”. This is indeed the second time that the EU has successfully challenged China in the WTO on anti-dumping duties - after the case of measures (that have now been repealed) against European X-ray scanners. (Emmanuel Hagry)