Brussels, 07/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission may be able to redefine, by mid March, its two-part strategy against the "unfair" practices of South Korean shipyards, a strategy in which the Fifteen failed to find an agreement on the temporary defence mechanism of the Community industry (see EUROPE of 6 December 2001, p.7). Rekindled shortly after this disappointment, the current procedure, which comes under the regulation on trade barriers, is likely to result in a new casting of the proposal presented this summer, a recasting that is no doubt more digest for the Council (see EUROPE of 26 July), or it may put it all behind them. The Commission services, which have just held a hearing of the parties, are still checking whether the complaint filed by the Committee of European Shipbuilders and Ship Repairers (CESA) brings any new elements to the issue, mainly sufficient proof of subsequent injury invoked on behalf of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. We recall that, in its current form, the Commission's proposal does not foresee any support for this segment. Hence the French refusal to rally to the project, the subsequent lack of qualified majority in Council, which remained split in two over operating aid to shipyards, and the putting on the back burner of the second part (complaint in Geneva) that the Commission made subject to deployment of intra-Community aid.
Protests from Korean shipyards
The Korean Shipyards Association (KSA), which took part at the hearing of the parties on Tuesday, considers that this stage in the procedure did not take place in an equitable manner. It denounced: "the aim of this procedure is to justify the inclusion of the fleet of LNG carriers in the draft regulation procuring temporary defensive support" for its European competitors, and the result is prejudged as can be seen by the remarks made by Commissioner Liikanen at the annual reception of the CESA. The KSA maintains that no prejudice can be invoked in this segment where the European shipyards have had to turn away under pressure not from Korean but from Japanese competititon. They have already returned to a state of competitiveness given the LNG orders recently taken on by French and Spanish makers, it continued. It went on to warn that the granting of subsidies to help these enterprises make their come back on this market would be tantamount to giving them a bonus for difficulties that they have themselves created.