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By the 12th October the European Union is expected to confirm the continuation of anti-dumping measures, first applied in early 2009, on certain steel fasteners from the People's Republic of China but to reduce the levels of tariffs applied.
Fastener + Fixing Magazine executive editor, Phil Matten reports that the European Commission has published a detailed proposal, which will go before the EU Council of Ministers during the first week of October. The proposal is the outcome of a review, which the Commission initiated in March, to bring anti-dumping regulation 91/2009 into conformity with rulings from the WTO Panel and Appellate Bodies. These were made last year in response to complaints from China. The EU was required to agree a "reasonable period" within which it would make the required changes to its legislation: this expires on 12th October.
The proposed regulation will already have been scrutinised by representatives of all EU member states and it would be extremely unusual for the European Council not to adopt it as presented. The proposal confirms that the EU was correct in its original determination that dumping had occurred and that this had resulted in material injury to the EU fastener manufacturing industry.
However, the Commission has recalculated the tariff levels applied to imports of the cited products and proposes to reduce the headline tariff level from 85% to 74.1%. The proposal also calls for a reduction from 77.5% to 54.1% on imports from a list of around 90 exporters that cooperated with the original investigation. Tariffs for eight companies that received individual treatment during the original investigation are also proposed to be amended and one additional company, a subsidiary of a EU fastener manufacturer, is expected to be accorded a zero level tariff.
The new tariff levels appear unlikely to make any significant changes to the pattern of fastener imports to the EU. The application of the tariffs in early 2009 resulted in importers shifting their orders to Taiwan and other Asian countries. While the proposed lower tariffs on Chinese imports will close the duty paid price gap there appears to be little real incentive for importers to revert to ordering from China.
The EU appears to have met its obligations to the WTO without undermining the effect of the anti-dumping measures on China. These now look set to remain in place until at least 2014, at which time EU fastener producers will be able to request a termination review that could result in their extension for a further five years. © Copyright Fastener + Fixing Magazines 2012.
