Brussels, 22/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Aegis Europe, which brings together nearly 30 associations representing a broad variety of industries (from traditional industries to renewable ones), has expressed “cautious relief” at the European Commission's announcement of Wednesday 20 July that the EU will not grant China market economy status (MES) and that it will apply a new non-standard method for dealing with anti-dumping calculations for imports from China (EUROPE 11598).
At the same time, Aegis Europe expresses “unease” because there was no clear statement that the EU would continue to link its trade defence measures on imports from China to the EU's five market economy criteria. These criteria are applicable to all other non-market economy WTO members, including China when it joined the WTO in 2001.
“Without the five EU market economy criteria firmly in place as a legal reference, there is no way to apply a meaningful alternative anti-dumping methodology under China's WTO accession protocol. An unstable compromise would severely risk investment and jobs in the EU industry. It's not only about steel but every sector manufacturing in Europe”, the association states.
Aegis Europe also fears that the new rules would place an additional burden of proof on complainants, which would create a significant risk that EU industries, especially SMEs, would be handicapped in bringing forward complaints about dumping from China. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)