Brussels, 17/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has introduced a definitive anti-dumping duty on certain iron or steel cables and ropes originating in the Czech Republic, Russia, Thailand and Turkey. It has also decided to retain the sums collected since last February under the provisional duty and to close, without follow-up, the procedure initiated against the same products imported from Korea and Malaysia. The Regulation published n the Official Journal L 211 states that the level of duties which the incriminated traders will have to pay over the next five years are 47.1% for the Czechs, 50.7% for the Russians, 42.8% for the Thai and 31% for the Turks. Some companies that have made credible undertakings to eliminate the harmful effects of dumping will, however, benefit from reduced rates ranging from 36.1 to 17.8%, or even be exonerated from all duties under certain conditions. The Commission, which conducted the investigation, essentially confirmed its provisional conclusions, having one by one rejected the arguments put forward to rebuff the link between the harm invoked by the Community industry and the dumping observed, notably the fact that the fall in sales and European production comes within a trend of apparent consumption, the existence of a "self-inflicted" injury resulting from the poor choice of investments European producers are said to have made and imports from other third countries, notably Korea, Malaysia and Romania. For these three countries, the Commission conceded that the rise in their deliveries onto the market of the Fifteen could have had a negative influence on the situation of the Community industry but considers that, in fact, their "effect is not of a nature to break the causal link" between this situation - characterised by low return and viability that "cannot be guaranteed in the long term" - and the imports targeted by its investigation.