After the breakdown in consultations with China, the EU asked the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday 26 October to set up a dispute settlement panel to arbitrate on its complaint on 19 July lodged against Chinese restrictions on the export of 12 raw materials (antimony, chromium, cobalt, copper, ferronickel, graphite, indium, lead, magnesia, talc, tantalum and tin).
The EU’s complaint is about Chinese export duty for antimony, chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, magnesia, magnesium, talc, tantalum and tin, and also about the export quotas for antimony, indium, magnesium, talc and tin.
"The export duties and export quotas on the raw materials appear to be part of a continuing troubling industrial policy aimed at providing substantial competitive advantages for Chinese producers at the expense of producers and consumers in the EU and across the world", explains the European Commission in a press release.
"China’s position as a leading global producer of these raw materials means its export restraint measures give it the ability to affect global supply and pricing. These measures can provide important advantages to Chinese firms that use the raw materials, to the detriment of the EU and other foreign counterparts. These measures also can create substantial pressure on foreign producers to move their operations, jobs, and technologies to China", the Commission adds .
The raw materials in question are key inputs into a wide range of high-value products in vital industrial sectors, including steel, automotive, aerospace, construction, and electronics, the Commission explains.
The EU won its case in two appeals, in 2012 and 2014, against Chinese restrictions on the export of raw materials. "The WTO adjudicatory bodies already had two opportunities to clarify that these type of restrictions are illegal and do not represent a genuine effort to conserve exhaustible natural resources or to protect the environment and health of China's population. The EU regrets China's unwillingness to bring its legislation concerning the export of raw materials in line with its WTO-commitments", the Commission states. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)