On Wednesday 12 July, an initial trialogue meeting between the negotiators of the Estonian Presidency of the EU Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament – led by rapporteur Salvatore Cicu (EPP, Italy) – on the new EU methodology for the anti-dumping calculation enabled the parties to present their positions and set up a timetable for two other decisive meetings on 31 August and 12 September, EUROPE was told by several sources on Thursday 13 July.
The new methodology for the calculation of EU customs duties is aimed at responding to the controversy raging around China's market economy status, and the unfair trading practices of other third countries in which state interference at the level of the economy is significant.
On 5 July, the European Parliament gave its green light to the opening of talks with the Council on the EU's new anti-dumping methodology. This is especially aimed at settling the question of how to treat China in EU anti-dumping investigations now that the arrangements on this in China's WTO accession protocol have expired (see EUROPE 11780). The mandate the Parliament has granted the negotiators is based on the position decided upon in the international trade committee on 20 June (see EUROPE 11812).
The MEPs call for the anti-dumping investigations to take account of: - the exporting country's respect of international standards on taxation, the environment and labour; - possible discriminatory measures against foreign investment; - effective corporate law, property rights, taxation and bankruptcy systems.
The MEPs call on the Commission to develop and publish detailed reports describing the specific situation of a sector of activity, like steel, or of a country with unfair trade practices.
They also strengthen the Commission's proposal (see EUROPE 11664) on making the use of international prices obligatory (and not the prices of the country practising dumping) in order to determine the existence of market distortion.
In addition, they call for European companies not to be subject to further red tape compared to the procedure planned for asking the Commission to launch an anti-dumping investigation.
"The Parliament's position is very strong and has been respected by the other institutions", a source close to Cicu told EUROPE. "The second stage of the talks, at the end of August, will define what the result will be", the source added.
The Council decided on its position in early May at the level of EU member state ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) (see EUROPE 11780). This was confirmed by the ministers on 11 May (see EUROPE 11786).
The main difference between the positions of the Parliament and Council is the fact that the Parliament proposes a longer list of indicators enabling the existence of market distortions to be determined.
Alongside this, the interinstitutional negotiations on modernising trade defence instruments are still ongoing. After several trialogues under the Maltese Presidency, which did not enable any compromises to be reached, work is continuing under the Estonian Presidency. Technical discussions are underway, but the dates of the political trialogues have not yet been set, EUROPE was told on Thursday. "The subject nevertheless remains a priority, on the basis of the conclusions from the June European Council, which call for an agreement by the end of the year", EUROPE was told. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)