Brussels, 22/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - As part of their dialogue to reinforce cooperation in the fight against fraud with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), representatives of the European Antifraud Office (Olaf), the authorities and customs of the Emirates and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of several of the Emirates debated the issue of the evasion of anti-dumping duties, at a seminar held in Dubai on 21 and 22 May. "False declarations of origin are a classic method used by fraudsters when they try to evade European anti-dumping duties. Smugglers ship goods such as steel products, chemical compounds or office equipment from, say, China or India, through another country thereby trying to conceal their real origin before entering European union territory", an Olaf press release explains, going on to note that "the evasion of anti-dumping duties", which are levied in order to protect European businesses from unfair competition, "harms the EU economy and EU taxpayers". "Reinforcing international cooperation is an essential tool in the fight against this type of fraud", concluded the Director General of Olaf, Franz Hermann Brüner. (For more information, see http: //ec.europa.eu.int/olaf)