EC assesses measures to accept China as a market economy – World

 3:55 p.m.
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 EFE .-

European (CE) Committee announced today that study “mitigation measures” if you finally decide to grant China market economy status , which would change the way the EU calculates anti-dumping duties to defend its producers against unfair competition from Chinese imports.

The EU executive considers that possibility before the due in December this year the deadline for grant China this status , according to the commitments made when Beijing joined the fifteen years World Trade organization (WTO), says a briefing note that the EC has spread at twenty and the Parliament this week and made public today.

This means that the European Union (EU), as of December, should change its treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations on unfair trade.

Currently the EU has 52 anti-dumping measures in force against China, covering 1.38% of imports from that country.

According to WTO rules, the EU can impose anti-dumping duties on products from third countries if an investigation shows that enter the European market at lower prices than production and thereby harm the Community industry.

Prices and costs in an economy “non-market” are artificially low and therefore, do not reflect normal market forces.

Thus, for non-market economy domestic prices not are used as a benchmark to compare the export prices , and instead the WTO rules allow use data from an “analogue country” market economy status for calculations.

According to the document released today by the EC, which has taken into account the preliminary results of a report by an external consultant and “intensive contacts” with twenty-eight, the European Parliament and different parties interested, there are three procedural options that analyzes Brusela s.

This is not modify European legislation , remove China from the list of countries not considered market economies “without any conditions”, or remove to China that list while introducing at the same time, “mitigation measures”.

The EC now proposes to continue its assessment of whether you decide to change your treatment to China in anti December onwards and, if so, how.

This conduct a study of the economic impact on employment and which could have the decision.

The European industry has expressed concern to the EC by the possibility of granting China the status , especially the steel sector, which suffers from overproduction level comprehensive and low-cost imports from that country.

The Commission, which addressed this issue in January and will treat the middle of the year, said following committed to maintaining strong antidumping to protect European industry measures unfair trade.