Brussels, 27/08/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has decided to take definitive measures to counter what it sees as unfair subsidies for certain electronic microcircuits imported from South Korea. Countervailing duties of 34.8% will apply for the next five years to dynamic random access memory (DRAM) manufactured by Hynix Semiconductor. The investigation carried out since the introduction of provisional measures in April 2003 confirms that the company received subsidies in the period under investigation (2001) in the form of funding from banks owned or controlled by the South Korean state, giving it a competitive advantage which has proved particularly damaging to European microchip manufacturers.
The investigation also confirmed that the subsides granted to another South Korean giant, Samsung Electronics, fall within the authorised levels so no compensatory duty shall be levied against this particular company. The Council published its decision in Official Journal L212.